Far from Reality

Gp Capt. AK Sachdev (retd)

Irony, the contrast between expectation and reality, aptly describes the situation of our largely inefficient Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). They were conceived as instruments to reduce dependence on foreign products, but over the years they grew into behemoths that did little to make India self reliant. With government patronage and fond neglect, their internal inefficiencies grew while the step-motherly treatment to private enterprise stunted growth in that sphere. Narendra Modi’s coming to power changed the thinking with his launching ‘Make in India’ as a national slogan in September 2014 and putting all his weight behind it.

Defence and aerospace are salient components of that programme; indeed, Modi pushed ‘Make in India’ by making it the theme of the 2015 Aero India Show and even inaugurating the show personally. Nonetheless, ‘Make in India’, while becoming increasingly audible in and out of context, does not have much to show in terms of actual statistics and achievements. A new slogan, ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, was invented in May 2020 in the context of a Covid-19 related economic package; it relied on bringing economic stimulus to a stifled nation. Six years after Modi used ‘Make in India’ at Aero India Show 2015, he used ‘Atmanirbhar’ as the theme for the Show’s 2021 edition.

Just before the Show took off, Modi tweeted, “India offers unlimited potential in defence and aerospace. Aero India is a wonderful platform for collaborations in these areas. The government of India has brought futuristic reforms in these sectors, which will add impetus to our quest to become ‘Atmanirbhar’.” The defence minister, Rajnath Singh, in another tweet, labelled the Show as a ‘Runway to a Billion Opportunities’; this phrase was emblazoned on the Show brochures as well. Indeed, ‘Atmanirbhar’ was the underlying theme for this edition of the Show with an Atmanirbhar Formation Flight, all aircraft made in India (under license production or else) on static and aerial displays, extensive floor space in the exhibition halls occupied by Indian entities bellowing the ‘Atmanirbhar’ refrain, almost every foreign participant in the Show tripping over the other to display his stout allegiance to ‘Atmanirbhar’, and even the logo of the Show being inspired by Tejas, the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) produced in India. This article tries to contextualise ‘Atmanirbhar’ in defence aerospace through the Aero India Show prism.

The Atmanirbhar Show

The Show had 602 participating entities of all hues and sizes; of these 524 were Indian. The inaugural function underlined the ‘Atmanirbhar’ theme with the contract for 83 Tejas aircraft being handed over by Rajkumar, Secretary of Defence Production, to R. Madhavan, the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). In January the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) under Modi’s chairmanship had approved procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircrafts and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircrafts at a cost of Rs 45,696 crore along with design and development and infrastructure sanctions worth Rs 1,202 crore on 13 January 2021. Appropriate noises were made about its magnitude making it the largest ever defence contract for an indigenous manufacturer.

The defence minister, who inaugurated the Show, announced plans to invest an equivalent of USD 130 billion over the next seven-eight years for military modernisation. H