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Rafale deal: Reports find loopholes in Centre’s explanation submitted to Supreme Court

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Several reports have pointed out gaps and loopholes in Narendra Modi government’s submission to the Supreme Court (SC) giving details of the process by which it arrived at the decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France while cancelling a tender for 126 Rafales, of which 108 were to be built in India.

The government had also submitted details about the price and how it was arrived at in a sealed cover for the judges’ perusal only. The details of the decision making process and the pricing were submitted in response to the SC order on October 31.

A redacted version of the submission on the procurement process was shared with the petitioners as well in accordance with the court’s directions.

Dissatisfied with the government’s reply, the petitioners plan to file a rejoinder, said media reports.

The government’s reply was also analysed by some media organisations which found that the government’s submission suffered from several loopholes or discrepancies with facts.

The first aspect pointed out was that PM Narendra Modi announced purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft before Cabinet Committee on Security’s (CCS) approval. On 10 April 2015, Indo-French joint statement was issued on by the PM Modi and France President Hollande, which stated: “Government of India conveyed to the Government of France that in view of the critical operational necessity for multi role Combat Aircraft for Indian Air Force (IAF), Government of India would like to acquire 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition as quickly as possible…”

PM Modi made the announcement first and then the negotiation kick-started between India and France, after which the CCS’ approval was obtained. PM Modi’s statement was a fait accompli, the CCS’ approval was just a formality.

The government has claimed in the documents that procedure was followed in the purchase of the Rafale aircraft.

Writing in Business Standard, defence expert Ajai Shukla said that while claiming that “all the requisite steps… have been followed”, the 16-page submission makes it clear the government did not take the most basic steps that are fundamental to any procurement and which are spelt out in detail in the Defence Procurement Policy of 2013 (DPP-2013), which governed the 36-Rafale purchase.

The government failed to involve the Indian Air Force (IAF) in formulating “service qualitative requirements” (SQRs), which specify the capabilities of the equipment being procured.

Nor was the next step taken, which is the formulation of a statement of case (SoC), in which the military must justify the procurement.

The SoC is forwarded through two key acquisition committees – the Services Capital Acquisition Plan Categorisation Committee (SCAPCC) and the Services Capital Acquisition Plan Categorisation Higher Committee (SCAPCHC) – to the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which accords an Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to go ahead with the procurement.

The SCAPCC and the SCAPCHC decide whether the equipment is to be built in India, bought from abroad, or a mixture of the two.

Instead of going through these foundational steps, which would have involved the IAF in the decision, the government’s submission to the SC indicates that it assumed that the clearances granted for the 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) procurement were also valid for the 36-Rafale contract, even though these were two fundamentally different procurements. “The acquisition process for MMRCA had reached commercial evaluation stage after completion of all the standard processes as per DPP,” says the submission.

“The background of the case was brought to the notice of the DAC where it was mentioned that operational capability of 36 Rafale aircraft will be in accordance with the SQR for the procurement of MMRCA.”

This statement of the government does not square with its assertion – made to justify the higher price of the 36 Rafales – that a range of “India-Specific Enhancements” made the operational capability of the 36 Rafales significantly higher than the Rafales in the MMRCA tender.

The government has submitted, it pursued the procurement as an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with France, for which the DAC accorded clearance on May 13, 2015. The Centre informed the SC that an Indian Negotiating Team (INT) was constituted to negotiate the terms and conditions of the procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft. The negotiation started between the INT and French side in May 2015, a month after PM Modi announced that Rafale aircraft will be purchased.

The INT had 48 internal meetings and 26 external meetings with the French side between May 2015 and April 2016. The INT submitted its final report on 4 August 2016 and recommended the case to be pushed for CCS’ approval and signing of the agreement with Dassault Aviation.

Finally, on 24 August 2016, the CCS gave its approval for signing of Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for the purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft.

The IGA was signed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the French Defence Minister on 23 September 2016.

On what grounds did PM Modi decide to make the announcement of the purchase of Rafale aircraft without CCS’ approval, which came more than a year later?

The initial tender for 126 Rafale jets could not be concluded, the government has said, due to “unresolved issues related to 108 aircraft to be manufactured in India”.

