MoD sidelines private sector in Tactical Communications System project: to give BEL Rs 10,000 crore TCS project without competitive tendering - Broadsword by Ajai Shukla - Strategy. Economics. Defence.

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Tuesday 2 March 2010

MoD sidelines private sector in Tactical Communications System project: to give BEL Rs 10,000 crore TCS project without competitive tendering



The US Army's WIN-T, an on-the-move, high-speed, high-capacity backbone communications network


by Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 3rd March 2010

The Ministry of Defence is poised to deliver a disheartening blow to India’s nascent private defence industry. After inviting private companies into the Rs 10,000 crore project for developing the Indian Army’s futuristic Tactical Communications System (TCS), the MoD is abandoning competitive bidding and handing over the project to a defence public sector undertaking, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The reason cited by the MoD: secrecy.

Left in the lurch are six private companies --- Wipro, Mahindra Defence Systems, Tata Power, L&T, Rolta and HCL --- which the MoD had vetted in detail before categorising the TCS project as “Make --- High Tech”. In this category, the government funds 80% of the R&D cost, while the selected vendor contributes 20%. Also sidelined for the TCS are two non-defence PSUs, ECIL and ITI.

The TCS will be a fully mobile network, which can be transported anywhere during war, even into enemy territory, providing the military with a backbone network on which it can communicate and transfer data. The TCS operates much like a cellular phone network, but with two major differences. While cellular phone transmission towers are fixed onto buildings, the TCS’s exchanges and switches will be installed in high-mobility vehicles, allowing them to be transported and set up anywhere. Secondly, messages sent out over the TCS cannot be easily intercepted or jammed since they will not remain on a single frequency; instead, transmissions will hop frequencies, dozens of times every second, in a pre-programmed sequence.

It is to maintain the secrecy of this “hopping algorithm”, or the sequence in which the TCS hops frequencies, that BEL is being handed over the project. The MoD is citing a new cyber policy formulated by the apex National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) --- a secretive body that functions under the Cabinet Secretariat, overseeing electronic intelligence. The NTRO had mandated that the “hopping algorithm” must remain the exclusive preserve of the government.


The NTRO’s interpretation has been shaped by guidelines issued by Shekhar Dutt, while he was Deputy National Security Advisor. Now the governor of Chhatisgarh, Shekhar Dutt has earlier served as Defence Secretary and as Secretary of Defence Production, with close and longstanding links to BEL.

Now, based on that NTRO interpretation, a special MoD committee is about to recommend that the TCS procurement be categorized as, “Make --- Strategic, Complex and Security Sensitive Systems”. Under the Defence Procurement Policy, this will automatically gift the TCS project to DRDO and BEL.

The six private sector rivals for the TCS project are fighting back against what they consider an unfair proposal. Last Wednesday and Thursday, they huddled together with industry bodies, FICCI and CII, formulating their response to the MoD. Their argument: if the MoD ignores the private sector’s world-acknowledged competence in software, IT and communications, and continues sidelining them to benefit DPSUs, it will be hard to convince shareholders to continue investing into defence.

“We fully agree with the need for security”, explains a senior executive from one of the TCS contenders, “but secrecy can be fully preserved by reserving the ‘hopping algorithm’ for the DRDO and BEL. To safeguard the secrecy of a Rs 20,000 microchip, which contains the ‘hopping algorithm’, the MoD is handing them an entire Rs 10,000 crores project.”

An MoD Feasibility Study Group for the TCS has already discussed the issue of secrecy last year. It was decided that top-secret algorithms in the TCS would be developed by the DRDO’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), but the private sector could develop the rest of the project.

Indian private companies have played pivotal roles in some of India’s most secret defence projects. Larsen & Toubro, one of the companies being sidelined in the TCS project, built most of India’s nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, and will have a similar role in building successors to the Arihant. Another private company, Tata Power, which built crucial command systems for the Arihant, also designed the core of the top secret Samyukta Electronic Warfare system.

The Kelkar Committee had recommended that such companies, with a track record and potential in defence production, should be designated Raksha Udyog Ratnas (RuRs) and treated at par with DPSUs in the award of projects like the TCS. But, in an inexplicable volte-face after preparing a short list of candidate companies, the MoD decided against nominating RuRs.

If BEL is awarded the TCS project, that windfall will lead to many more. Applying the NTRO’s logic to other command and control projects in the pipeline --- such as the Battlefield Management System (BMS); the Operational Data Link (ODL); and the Net-Centric Operations (NCO) system --- BEL seems likely to be awarded all of these on a single-vendor basis.

