India Losing a Fighter Plane Every Fortnight

Commentary

KR MALKANI

My heart sank inside of me when I read, last year August 12, that in a single day three fighter planes of the Indian Air Force had crashed. A few days later the papers carried the report that these three planes alone were worth about Rs 300 crores. Some of the pilots’ lives must have been lost. They have been trained by the Air Force at a considerable expense, tax payers’ money. Money apart, what kind of a message do we send to the world as to the quality of the Indian Air Force?

Some time back there was report that in the last 42 weeks India lost 82 planes. That means every fortnight we lose one fighter plane. Previously, Pakistan claimed that they had downed four Indian helicopters. The Air Force has admitted one, but Pakistan has claimed four. What is happening? What kind of message is going round?

If you read the reports of Defense Ministry they give explanations which are of a very conventional nature. One reason given is the weather. Is there something extraordinary about the Indian weather? We do not have long dark nights; we do not have snow storms. They say there are bird-hits. Are we the only country in the world with birds? If too many birds and vultures are there, the cause could be unauthorized slaughter of cattle. That should be taken care of. How can you allow planes to fall from the sky like so many kites?

The third explanation given is mechanical failure. This is also something very unusual. The report published in The Hindustan Times of September 1, last year, is very disturbing. It says: "There is big money in bogus aircraft parts." Are some elements in the Air Force buying bogus parts? What is happening? There is a fourth thing. Government should see whether there is an element of sabotage in all these things. One hopes it is not there, but we should not leave out any possibility. After every crash, there is an inquiry. Government should place on the Table of the House all the reports of these 82 crashes in the last three and a half years.

The Defense report also says that there are pilot errors. Pilot error can be of two kinds. Is it that the pilots are not sufficiently trained or is it that they are not mentally at ease? There seems to be something in the training of the pilots.

For the last 24 years the Defense Ministry has been saying we want advance jet trainers.

Why has the AJT not been selected and purchased? Why is the Government all the time saying that they will buy either Hawk or Alpha Jet. Why? What are they waiting for? What is the confusion? When asked, what is the trainer used by Russia? The reply is, MIG-21 trainer. I asked: what is the trainer used by China? He replied: MIG-21 trainer. Please for God’s sake, Listen. This is a serious matter. I asked: what is the trainer in Pakistan? He said, the same MIG-21 trainers. The question is: why have we waited for 14 years to get that plane? Why could we not decide upon this earlier?

Then comes the matter of mental attitude of the pilot. Is the Indian pilot unhappy? Does he think that he is not paid enough? Does he think that the Indian Air Force doesn’t pay him half the salary that his counterpart gets in Indian Airlines or Air India? Whatever it is, we have to go into this matter because the Indian Air Force is facing a shortage of full 10 percent staff. There is a lot of unemployment in the county, but still not enough pilots are joining this service. There is too little money. And what is worse, there is no Izzat. In the Warrant of Precedence, all these military officers used to rank pretty high. But every few years they are being demoted. There is no inspiration. There is no patriotic feeling. Nationalism and patriotism have become un-fashionable in this age of so-called liberalization and globalization.

Every year there is a decline in the Defense budget of India.

The money increase is 3 percent in the Defense Budget. On Government’s own admission inflation would be 4.5 percent. Actually we all know that it would be much more. So, there is going to be paucity of funds. In 1987, 3.7 percent of the Budget was devoted to Defense. This year it is only a 2.5 percent. The Hindustan Times says that there is a neglect, borders on the criminal.

In the last few years, the Government has been talking of a National Security Council. But the National Security Council is nowhere to be seen. For God’s sake, have it so that we have a proper National Defense Policy and National Consensus for Defense.

[Excerpts from a Rajya Sabha speech on defense matters by KR Malkani, Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Party.]