The Coalition Years

by Pranab Mukherjee

According to the provision, all foreign companies that won contracts above ₹300 crore had to mandatorily invest 30 per cent of the value of the contract in the country as direct offsets.

a set of timelines were prescribed for each step in the acquisition process.

To strengthen transparency, all generic requirements of the services were to be uploaded on the Defence Ministry

the very fact that they had been ferreted out from a secure naval computer, was unsettling. Irrespective of the nature of the information that had been leaked, the sheer criminality of the act had to be established. The truth had to be unearthed and I was not willing to compromise on that. I, therefore, took the decision to refer the matter to the CBI, which registered a case on 20 March 2006.78

Don't be ashamed it happened. Focus on investigation and prevention.

A message had to be sent out that there would be zero tolerance in matters relating to breach of security. I made this clear in unequivocal terms in the annual address of the Naval Commanders Conference on 2 May 2006. The armed forces had to follow ‘a zero defect system to ensure secrecy’.80

I was also asked about my plans to visit the US at the invitation of Secretary Rumsfeld. I mentioned that the visit was under consideration.