Bloomberg suggests that India has grown militarily weaker due to Make In India, we quietly...

History is past politics and politics revolve around the people in power. Similarly, after the second world war, global politics was moulded according to the terms of the winning forces. As the three Allied Powers – Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union were victorious against the Axis Powers led by Germany. So, it was obvious that global politics would be dictated according to their terms.

It is also important to note that among the Allied Powers, the United States was the only country that did not suffer much in the war. In Europe, either winner or loser, every country suffered in equal proportion. In this way, the United States economically benefited from the war and geographically located miles away from the active war zones became the most powerful country in the post war era.

After the war, every regional, bilateral, governmental, nongovernmental, research or civil society group or institution became a puppet organisation of the US. With logistical and financial support, the American government created a multi-layered international propaganda system to advance its policies. As research and media organizations form one of the instrumental weapons of propaganda, they invested heavily in them.

Bloomberg – Propaganda Machinery of West

In the conglomeration of global propaganda of the west, Bloomberg is an international news agency headquartered in New York City, in the United States of America. Founded by Michael Bloomberg, an American businessman and politician, in 1990, Bloomberg News is a subsidiary company of Bloomberg L.P, a financial, software, and data multinational company.

Under the complete financial authority of Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg News creates stories, opinions, and editorials to serve their western masters. According to the interest of western capitalists, they manufacture paid stories with favourable facts and tried to manipulate a country’s policies, laws and regulations.

In the latest attempt of such manipulation, the Bloomberg News agency has tried to derail India’s most ambitious Make in India program in the defence sector. Written by an Indian journalist, Subdhi Ranjan Sen, the piece tries to portray the narrative of western defence manufacturers. Without going deep into the data of India’s export and import of defence hardware, the article very cleverly lobbied for the western defence manufacturing companies.

Criticising the mandated provision of the Make in India program that obligates the domestic defence manufacturers to import 30% to 60% of components locally, the article cries for not making enough improvement. Quoting some unknown official, the article states that “the air force will be forced to ground about half-a-dozen squadrons – each including 16-18 fighter jets.” Further, quoting extreme left propaganda news portal, The Wire’s journalist, Rahul Bedi, the article declares that “Make in India for defence isn’t thought through properly. It is a good slogan, beyond that there isn’t much to show as yet.”

Bloomberg also claimed that “last year the Indian Army advised the Defence Ministry to ignore Modi’s import bans and buy a few dozen much-needed utility helicopters.” From Helicopters to fighter jets, submarines to missile systems, they thoroughly tried to manipulate the audience.

Dual Use of The Article

Look at the headline of the published article “India Is Running Out of Weapons to Deter China Due to Modi Order.” In the complete article neither have they shown the present statistics of weapons, of which we are falling short, nor does it show any data which suggests that we are unable to deter China. The only thing they have tried to do is complete shaming of a very successful scheme, Make in India. Full of lies, propaganda and unknown sources quoting some cooked theories, the article is a complete propaganda piece made to derail the Atamnirbhar aspirations of India.

Bloomberg has published it with two prospects. One, showing India as weak in front of China would give the opposition parties material for propaganda. Second, to create pressure on the Indian government to procure the defence hardware on an urgent basis from western manufacturers.

Due to sanctions, Russia is not able to meet its obligations on time and China is adamant at the border. Considering the situation, the western defence manufacturers hope to get billions of dollars of defence orders from India. In a way, the article has two purposes. One, to serve their western capitalists’ defence masters. The Second, to serve their political masters in India.

Make in India – A Successful Scheme

When the Modi government took the oath, India was the second biggest defence importer in the world. It puts a huge burden on our defence budget. Additionally, this could prove to be When the Modi government took the oath, India was the second biggest defence importer in the world. It puts a huge burden on our defence budget. Additionally, this could prove to be dangerous in the wake of a crisis as our defence needs could be choked anytime. The Modi government decided to make defence manufacturing a strictly internal affair.

Defence manufacturing became a key focus of Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat. India is making indigenous defence products under 3 categories, namely, Make-I, Make-II and Make-III.

Projects falling under the Make-I category have the Union government as their funding source. The government provides 90 per cent of the funds required for this category. Currently, 7 projects are in various stages of development under Make-I. 4 of them named Indian Light Tanks, Terminal End Secrecy Device (TESD), Tactical Communication System (TCS), and Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) will benefit the Army. 3 projects namely Airborne Electro-Optical Pod with Ground-Based System, Airborne Stand-Off Jammer, and Communication System will increase the security apparatus of the Air Force.

Under the Make-II category, the defence industry is the biggest source of funding. Make-II projects can be termed as key pillars of the Make in India initiative. These are mainly designed to reduce India’s defence imports and are funded by the newly emerging domestic manufacturing industry. Projects under this particular category deal with the manufacturing of prototypes, systems, and subsystems such as spare parts, radar systems, detection systems, instrumentation parts, and light trucks. Currently, 68 such projects for all three Arms of our Forces are in operational stages.

Given the fact that it takes 10 to 15 years for an industry to get to the stage of maturity, the government has decided to take foreign companies on board as well. Projects falling under the Make-III category provide for that. Under it, an Indian vendor can form a joint venture with a foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to manufacture military hardware in India.