The two main issues involved production problems and questions of contractual responsibility. According to the documents filed by the Centre, it would have taken Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd “2.7 higher man-hours” to make the jets in India, when compared to the time it would have taken Dassault to make them in France. And secondly, issues related to “contractual obligation and responsibility” for the 108 jets that would be made in India could not be resolved.

“[These] issues remained unresolved for more than three years. This delay impacted the cost  of acquisition, as the offer was with in-built escalation and was influenced by the Euro-Rupee exchange rate variations.  As the contract negotiations reached a stalemate and RFP compliance could not be ensured, the process for RFP withdrawal was initiated in March, 3 2015,” the government says.

The government version flies in the face of reports that HAL and Dassault managed to iron out any differences they had and actually signed a work-share contract. Former HAL chief Suvarana Raju is also on the record as having said this contract was given to the Modi government and that HAL would “guarantee” aircraft it made, in an allusion to the problems of contractual responsibility being resolved.

The Centre’s primary justification for this is that while the long and inconclusive MMRCA process dragged on, India’s enemies in the same time managed to induct “modern aircraft and upgraded their older versions”, and thus posed a threat to the country’s defence.

Nowhere in the documents submitted to the SC does the BJP government clarify whose decision it was to purchase 36 aircraft instead of the 126 asked for by IAF and being negotiated under the previous deal.

“The combined effect of our own reducing combat potential and our adversaries enhancing their combat potential made the situation asymmetrical and  extremely critical. An urgent need was felt to arrest the decline in the number of fighter squadrons in IAF and enhance their combat capabilities,” the document says, on why a smaller deal was then decided upon.

The BS analysis also points to the paradox of the government citing a growing enemy air threat to justify cancelling the 126-Rafale tender and replacing it with fewer fighters.

 

The Centre remains silent on how it went about it. For instance, the government meticulously lays out every part of the acquisition process from May 2015 onwards, which is when the deal was presented to the Defence Acquisition Council, but is surprisingly short of details on what happened in the weeks and months leading to the April 2015 announcement.

If there is some record, the Modi government doesn’t seem intent on sharing it. This is an important detail, because opposition parties like the Congress have alleged that the deal was changed at the last-minute to benefit Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

India News

Zomato introduces Food Rescue feature

“We don’t encourage order cancellation at Zomato, because it leads to a tremendous amount of food wastage,” he said.

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Zomato has introduced a new feature called Food Rescue to minimise food wastage, announced the food delivery platform CEO Deepinder Goyal on Sunday.

Announcing the new feature on X, Goyal said the decision, to introduce the new feature, was taken to prevent the tremendous amount of food wastage due to order cancellation on the platform.

Committed to minimising food wastage, the Zomato boss said: “We don’t encourage order cancellation at Zomato, because it leads to a tremendous amount of food wastage.”

Goyal said despite having stringent policies, and a no-refund policy for cancellations, more than 4 lakh perfectly good orders get cancelled, for various reasons by customers.

He said the top concern for the online food delivery platform, the restaurant industry, and even the customers who cancel these orders, is to somehow save the food from going to waste.

With the launch of the new feature, Food Rescue, cancelled orders will now pop up for nearby customers, who can grab them at an unbeatable price, in their original untampered packaging, and receive them in just minutes.

According to Zomato, the cancelled order will pop up on the app for customers within a 3 km radius of the delivery partner carrying the order. To ensure freshness, the option to claim will only be available for a few minutes.

The online food delivery platform will not keep any proceeds except the required government taxes and the amount paid by the new customer will be shared with the original customer (if they made payment online) and with the restaurant partner.

Orders containing items sensitive to distances or temperature such as ice creams, shakes, smoothies, and certain perishable items, will not be eligible for Food Rescue.

Restaurant partners will continue to receive compensation for the original cancelled order, plus a portion of the amount paid by the new customer if the order is claimed, the company said. “Most restaurants have opted in for this feature, and can opt of it easily whenever they want, directly from their control panels,” it added.

The delivery partners will be compensated fully for the entire trip, from the initial pickup to the final drop-off at the new customer’s location, it said.

Food Rescue will show up on the customers’ home page automatically if there’s a cancelled order available for them to grab. The Customers have to refresh the home page to check for any newly available orders which need to be rescued.