The Ministry of Defence has not responded to an emailed questionnaire from Business Standard on the TCS.

“It is particularly ironic that BEL is expected to safeguard security, when it is well known that BEL systems are built mainly from foreign components”, points out an official from a private company that is bidding for the TCS. “BEL’s Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS), a system similar to the TCS, has computers and software from Israeli company, Elbit. Whether these have come with malware or switches to render the entire system inoperable will only be known in the future.”

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence, too, has raised concerns about such “false indigenization”, where DPSUs have allegedly fronted for foreign companies. The Standing Committee’s report of December 2009 notes that, “a sizeable proportion of procurement takes place through the Ordnance Factories and DPSUs, which are indigenous sources, but have to depend on imports for manufacturing the finished product.”

38 comments:

  1. Thumbs up Ajai.
    Yet another master piece from your stable.

    MOD has to change their socialist behaviour in promoting DPSUs which are promoting false indigenisation.

    BEL imports encryptors from Chinese Huwaei(not sure abt spelling)

    ITI,ECIL import things similarly from other foreign vendors.

    I wonder,unless MOD gets its due share of bribe(though these DPSU promoted foreign vendors) he wont keep on giving contracts to these DPSUs.

    It has to be the time high ,we should confront MOD on this irregularity.

    It makes sense that those foreign companies from whom these DPSUs import components does offer bribes to MOD and other bureacracy members.

    Holy cow.........only GOD should save us nationals from these corrupted junta.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Ajai,

    It is commendable on your part that you have taken up the role of competition evangelist; I appreciate that it is not an easy task to do so in the Indian context and especially in the shoddy world of Indian defence sector which is rampant with gale of nepotism.

    If self interest is driving the current state of affairs in MOD then it is time for PMO to step in and formalize these strong notions of self interest by channeling them through fair markets. I am all for the forces of market acting itself out through a just and competent process free from all forms of favoritism. May the most competent Indian vendor win the contract for TCS.

    As a tax paying citizen of India I want best value for my money. No Sir, DPSUs are not what I need.

    If India is to build an effective and efficient Military-Industrial complex then policy makers must stop unduly favoring DPSUs.I would go a step further and argue that MOD should facilitate private players because they come with no past experience in defence production while DPSUs have many years of 'experience & expertise'.

    I see only one solution to the current problem of undue nepotism between MOD and DPSUs. DISINVESTMENT!!!

    Let every paisa that comes out of disinvesting from DPSUs be reinvested in defence sector but through open competition between all participating parties. Only then will India have a robust and reliable security environment.

    I am not against DPSUs but I am definitely pro India's best interest.

    X

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ajai sir

    why doesnt the Mr.clean AK Antony smell a rat here.

    We had already talked about it sometime back. Its of no use shouting at top of the voices against the discrimination unless the pvt co join hands together and arm twist the MoD to accept there products.

    Remember whether in Scorpene construction, Mirage upgrade, Gorshkov upgrade, T-90; in all these cases the foreign co. have arm twisted MoD to accept whatever they deliver at whatever price.

    Its time Indian co. do the same.

    ReplyDelete
  4. the terminator2 March 2010 at 21:44

    Please keep exposing the hegimonic veneer of the MOD in their shameless support of the public sector companies which cannot be compared to some ot the RURs with provern records.

    If India is to become a full fledged manufacturer of defence hardware with total indigenous content, the GOI and MOD should include some of the RURs, instead of dishing out mega defence projects to the public sector which are at best the nodal agencies for foreign companies.

    If we want Indian private sector to evolve into the likes of giant American companies such as Boeing, then it is imperative that at least the major RURs are given the opportunities to prove their worth.

    Depending on foreigners to provide all state of the art technology at inflated prices is not the way to become self-sufficient in defence.