To eliminate any hurdle in the defence projects, the government has also decided to set up separate defence corridors. Up until now, a total of 568 licences for operating in these corridors have been provided to 351 companies. The target is to get a total turnover of Rs 1.75 lakh crore in local defence and aerospace goods by the end of 2024. The Ministry of Defence is speeding up the process of achieving this goal.

Make in India Ensured India Highest Defence Export

Aligned with the Make in India program, the Modi government brought a detailed ‘Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy’ in 2020, to make the nation self-reliant in defence production. It envisaged to achieve a turnover of Rs 1,75,000 crore, including export of Rs 35,000 crore in Aerospace and Defence goods, by 2025.

To develop the domestic defence industry, the policy has adopted various focused and structured initiatives like procurement reforms, support to start-ups and MSMEs, optimizing resource allocation, and promotion of foreign direct investment. Further, to enhance the foreign investment in the country, the FDI limit in the Defence Sector has been increased to 74% through the automatic route and up to 100% through the government route.

The Make in India program in the defence sector made a huge success in 2021-22. According to the Ministry of Defence report, India’s defence exports for 2021-22 were Rs 13000 crore, which is the highest ever export number that we have recorded in defence sector. On the top of it, the United States of America was the top buyer of Indian defence equipment.

Not Only Deterrence, A Complete Offensive Capable Weapons Against China

Unlike the 1962 War, this time India is fully prepared to bleed China in the Himalayan region. This time around, China’s back and forth strategy was met with India’s offensive-capable military hardware. In less than a month after the clash, the Defence Acquisition Council of the Ministry of Defence cleared the fast-track procurement of weapons worth $5.55 billion. Under which, India was ordered to upgrade 59 of its MiG-29s and buy 21 more MiG-29s from Russia for about $ 1 billion. Further, 12 Russian-made Su-30MKI fighter jets were ordered from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for $1.51 billion.

To upgrade its firepower in war, the government approved the procurement of ammunition for Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers, an armoured division of BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles, software-defined radios, Nirbhay land-attack cruise missiles, and Astra beyond-visual-range missiles.

Moreover, emergency procurement of Excalibur artillery rounds for M777 ultra-light howitzers from the US, Igla-S air defence system from Russia, and Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel were also approved.

Increasing the capacity of the Air Force, many air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, smart bombs, chaffs, flares, and precision-guided munitions were procured. Further, recently procured S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems have also been deployed along the Chinese borders. In its military build-up, India deployed Apache attack helicopters, Chinook weight lifting helicopters, Rafale combat jets, and advanced versions of SWITCH tactical drones for high-altitude areas like Ladakh and Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C).

In its effort to modernize the arm forces of the country, India, in recent times, has made a lot of big-ticket purchases of military hardware. In the financial year 2022-23, out of 5.25 lakh crore of the defence budget, a total of 1.52 lakh crore has been allotted to buy new arms, fighter jets, warships, and other military equipment.

Plans For 42-squadron Strength

The Indian Air Force requires about 42-squadron strength of Combat Aircrafts but is currently struggling with 18-squadron. This is a grave concern for the Indian securities. The 114 MRFA (Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft) are planned to be acquired under the ‘Buy Global & Make in India’ program of the government. The project will proceed in three phases. In the first phase, IAF will import 18 aircraft in fly-away condition. In the second phase, 36 aircraft would be manufactured in India and the payment will be made partially in foreign and partially in Indian currency. In the last stage, 60 aircraft would be made by Indian partners and the payment will be made only in the Indian currency.

India is already testing its F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet multirole frontline naval fighter jets for the Indian Navy for its compatibility with Aircraft carriers. Boeing’s ‘For India – By India’ sustainment program is aligned with the country’s Buy Global & Make in India program to enhance the supply chain capabilities by partnering with the local industry.

The collaboration of Lockheed Martin with Tata, Boeing with Mahindra Defence System (MDS), and Dassault with Reliance shows that India’s Make in India call has already taken its flight.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India, with 11% of global imports, is the largest arms importer in the world. Despite knowing the very fact, the writer conveniently covered it up. India still tops the list in defence procurement from the world. It is also a fact that we don’t want to top the list. Thus, to boost the domestic capabilities, the Make in India program mandates every manufacturer to procure at least 30-60% components from domestic vendors. That’s how we can create an independent defence manufacturer in India.

A Serial Propagandist Against India

Bloomberg’s article is a complete propaganda devoid of any factual data. It is an attempt to derail the Make in India program and serve their western masters. Earlier, on November 28, 2020, Bloomberg News also seemed to lose hope in India. In the article titled “Why I’m Losing Hope in India,” Andy Mukherjee of Bloomberg published a range of imaginary theories that will destroy India. After about two years, when you read the article, this will become clear that every single future prediction was complete propaganda.

Further, in May 2021, Bloomberg blamed Modi and Baba Ramdev for Colgate’s diminishing growth. Even in critical Covid times, they did not hesitate to promote western companies’ propaganda.

In the complete global chaos, when the world is on the verge of recession, India’s export, GDP growth rate, manufacturing index and inflation, everything is on the road to make India a global powerhouse. It is really astonishing to see the meltdown of the west on India’s success story. These small propaganda materials are going to increase even further as India grows and the 2024 general elections come close.