On 15th July 2020, The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence has granted special financial power to the armed forces to make emergency purchases of armed weapons worth upto Rs.300 crores to meet the emerging operational requirement.
Note:
Earlier, DAC has granted the special financial power to the Armed force following the Pakistan’s Pulwama attack on 14th February 2019.
Reason for granting Special power:
i.The ongoing situation on the Northern Borders with China and the need to strengthen the armed forces the DAC decided to transfer the financial power to the armed forces.
ii.The DAC delegated the power to the armed forces to reduce the procurement timeline and to ensure the order placement within 6 months and begin the delivery within 1 year.
iii.This is followed by India’s plan to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles, light tanks and anti-tank guided missiles from the International arms market.
India’s recent arms purchase:
In June 2020, DAC approved the purchase of 21 MiG 29’s from Russia and approved the 12 Sukhoi’s manufactured under licence in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL)
About Ministry of Defence:
Union Minister– Rajnath Singh
Minister of State– Shripad Yesso Naik
