New Delhi. 31 December 2016. Speedy modernisation of the Armed Forces to meet present and emerging challenges, development of requisite capacities and infrastructure for making up critical deficiency of weapons and equipment and creating a robust defence set up in the country through the ‘Make in India’ initiative, were the salient achievements of the Ministry of Defence during 2016.
The year also saw progress for the welfare of Ex-Servicemen as the much awaited One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme funds reaching the accounts of Ex-Servicemen and families. During the year as part of Defence Diplomacy, India engaged with its neighbours and Far Eastern countries,as well as also developed countries through bilateral talks, ship visits and bilateral as well as trilateral military exercises. To expedite capacity building, as well as offensive capabilities of the Armed Forces, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the apex body of the Ministry of Defence in matters of acquisitions, cleared different critical and high end defence procurement proposals to the tune of more than 1 lakh crore.
The new Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 was promulgated for capital procurements and came into effect from 1stApril. DPP-2016 has a focus on achieving the ‘Make in India’ vision by according priority to ‘Buy Indian – IDDM (Indian Designed, Developed and Manufactured) and ‘Buy (Indian)’ categories. It also focuses on enhancement and rationalization of indigenous content.
The Ministry of Defence also issued guidelines for penalties in business dealings with entities, which have come into effect from 21 November. The guidelines lay down policy for levy of financial penalties and / or suspension / banning of business dealings with entities, seeking to enter into contract with / having entered into a contract for the procurement of goods and services by the Ministry of Defence.‘Entities’ will include companies, trusts, societies, as well as individuals and their associations with whom the Ministry of Defence has entered into, or intends to enter into, or could enter into contracts or agreements.
