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Cant disclose Rafale deal details due to Secrecy Agreement: MoD Nirmala Sitharaman

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7 years ago

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Cant disclose Rafale deal details due to Secrecy Agreement: MoD Nirmala Sitharaman

The government cannot disclose details of the Rafale fighter aircraft deal due to a “Secrecy Agreement” with France, Minister of Defence (MoD) Nirmala Sitharaman told the Parliament on Monday, February 5.

Several members had raised questions about the deal, seeking answers from the government. The questions were dismissed with little details forthcoming.

In a written reply to a question from Congress MP MV Rajeev Gowda in Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman said the government cannot share details like the cost per aircraft due to a secrecy pact. “As per ‘Article-10’ of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between Government of India and Government of France on the purchase of Rafale aircraft, the protection of the classified information and material exchanged under IGA is governed by the provisions of the Security Agreement signed between the two nations signed in 2008,” she said.

Reacting to the response, journalist Shekhar Gupta tweeted: “Even as a Rafale deal backer I’m afraid this “secrecy clause” excuse just wouldn’t wash. Govt is digging a hole for itself & for IAF here. Imagine if another govt said this & BJP was in oppn.” His news media organisation ThePrint also carried a report on the issue.

The Rafale deal courted controversy after the Congress raised allegations that it was overpriced, and that Reliance Defence, owned by Anil Ambani, was favoured by the government. The issue was raised by Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the Gujarat election campaign in November-December last year but, apart from a flat denial, there was no other convincing reply from the Modi government.

Reliance Defence has also strongly denied the allegations.

This was also raised in another Parliament question, this one from KTS Tulsi about the basis for making Reliance Defence Limited “a joint venture partner” in the purchase of Rafale aircraft, excluding Government controlled Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The government’s reply was provided by Minister of State in MoD Subhash Bhamre. He said the “vendor” can select its own partner: “The current Offsets policy of the Defence Procurement permits the vendors to provide the details of their Indian Offset Partners (IOPs) either at the time of seeking offset credits, or one year prior to discharge of offset obligations. The vendor / OEM is free to select his IOP,” he said.

ThePrint said that Modi government, months before it signed the deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France in 2016, had rejected another European offer for Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft, which was €59 million per unit cheaper than the French planes.

The offer – made at the top level of the Indian government – involved diverting deliveries of Eurofighter Typhoon jets from Britain, Italy and Germany to meet urgent Indian requirements.

The Eurofighter Typhoon had been offered at a total cost of €17.5 billion for 126 fighters, or €138 million per plane. The Rafale deal cost India €7.1 billion for 36 jets, which translates to €197 million per jet, said ThePrint.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

 

MINISTRY OF  DEFENCE

 

RAJYA SABHA

 

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-176

 

ANSWERED ON-05.02.2018

 

Penalisation of Dassault for nonfulfilment of contractual obligations

 

176 . Prof. M.V. Rajeev Gowda

 

(a) whether Dassault was penalized for refusing to fulfil its contractual obligations under the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft Request for Proposal;(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) the cost per aircraft under the Inter-Governmental Agreement for 36 Rafale aircrafts;

(d) whether offsets contract would apply to additional orders;

(e) if so, the details thereof;

(f) whether the cost difference caused by including a private entity under the Offsets clause instead of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has been estimated; and

(g) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

 

ANSWER
MINISTER OF DEFENCE
SHRIMATI NIRMALA SITHARAMAN(a) & (b): There was no contract with Dassault for the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft.

(c) As per ‘Article-10’ of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between Government of India and Government of France on the purchase of Rafale aircraft, the protection of the classified information and material exchanged under IGA is governed by the provisions of the Security Agreement signed between the two nations signed in 2008.

(d) & (e): No additional orders have been catered for in the existing IGA.

(f) & (g): The quantum of offsets in 36 Rafale IGA is 50% which includes investments in terms of Transfer of Technology (ToT) for manufacture and / or maintenance of eligible products and services. Details of Indian Offset Partners have not yet been provided by the French Industrial suppliers and as per the provisions of Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) – 2013 they need to do so at the time of seeking offset credits or one year prior to discharge of offset obligations through their Indian Offset Partners. As per the provisions of DPP-2013 the Indian offset partner need not be a Public Sector Undertaking.

 

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

 

MINISTRY OF  DEFENCE

 

RAJYA SABHA

 

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-165

 

ANSWERED ON-18.12.2017

 

Private partner in joint venture of Rafale aircraft

 

165 . Shri K.T.S. Tulsi

 

(a) the basis for making Reliance Defence Limited, a private company as a joint venture partner in the purchase of 36 Rafale aircrafts from France, excluding Government controlled Hindustan Aeronautics Limited; and(b) the details thereof?

 

ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
DR. SUBHASH BHAMRE(a) & (b): The current Offsets policy of the Defence Procurement permits the vendors to provide the details of their Indian Offset Partners (IOPs) either at the time of seeking offset credits, or one year prior to discharge of offset obligations. The vendor / OEM is free to select his IOP.

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Ensure nutrition supplement ad wins hearts, Tweeple say video taught them a lot | WATCH

In this era of ads where some advertisements are really praised for their inclusivity while the others are being criticised, Ensure (an American brand of nutritional supplements) have also come up with a very heart touching advertisement in this festive season.