    ReplyDelete
  5. whether they hand over to DPSU or private, it doesn't make any sense to aam admi. he just wants to be protected.he doesn't care a damn by whom he is protected by.........

    no coming to the point of secrecy, our IT companies are basically started life as BPO's, who work for money.govt fears that for money they could outsource the so called "HOPPING ALGORITHM". L&T is handling arihant class subs because there is no similar talent from DPSU's to the likes of BHEL & DRDO. there is no other way they can substitute L&T with a DPSU. L&T is one among the top 5 in the world for fabricating business. so naturally GOI is unwillingly forced to give project to L&T.

    comimg to TCS system,GOI thinks that BHEL can do what all can the so called private bidders can do. so naturally privates are kicked out. GOI just wants to taste the juice private sector has got. having a mammoth organisation like DRDO, it doesn't make any sense for GOI to give contracts to privates.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Its better to keep certain things secret, but Defence Ministry should start bringing private industry in the loop, their involvement will greatly increase the capabilities, they can also be involved in R n D if we can ensure the scerecy

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chances are BEL will import everything from China and put its label on it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The administration cannot trust the natives with safeguarding such sensitive technology.
    When it comes our self preservation we trust only the Israelis and the Russians. Also the Americans, and the French, and the British.
    And as for everything sarkari being above suspicion, wasnt Rabinder Singh, a top RAW man actually a CIA mole who after being detected even managed to flee to the US through Nepal?
    As for the rest of us, we will be terribly impressed with the air power display showing foreign made planes launching foreign made weapons at Indian made targets.
    The only Indian item of prominence was probably the white Amabassador car that the President was shown using.
    Look at where the real India is, and look at where Sarkari India would like us to be.
    It would be funny if it were not so heart breakingly tragic.

    ReplyDelete
  9. typical
    it was expected the private companies will never be allowed to enter the defense industy that is certain all this farce about DPP policy is eyewash so this does'nt come as a breaking news

    ReplyDelete
  10. Giving equal status to the private companies are and will reside only in the MOD Desk paper. Hence it is totally waste of time for private companies to invest in the India's defence, its better if they are concentrating and investing this money in something else. or they have to export their defence technology to the countries interested.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You just do not need to hard code the algorithm into the system, you can use a software based system which would also entail the user to change the algorithm in case the user suspects that the algorithm secrecy has been compromised.

    Or else just the Printed Circuit Board(PCB) that does the computation of results from the frequency hopping algorithm can be designed and built in house and the remaining be built by any private company and when needed just drop in the PCB and the system is ready.
    Shukla ji, this is such an idiotic reason given by MoD that even a guy who passed his engineering from a reserved quota can figure it out.
    I think the reason is not what was stated by MoD.
    -Raj

    ReplyDelete
  12. Keep only the sensitive part with DPSUs and the rest give out to private sector.

    Alternately, classify and categorize items where the private sector were absolutely not welcome due to sensitivity and they would not waste time, money and efforts.

    ReplyDelete
  13. It is imperative that at least the major RURs are given the opportunities to prove their worth, if we want Indian private sector to evolve into the likes of giant American companies such as Boeing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I wonder that BEL has that capability to implement such high technology stuff. Last time when I came across a top performer from BEL, he was not even able to compete with an average performer of an IT company.

    BEL is definitely going to outsource those frequency hopping circuits from Chinese companies (as they pay more bribe than any other). Only part that would be secret is from where BEL got those PCB / ICs.

    From my limited knowledge on frequency hopping algorithm, algorithm is standard & known to everyone (even to me) and only the set of frequency to be used for hopping while transmitting need to be secret.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Why every one is against public sectors? PSU have made many contributions to the indian defence in the past years and will remain as the back bone of defence in the future. Ofcourse PSU lack in some new technology where they go for collaboration with foreign vendors. Even the private companies go for partnerships. There is nothing wrong in MOD favoring PSUs.

    ReplyDelete
  16. These Russians buying a ship to attack Georgia is like the world telling us russia will not sell us these types of ships.

    You please look into new ships being built like the catamarans, which are faster than normal ships, and can launch troops faster into nearby shallow shores.

    ReplyDelete
  17. well i m with the MOD on this one, private Cos are full of shit and and we cant leave crucial corner stone projects to private companies. Putting such deals in the hands of private companies is in itself a massive breach of security.

    ReplyDelete
  18. @ 18.05 Anon,

    Well Bel is one company that doesnt source its circuits and chips from China thats for sure, well if they did, everything from the Swordfish radar to the Akash SAM would have been compromised, please dont talk non-sense, you obivously have no clue about their abiltiies. Bel is currently working on a phased array 1500-2000km radar for next phase of the BMD, technology only US and Russia have for now. BEL has far more advanced experience in radars, EW suites, fire control systems and many other things that TCS can't even begin to compete on.

    If you really believe they will develope a frequency hopping algorithm that is comprehendable by you, well my friend keep dreaming. Frequency hopping is one of the basics of this tech, this frequency hopping tech will be coupled with EW suites, awacs, strategic forces command, become part of the integrated battle management system as well the Operational Datalinks, space based recon and early warning systems, our own GPS network which will go on line very soon, GAGAN and many other assets etc.