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Rahul Gandhi takes a jibe at PM Modi over his unity remarks

Earlier during a rally in Maharashtra, PM Modi coined a new slogan, ‘Ek Hain to Safe Hain’ (If we are united, we are safe), to attack the Opposition.

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Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ‘Ek hai toh safe hai’ remarks.

Sharing a picture featuring PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Industrialist Gautam Adani, SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on X, Gandhi wrote in Hindi, “’Mann ki baat, ab jubaan pe’ (What is in the heart, now on the tongue).”

Earlier during a rally in Maharashtra, PM Modi coined a new slogan, ‘Ek Hain to Safe Hain’ (If we are united, we are safe), to attack the Opposition.

PM Modi accused the Congress of dividing the society, caste and communities. “During the entire period that Congress ruled over India, Congress has always resorted to divide and rule. It created rifts within the SC-Dalits, ST-Adivasis and OBCs. For a safe and united Maharashtra, choose BJP-led Mahayuti…ek hai toh safe hai,” PM Modi said.

Responding to PM Modi’s remarks, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the PM for the ‘ek hai to safe hai’ narrative. Kharge stressed that many big Congress have laid down their lives to unite the country and attacked the BJP, saying, “You only divide but blame others. You say ‘batenge toh katenge’. Those who want the country to remain united will never pass such divisive slogans.” “The truth is that you are the ones who divide and you are the ones who cut, but you blame others. You are involved in baatna and kaatna,” he said.

Addressing Samvidhan Bachao Sammelan in Mumbai on Sunday, Kharge said: “BJP is giving new slogans these days. I just want to ask is there any danger in the country? If the country is in danger, it is from BJP-RSS. Because these are the people who talk about division and killing from morning to evening. We have always tried to keep the country united. Indira Gandhi ji was martyred for keeping the country united.”

Earlier in the day, Kharge lashed out at PM Modi for his remarks on the blank Constitution book also, saying it is necessary to enroll Modi in a primary school again for his remarks on the red book of the Constitution.

During a press conference after launching the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi ‘s (MVA) manifesto for Maharashtra Assembly elections, Kharge displayed a red book of the Constitution and said it was not blank as was being projected by PM Modi and his party BJP.

On the Prime Minister and BJP equating a red book of the Constitution with urban Naxalism, Kharge said Modi gave a similar copy in 2017 to then President Ram Nath Kovind.


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In Jharkhand, PM Modi says people are hankering for a handful of sand, Congress-JMM smuggling it

JMM-Congress have nothing to do with the issue of the people, they are filling their coffers, Modi said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lashed out at the Congress-JMM coalition over its corruption and said when the people of Jharkhand are hankering for a handful of sand, the alliance is busy selling rivers, streams, and mountains in the state, adding their leaders have even built luxurious houses by smuggling sand. PM Modi alleged that they are taking bribes even for birth and death certificates.

Addressing the rally in Jharkhand’s Gumala, the Prime Minister said: “This is your money, you are its owner and Modi will not let your money be looted.” He added that “those who have looted will have to return it and spend their lives in jail” once his party comes to power in the state.

JMM-Congress have nothing to do with the issue of the people, they are filling their coffers, Modi said.

Hitting out at the alliance, PM Modi said: “You have seen the mountains of notes of the JMM and Congress leaders and ministers. I have been a Chief Minister and even become a Prime Minister, but I have never seen such huge mountains of notes in my life. I saw such mountains for the first time on TV. So many notes came out that the machines got tired of counting them.”

“If you divide into castes then the strength of the tribals will diminish. That’s why I say – if we stay united, we will be safe,” he reiterated his statement targeting the Congress party.

Till there was no unity between OBCs, tribals and Dalits, the Congress kept forming governments at the Centre, claimed Modi.

“Beware of Congress-JMM’s evil designs and conspiracies. They can go to any extent to snatch power. Congress has been an opponent of SC, ST, and OBC unity since Independence,” Modi said.

“More than 125 sub-castes are considered OBCs in the Chotanagpur region. Congress-JMM wants to break the OBC unity by pitting sub-castes against each other. I warn you ‘ek rahoge toh safe rahoge’,” he added. He said a BJP-led government was needed in Jharkhand to drive out infiltrators and eradicate corruption.

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