Published

3 years ago

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November 8, 2021

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Ensure nutrition supplement ad

By Tarannum

In this era of ads where some advertisements are really praised for their inclusivity while the others are being criticised, Ensure (an American brand of nutritional supplements) have also come up with a very heart touching advertisement in this festive season.

The video is on fleek and it’s being liked and shared by people a lot on social media, soon it came out. Tweeple are appreciating and twitting this viral video with good compliments.

In this inspiring advertisement, we can see a man making a list of guests, asking her wife for one of his specific friends on the occasion of the festival but her wife denies informing him about the long list and work overload, the man then make her a cup of hot tea made of Ensure milk powder, saying that we should thank the people who took time for us when nobody did. This cute message is liked by the people and Twitter is flooded with appreciation posts with the hashtag StrongerInsideOut.

One person tweeted that this video taught him to come up front, help people and celebrate. Have a look :

The other Twitter user wrote about the amazing initiative of this video and appreciated this.

https://twitter.com/Gopika55/status/1457671525209833479

What is Ensure?

Ensure is an American for nutritional supplements and replacements for meals. This brand, Ensure is manufactured by Abbott Laboratories.

Read Also: Amazon updates Alexa: Now you can move music between multiple echo devices, here’s how to do it!

Ensure Original contains 220 calories, six grams of saturated fat, 15 grams of sugar, and nine grams of protein in a 237-ml (8-fl oz) bottle. Water, corn maltodextrin, sugar, milk protein concentrate, canola oil, and soy protein isolate are the top six ingredients in Ensure original. For people with lactose intolerance can also take this as Ensure is considered lactose-free.

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Bollywood news

Tip Tip Barsa Paani: Raveena Tandon or Katrina Kaif? Mohra star likes tweets hailing original song

Apart from the movie’s plot, Sooryavanshi is ruling the hearts of the audience with its peppy songs. Recently, the makers have dropped the remake of the iconic 90s song Tip Tip Barsa Paani that has been recreated by Katrina and Akshay.

Published

3 years ago

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November 7, 2021

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By Tarannum

The much-awaited film from Rohit Shetty’s cop universe, Sooryavanshi hit the silver screens on November 5. Apart from the movie’s plot, the Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif starrer is ruling the hearts of the audience with its peppy songs. Recently, the makers have dropped the remake of the iconic 90s song Tip Tip Barsa Paani that has been recreated by Katrina and Akshay.

The original Tip Tip Barsa Paani song from Mohra film was voiced by the singers, noted singers Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik. It came out in the year 1994 wherein the audience had witnessed the sizzling chemistry between Raveena Tandon and Akshay Kumar.

Raveena Tandon likes tweets hailing original Tip Tip Barsa Paani

Soon after the song was released, fans started comparing it to the original song from the film Mohra, which featured Raveena Tandon and Akshay Kumar. The recreated version by Kat and Akki sent the mercury soaring and is receiving rave reviews, however, a section of fans had conflicting opinions about Katrina’s performance. While some of them admired her performance, others felt that it did not match the original version.

One of the fans tweeted that the original tip tip barsa pani is something else, that too in the early 90s. The Tip Tip Barsa Pani star has liked the tweets wherein the audience have praised the original version of the song.

Tip Tip song from Sooryavanshi

In the song, Katrina Kaif can be seen donning a silver metallic saree and her scintillating moves will surely make you fall head over heels in love with her. While Katrina is dancing in the rain, Akshay can be seen admiring her. The song has a carnival set up and has been recreated by Tanishk Bagchi.

Watch the Tip Tip song here

In other news, Telugu actor Anushka Shetty gave a return gift to her fans on the occasion of her 40th birthday. The Baahubali star has announced her new project with Mahesh Babu P.

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Cinema news & gossip

Bheemla Nayak’s latest song out: Pawan Kalyan’s new power look in the lungi

Finally the wait is over, after a long time this new song Lala Bheemla has been released today. It is debuted by the filmmakers of the upcoming film Bheemla Nayak, which stars superstar Pawan Kalyan.

Published

3 years ago

on

November 7, 2021

By

By Tarannum

Finally, the wait is over, after a long time this new song Lala Bheemla has been released today. It is debuted by the filmmakers of the upcoming film Bheemla Nayak, which stars superstar Pawan Kalyan.

Lala Bheemla is a song with such a high level of energy and music. The song is composed by S Thaman and released on the occasion of Trivikram’s birthday who is a lyricist and dialogue writer for the film.

Manobala Vijayabalan tweeted about the song release with the date, song name and the name of filmstar Pawan Kalyan.

The song is based on strong composition, intense lyrics, aggressive vocals, and hair-raising imagery which absolutely meets beyond the expectations.

It’s a treat to watch Pawan Kalyan dressed as a cop in a mass avatar in Lungi. The female dancers from Odisha in the background are also enhancing the mass appeal.

The fact that Trivikram Srinivas, who produced the film’s screenplay and dialogues, also wrote the song’s lyrics is intriguing. Because of his energetic singing, Arun Kaundinya totally changed the mood of the song which is an absolute game-changer.

If we talk about the production of the film, Naga Vamsi has produced the film under the company Sithara Entertainments. Fans of the actor Pawan Kalyan are amazed to hear this incredible song. Therefore, Bheemla Nayak is set to hit the theatres in Sankranthi 2022.

Nithya Menen also plays the lead role in Bheemla Nayak. S Thaman is in charge of the film’s musical score, while Ravi K. Chandran and Naveen Nooli are the cinematographer and editor, respectively.

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