    Fact is TCS is a consulting company with experience in other industries. they can neither match or come close to BEL in the field of defence.

    so dont be naive enough to think such core security algorithms and projects will be child's play for a dumb ass like you to crack.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hopping frequency algorithm is a second world war technology. It is commonly used as CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) like the Reliance network. Anyone with little idea of networks and tele-communications can tell you that frequency hopping is done in a psuedo-random manner. Which means that someone with a sufficiently advanced set of multi frequency receivers will be able to track and eventually break your psuedo random sequence. Building such circuits is easy by the standards of today's chip design. Most of the private semi conductor companies are already doing a much advanced level of work compared to this. BEL and DRDO will most likely end up importing the same content from China or Israel, making this whole system a useless exercise.

    It is easy to smell a rat in this whole deal. MoD babus and ministers are now using the DPSUs as the cover to give the orders to foreign vendors. Eventually BEL and DRDO will import all the critical components from foreign vendors, who will supply third grade material. Tax payer's money will be siphoned off to Mummyji, Babaji and Anotnyji's swiss bank accounts.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Antony's (Congress's) motto : Safest way to take bribe is through the PSU's and DPSU's. Even if something surfaces, make the PSU officials scapegoat. (Eg : Sudipto Ghosh of OFB)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anon@3 March 2010 23:07

    You seem like a BEL employee from reserved category. I quote your moronic observation verbatim:

    "Fact is TCS is a consulting company with experience in other industries. they can neither match or come close to BEL in the field of defence.
    "

    Where does the article mention TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) working for this deal? I can see only Wipro, Mahindra Defence Systems, Tata Power, L&T, Rolta and HCL in the private player's list.

    I think you confused Tactical Communications System (TCS) with Tata Consultancy Services.

    I hope this is not the standard of manpower in BEL. They can't read even one page article properly, I shudder to think what they will do with all the complicated tech stuff.

    GOD save India.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm not an expert on the subject, but why don't we see legal action from the private players against the MoD? I'd imagine that actions like the one described in the article would run foul of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act.

    ReplyDelete
  23. @ 23:07 Anon

    Tata Consultancy Services is not in the list, if you read the blog entry carefully. TCS meant there is Tactical Comm Services.

    It was not Tata Consultancy Services that participate in the bid; it was Tata Power that participated.

    From the way you handled term "frequency hopping", I can infer that you have absolutely no understanding of what it is. So there is no point in lecturing you.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I beg to differ AK ji, frequency hopping mught be a old concept but its usage gets much more advanced. Please refrain from talking about things you wouldnt understand, even the US, Russia uses frequency hopping technology that is hihgly netwroked and interconnected with all kinds of other related tech. more importantly these frequencies are highly crypted and coded. moreover all this will be part of a much larger network of space command, indian navigational system, GAGAN, ballistic missile defence, Indian air force, Navy and Army, Strategic forces command, Electronic warfare, jamming, recon, awacs, operational datalink etc. Frequency hooping might be old but its still highly resistant to jamming.

    The circuits will be sourced domestically and you really must be crazy to think we'll get those chips from China of all places, when we have the ability to make better chips than them anyday.

    you forget Intel, IBM have their main research coming from India, the Taiwanese may manufacture them but Indians developed them. From Silicon valley to Hyderabad Indian researchers are behind some of the most advanced computers ever made.

    Lets not talk crap about what BEL can or cant do. Though you critisize them , BEL made mission computers that power the su-30mki, lca, mig-27, mirage, soon mig-29 upgrade Jaguar upgrade and mirage upgrade. BEL together with upgraded the swordfish radar and working on modifiying it more to have a 1000km range and eventually over 1500km range, all this will be ready by 2012. Even the Chinese dont have such tech. BEL made sonar is now on our nuke sub and there are many keys technologies that are both known and secret that BEL works on

    ReplyDelete
  25. Reading the comments to this article, it would appear that there is a sharp polarisation between the anti-DPSU and the pro-DPSU advocates.

    I would like to clarify one point in my own stand: I am definitely not anti-DPSU, even if this article reports on nepotism on behalf of BEL. My viewpoint is only that the private sector must be permitted to compete with DPSUs, on a level playing field.

    It will be a close competition. The private sector has important skills, especially managerial and entrepreneurial. And the DPSUs have a huge infrastructure, paid for by taxpayers over decades. May the best man win!

