India Today – October 08, 2018

22 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 8, 2018

Hollande’s statement seemed to f ly in the face of the government’s

assertions that it had nothing to do with Anil Ambani’s presence in

the deal. “I’ve not put his name or anyone in the Inter Governmental

Agreement nor can I tell a commercial firm to enter into an agree-

ment,” defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had told the media just

three days earlier, reiterating the line the government’s taken since the

Congress seized upon Rafale as an issue in November 2017.

The deal now has serious potential for embarrassing both gov-

ernments. Asked about Hollande’s statement on the sidelines of the

UN General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron spoke of the

‘clear rules’ in ‘a government-to-government discussion’ and of the

contract becoming part of a broader military and defence coalition

framework between the two countries. Yet, his predecessor’s state-

ment will echo on in what promises to be an unending episodic

controversy until the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. With the opposition

Congress firing away at the government, alleging corruption, nepo-

tism, crony capitalism and price inf lation and demanding a Joint

Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for a probe, the Rafale controversy

has become a political hot potato. Like most political polemic, there

are several misperceptions involved but few facts.

FORMER FRENCH PRESIDENT FRANCOIS

HOLLANDE TOSSED A STUN GRENADE

INTO AN ONGOING CONTROVERSY OVER

INDIA’S 2016 PURCHASE OF 36 RAFALE

FIGHTER AIRCRAFT. ON SEPTEMBER

21, HOLLANDE TOLD FRENCH NEWS

PORTAL MEDIAPART THAT THE INDIAN

GOVERNMENT HAD PROPOSED THE

NAME OF THE ANIL AMBANI GROUP

AS AN INDUSTRIAL PARTNER. HIS

STATEMENTS CONTRADICTED WHAT THE

NARENDRA MODI GOVERNMENT HAS

MAINTAINED SINCE THE CONTROVERSY

BROKE LAST NOVEMBER.

HOW THE

` 30,000 CR

OFFSETS WILL

BE SPENT

Defence

offsets form

50 per cent of

the Rs 59,000

crore Rafale

deal, the

largest since

the policy was

introduced in

2005. They are
      spread across
      the defence
      industry and
      joint ventures
      in the country.
      Reliance has a
      JV with both
      Dassault and
      Thales

THALES

`6,300 cr

Makes the

electronics,

radar and

counter-

measures in

the aircraft

30

%

THALES

OFFSETS

Q BEL

Q BEL-hales JV

Q Samtel hales JV

Q Reliance hales JV

Q Axiscades

Q Aviohelitronics

Q HCL

Q L&T Spectrum

Q Centum Electronics

Q SFO

Q Astra Microwave

Q Cyient

DASSAULT

OFFSETS

Q Lakshmi Machine

Works

Q Mahindra

Aerostructure

Q Defsys

Q Dassault-Reliance

Aerospace Ltd (DRAL)

Q MM Tech

Q Maini Precision

Product

Q L&T

Q Ligare Aviation

Q Airworks

Q Taj Air

Q LGM India

Q P3

Q Cyient

Q Capgemini india

Q E2E

Q iBM India

Q SFO

Q Steria India

Q TCS

QSpiral EHL

Engineering

QGlastronix

QAerospace Tooling Jigs

and Ground Handling