defenceandspacediaryJULY 08, 2019 News the Newsbehind 13
getting fi rst hand feedback has resulted
in addressing the defi ciencies in supply of
quantity and quality of ammunition.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS
IN INDIAN DEFENCE
SECTOR
The policy and procedure for the
selection of private Indian entities as
Strategic Partners (SP) was approved by
the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)
on 20.05.2017 and promulgated as
Chapter VII of the Defence Procurement
Procedure (DPP)- 2016 on 31.05.
after placing the same before the Cabinet
Committee on Security (CCS). The
procurements to be made through SP
route pertain to the following four
segments, the parliament was informed
this week: Fighter Aircraft; Submarines;
Helicopters; and Armoured Fighting
Vehicles (AFVs)/Main Battle Tanks
(MBTs).
The cases progressed by Service
Headquarters (SHQs) under the SP
Model are as under:
Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH):
Expression of Interest (EoI) has been
issued for shortlisting of Indian Strategic
Partners and OEMs (Original Equipment
Manufacturers). Responses have been
received and evaluation thereof has
commenced.
P-75(I) Submarines: Th e Expression
of Interest for shortlisting of Indian SPs
and OEMs is at draft stage.
Fighter Aircraft: The evaluation
of responses to the RFI (Request for
Information) and fi nalisation of SQR
(Services Qualitative Requirements) have
commenced.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Main
Battle Tanks: Request for Information is
at draft stage.
The OFB-DPSUs are intricately
intertwined with the network of Indian
private sector companies including
MSMEs. There are more than 8000
MSMEs which are among the vendor
base of OFB & Defence PSUs, supplying
various items to them.COMMENT
UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE
CHANGE AS A NATIONAL
SECURITY CONCERN
Avino Niphi
The scientific community has
unequivocally confi rmed the alarming
severity of climate change impacts arising
from excessive anthropogenic infl uence.
Over the years, the frequency of extreme
weather conditions has been observed to
have a direct bearing on the availability
of water in India and consequent eff ects
on agricultural productivity, economic
growth and social stability. In addition,
the relationship between climate change,
peace, security and development is also
becoming more apparent.
Human security lies at the core of
climate change impacts. However, the
impact on human security is not accorded
high priority status in national and/
or regional policy-making agendas in
most contexts. As the central security
provider for the people it governs, the
state would benefi t from expanding the
discourse on climate change to view it also
as a national security concern. Doing so
could facilitate overcoming the prevailing
sluggishness in policymaking aimed at
tackling climate issues while also keeping
the focus on human security. Given how
eff ects of climate change overlap with
traditional security concerns within the
policy domain, such an approach could
provide an entry-point to formulating
timely mitigation-based state responses.
On a transnational level, the impact
that climate change could have on a
country is much greater and could unfold
as matters of national security. In this
regard, the vulnerability of the Indo-
Bangladesh region to climate change is
a helpful case study to understand theinter-linkages in the long term national
security concerns and priorities of both
countries. Alongside India’s proneness
to climate related risks, Bangladesh
has been ranked the 7th worst weather
affected country since 1998. Today,
two-thirds of Bangladesh’s territory is
situated less than fi ve meters above sea
level, signifi cantly aff ecting the country’s
agricultural productivity.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND
THE INDIA-BANGLADESH
CONTEXT
While both India and Bangladesh have
managed to create a space for themselves
in the international community through
impressive economic growth rates and
have stabilised their bilateral relations
since the formation of Bangladesh in
1971, the dual consequences of climate
change, i.e. environmental degradation
and the perceived threat to national
security due to the cross-border infl ux
of migrants, have often manifested in
bilateral relations. Intensification of
these concerns could potentially roll back
years of socio-economic progress in both
countries as well as bilateral rapport-
building.
An estimated 13.3 million people in
Bangladesh are expected to be displaced
by 2050 due to climate-change induced
effects. In such a scenario, migratory
responses among those affected seem
inevitable. For a country that is locked
by Indian territory on three sides, and
by the Bay of Bengal on the fourth, the
optimal recourse for climate displaced
people in Bangladesh would be to relocate
and seek refuge either in other parts of
Bangladesh or into the other proximate
regions, i.e. north-east Indian states and
West Bengal. However, from the Indian
perspective, the north-eastern states are
not economically equipped to handle
any major migrant influx; and West
Bengal, the fourth most populous state,
is likely to face demographic unrest as a
side eff ect of mass infl ux of people. Th e
resultant competition over opportunities
and resources would pose a challenge to