Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released the draft of Defence Procurement Procedure Policy 2020 in New Delhi on March 20, 2020. This policy aims to make India a major global center of defence manufacturing by involving the private sector in manufacturing activities under the Make in India initiative. The government has also introduced the provision of purchase of defence equipment in various categories at affordable rates under the lease process.
Rajnath Singh said that under the new policy, this sector is being expanded by increasing the participation of Indian industries in defence production. As per the reports, arrangements have been made to provide domestic, raw materials, special types of minerals and software at affordable rates.
What is Defence Procurement Process?
It is a national policty to purchase defence equipment. Under the Defense Procurement Policy, submarines can be launched through Project Strategic Partnership involving fighter plane. At the same time, the arms will start under the project strategic partnership of the factory. With the introduction of the new government policy, the process of buying sensitive weapons or machines will be speed-up and the purchase of necessary weapons or machines will be expedited.
Under the Defense Procurement Policy, IDDM i.e. indigenously designed, developed and manufactured will be given first priority in the procurement of defence sector. Also, the manual associated with the defence procurement process will be updated every two months.
Objectives
This committee was formed in August 2019. On this occasion, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that our intention is to make India self-reliant in the matter of defence equipment. He said that we want to make India a stronghold of production of defence equipment. He said that with the experience gained by the Indian defence industry and the Ministry of Defence working together, the time has come for us to strengthen the Make in India initiative. The draft of defence procurement process should have a more indigenous share in the weapons acquired by the Indian Army.