    People like Anonymous 11:22, Anonymous 23:07, and Anonymous 04:14 don't seem to understand the difference between DPSUs and the DRDO. Allow me to clear this confusion: the DRDO is an MoD R&D agency, which has developed many of the systems that BEL manufactures. The DPSUs are MoD production agencies, which are mandated to manufacture military equipment. Of course, many DPSUs, especially BEL and HAL, do R&D work themselves. But the bulk of the stuff that Anonymous 04:14 credits to BEL have been developed by DRDO laboratories (mission computers for fighters, sonars, torpedoes, radars, etc).

    You really must try to be clear about the basics before you enter into an argument in an informed forum.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Ajai,

    There is build to design which can be done, ie only if the manufacturing agency is closely involved. BEL and DRDO do what is known as concurrent engineering, improvements to any equipment are included in the production item on the floor itself, whenever possible. The point is BEL is closely involved in the development of DRDO designs for manufacture, if not the end to end design itself. As this forum is, as you say, informed, you must take cognizance of the fact that BEL has had a huge role to play in the success of many key indigenous projects, because without their involvement these would not be manufactured. For instance, if BEL did a shoddy job, would sonars, EW equipment and radars get accepted?
    A good comparison is with the OFB which, unlike BEL, has very little R&D capability to speak of, the end result is that DRDO designs continue to face quality issues when manufactured in bulk, because the manufacturer does not have the R&D and development set up to complement DRDOs skills in design. The 105mm LFG would be an example.
    The point I am making is that just because DRDO designs something does not mean BELs contributions are minimal, they play a significant role in transitioning that design into a successful end product with DRDO help, and then sustaining it over the product life cycle. Which is a very critical aspect.

    Second, in your prior article you noted BEL imports items (eg Samyukta) whereas a pvt firm didnt. But the latter did as well, they imported COTS hardware to port DRDO software onto. They didnt reinvent the wheel inhouse either. Similarly, with India's extensive experience in radars etc our position in manufacturing the non com segment of Samyyukta was clearer whereas the com segment could use a mix of imported hardware and the critical local software. And nor are ECIL, BEL sitting empty either, nor is DRDO for as you'd know, there are programs underway to indigenize/develop several key hardware items in comms. I think it is unfair to state that BEL just imports off the shelf whereas the pvt sector doesnt. The BOM - Bill of Materials, for any program would require DRDO/DLRL clearance and a prudent decision has to be taken in the interests of time to have a mix of indigenous and imported (in the ratio of 70:30 etc over the overall project or whatever is deemed feasible given operational requirements).

    Best regards.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Ajai,

    Did you know BEL provides lifetime 'free' servicing for the equipment sold by them to the armed forces?

    During the Kargil war, BEL engineers were all over the place in the battle field providing real time service support for not only BEL manufactured equipment but also imported equipment. Their services were hugely appreciated and acknowledged by the Army after the war.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anon@5 March 2010 13:43

    While you have made some very cogent points for BEL, you have again obfuscated the message of this article. No one is really taking BEL lightly, they do have decades of experience and tons of taxpayers money sunk into them.

    However, when developing a critical system like TCS is is always better to do competitive bidding amongst multiple companies. Then select the best possible ones with better price point and capability. In this case however, MoD has clearly gone against it's own established rules and given BEL the entire deal in a platter. By spreading the order amongst 3-4 companies India will build it's own defence industrial base in the long run.

    If BEL is really as good as you say they are, then what are they afraid of? Why don't they show their mettle in the field rather than hiding behind MoD diktats. Arbitrary rules and regulations used for arbitrary reasons only show that there is something rotten in the system. People are using all sorts of tricks to keep the public in the dark, Swiss bank accounts are being filled and country is defenceless.
    Vested interests sitting in the DPSU boards want to get more money in their accounts, even if it means cheating the whole nation.

    AK Antony will go down in the history of India as the worst defence minister.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Ajai shukla ji
    Neither PSUs nor pvt sector cos are ready to take up such a big project despite govt funding. They cannot cope with the scale and complexity of the project .
    They have to involve DRDO after all , then why to elongate the chain ??

    Have you searched about the capability of any single company that can easily handle such a paramount task with an ease other than DRDO?

