Government should buy Indian military hardware: Former Army chief Gen Shankar Roychowdhury

NEW DELHI: Former Army chief Gen Shankar Roychowdhury today emphasised on the need for developing indigenous technologies for achieving self reliance in the defence sector and urged the government to procure military hardware from Indian sources only.

"There should be a change in the attitude. The technologies should be developed and they would not come to us just like that. We have to work hard to get them," he said at the launch of his book "Decoding India's Defence Procurement"

"The blackbox will open, but what will come out remains the question...We have to be Indian and buy Indian," he added.

The editor of the book, General NC Vij emphasised on the need for development of technologies and weapons with the resources that were available with the country.

"Both the public and the private sector should work hand in hand for the upgradation of technologies in India. The budget has increased 15 per cent from the last government but the additional cost of the defence sector stretches up to USD 150 billion. However, the money provided for the budget is only USD 13 billion according to our study," he said.

I believe that a regulatory body should be set up to ensure a genuine 'Transfer of Technology' (TOT), he added.

Published in The Economic Times 12^th September 2014 [1]