    -tejas

    ReplyDelete
  30. Well done Ajay. I agree with you in certain points like promoting the Indian private firms. But we should not do it at the complete sacrifice of our public sector. These days we can see a great deal of transparency in our defence procurement policy compared to the olden days. Its a good sign. But it should be continued unhindered.
    There is absolutely no question that the private sector should be actively participated in the quest for our self reliance. But strict and foolproof measures should be taken to avoid the private firms from exploiting us in the future. There is one thing we should always consider. Private firms are ultimately business firms who work for profit not just for patriotic causes. I am not trying to blame them but it is what ultimately they are. So we should give them chance to gain orders but the MoD should always have the ultimate control over them. MoD should take further more steps to promote transparency in the deals. Indian defence industry is a goldmine and companies will be ready to accept the terms and conditions at any cost.
    Also it is definitely not a good idea to give priority to only a handful of big shots. Every company should have equal opportunity. Public sector should be there in full pitch to avoid and arm twist in the future by the private firms upon the pressure from their foreign partners. Never raise the foreign investment scale or they will make the Indian firm just puppets in their hands.
    To improve performance of the public sector there should be some vital steps to be taken like preventing the brain drain caused by the ‘foreign mania' of the IIT holders. Government is pumping the public’s money into word class training provided to the IIT students who ultimately end up in some foreign firm competing and outperforming Indian firms at our own expense. Government should make it mandatory for them to work with Indian firms itself. Also there should be some effective watch dogs specifically in the performance point of view. Which the media is doing very effectively from outside.

    ReplyDelete
  31. for every great thing that I really enjoyed, there's two more that fall flat on their faces that were painful to watch. It is commendable on your part that you have taken up the role of competition evangelist.

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  32. Hello BEL tom tom !!! mission computers for SU30 mki is not made by BEL!!!!pls check again and again before posting!!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Government is pumping the public’s money into word class training provided to the IIT students who ultimately end up in some foreign firm competing and outperforming Indian firms at our own expense. Government should make it mandatory for them to work with Indian firms itself.

    This faith in the government is misplaced. The Indian government is possibly the worst democratic government in the world in terms of productivity (results produced for money spent). Even a country like Bangladesh with half the per capita income of India does relatively better on key HDI indicators.

    The solution to all the various monopolies and resource grab by the public sector is to privatise it. Sell off 51% lock, stock and barrel for whatever price can be obtained. Sadly, with the protectionists running the government of the day, it is going to be a long wait as India muddles through the current regression to socialism.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I faintly remember some DRDO lab being robbed of communication algorithms a few years ago. The incident was widely publicised. So much for assuring secrecy by govt agencies. I doubt BEL tecnicians would resist an offer of chi biskut to smuggle a pen drive.

    ReplyDelete
  35. secrecy of hopping algorithm is crap.... it could be protected in a much better way with private vendors than with DPSUs as employee working in private company will think hundred times before sniffing out any information because of severe consequences on individual and organization level than a government employee.

    ReplyDelete
  36. moreover, highly paid intelligent engineers working in private companies could do better in designing hopping algorithm and data encryption than engineers/scientists in these sloppy DPSUs.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Over the years I have come to the sad conclusion that it is our government's socialist attitude towards defence production that has led to the sad state of the Indian defence industry. Nearly all contracts are either handed over to PSUs/DRDO labs who, thanks to their self-centred labour unions, have no real deadlines or consequences for failing milestones and are free to drag projects for years and years till they are cancelled or bailed out with foreign collaboration.

    The only way India can have a defence industry to compare with that of the West is to privatise it. The mere notion of having to work for a living and not having assured employment and no deadlines or milestones will be enough to motivate private sector employees. But of course, our PSU labour unions will never allow that. As far as they are concerned the main priority of the defence sector is to keep them employed, not to supply the armed forces' needs.

    And thus self-reliance is a dream and ironically our armed forces imports billions of dollars worth of equipment from FOREIGN PRIVATE SECTOR COMPANIES!

    ReplyDelete
  38. MoD Babus find it safe to give the project to BEL. Not that they donot get their cut but that they get through teh sub contractors of BEL. BEL feeds RM, RRM, Secy Def , Secy Def Fin and Secy DP well. MoD should to sued in teh court of law for issuing EoI and making private frims spend crores in preparing for the project. BEL produces nothing of its own and buys everything from outside. Even if it tends to produce some thing the QC is horrible. BEL could not complete PLAN AREN over more than 50 Years now. How will they do it for TCS. India will remain vulnerable . Indian DPSUs are the biggest enemy of Indian Armed Forces.

    ReplyDelete

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