Parliament adjourned sine die, updates: Narendra Modi uses 'bhukamp' jibe against Rahul, says no quakes in 5 years of governance

Narendra Modi addresses Rahul’s hug

“I came to know for the first time the difference between ‘gale milna’ (hugging) and ‘gale padna’,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, reffering to Rahul Gandhi’s hug during the no-confidence debate in July 2018.

Samajwadi Party leader reacts to Mulayam’s remark

Samajwadi Party leader Ravidas Mehrotra reacted to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s remark that he hoped Modi return as the prime minister. “I don’t have knowledge about the context in which he said it, but we want a change of government at the Centre. Prime minister himself will lose from his constituency,” Mehrotra said.

https://twitter.com/ANINewsUP/status/1095646269752643585

Modi praises Mallikarjun Kharge

Modi praised senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge for his contribution as an Opposition leader, and said that conversations with Kharge helped “stir my thought”.

“Micchami Dukkadam,” he said. The term is a phrase used to seek forgiveness for any offence committed.

Modi’s ‘bhukamp’ dig at Rahul

Taking a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that in 5 years of governance no quake managed to get through. “Hum sunte the ki bhookamp aayega, par koi bhookamp nahi aya,” he said. In 2016, Rahul famously said that if he were allowed to speak in Parliament there would be an earthquake.

Referring to allegations of corruption in Rafale deal, he said, “Big personalities tried to fly aircrafts. The power of democracy is such that no aircraft could bring down this government.”

‘India’s economy a matter of pride’

“Every member of the House contributed for its productivity. India’s economy is a matter of pride. The country is knocking on the door to becoming a $5-trillion economy,” Narendra Modi said.

Lauding the contributions of the parliamentarians, he said, “This House passed the laws to fight the menace of black money and corruption. This House also passed the GST bill. We are committed to bring back those who looted India.”

‘India got full majority govt after three decades’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded his NDA government and said that it was formed with full majority after three decades. He listed his government’s efforts to tackle global warming. “The world today is discussing the issue of global warming and India has made an effort for the formation of the International Solar Alliance to combat this problem,” he said.

He claimed that the highest number of satellites were passed under his government. “India has now become a launch pad,” he said.

Modi hails women parliamentarians

In his Lok Sabha speech, Narendra Modi hailed women representation in the Parliament. “We have two women ministers. We also have a woman Speaker,” he said.

“We will be proud of this 16th Lok Sabha, as it saw the highest number of women members elected to the House. 44 first time women MPs were time elected to the Lok Sabha.”

Modi addresses Lok Sabha for the last time before general election

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “In 2014, I was one of the MPs who came first. I didn’t even know the geography of the Lok Sabha. There were 13 prime ministers who sat here before me.”

Mulayam praises Modi while sitting next to Sonia

“PM ko badhaai dena chahta hun ki PM ne sabko saath lekar chalne ki koshish ki hai. Main kehna chahta hun ki saare sadaysa phir se jeet kar aayen, aur aap (PM) dobara pradhan mantri banein (I would like to congratulate the prime minister for his efforts to bring everybody together for development. I want to say that all Lok Sabha MPs should again win their seats and Modi becomes the prime minister again),” Mulayam Singh Yadav said in Lok Sabha. 

The veteran Samajwadi Party leader made the statement while being seated next to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s big statement in Lok Sabha

In Lok Sabha, Veteran Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav issued a statement which could make the Opposition’s attempt to stitch in a Mahagathbandhan to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“I hope Narendra Modi returns as Prime Minister,” he said, triggering an instant thumping of desks from the treasury benches.

No ‘Letter of Comfort’ in new deal, India would have to settle matter through direct arbitration in case of beach of trust

The CAG report, however, highlighted the drawbacks of settling for a ‘Letter of Comfort’ rather than a sovereign guarantee by the French government. The report noted that the 2007 UPA deal included a 15 percent bank guarantee against advance payments. But, now with the conditions of the present deal, in case of a breach of agreement, India would now have to first settle the matter through arbitration directly with the French vendors.

No guarantee in deal led to savings for Dassault Aviation but benefit was not passed to India: CAG report

The CAG noted in its report that in the 2007 offer, Dassault Aviation had provided performance and financial guarantees which was about 25% of the total value of the contract. “The vendor had embedded the cost in its bid price. But in the 2016 contract there are no such guarantees/warranty. This led to saving for Dassault Aviation which was not passed on to India,” it observed.

Report misses key point of pricing, govt has said it can’t be revealed

Several Opposition leaders criticised the report and called it “incomplete” for missing out the controversial bit on the pricing of the Rafale aircraft. However, the BJP-led central government has already said in the Parliament that the pricing of the deal can’t be revealed.

ASQRs were changed repeatedly during the procurement process, says CAG report

The audit noted that IAF, instead of defining in the ASQRs in terms of functional parameters, made it exhaustive and included detailed technical or design specifications. That had several consequences such as none of the vendors could fully meet the ASQRs; user needs were sometimes overridden; ASQRs were changed repeatedly during the procurement process; waivers had to be obtained for some ASQRs; and some ASQRs were shifted to Contract Negotiations Committee (CNC) to negotiate, though these were technical issues.

CAG report says delays in acquisition process were due to ‘complex, multi-level approval’ system

Against the three years envisaged in the Defence Procurement Process, four cases took more than three years and seven cases took more than five years to reach the contract conclusion stage. The report states that the delays in the acquisition were essentially due to a complex and multi-level approval process, where objections could be raised at any stage.

There were several delays in acquisition process; model used for life cycle of cost of acquisition needs upgrade**: CAG report**

Apart from revealing that there were several delays at various stages of the acquisition process, the report also says that the CNC repeatedly failed in realistically estimating the benchmark price, making it difficult to establish the responsibility of price. This caused a delay in price evaluation and contract negotiations. It mentions that the model used for calculating the life cycle cost of acquisition had several deficiencies and needs to be fine-tuned and improved further.

Basic flyaway aircraft was bought at same price as UPA’s deal

The defence ministry had argued in 2016, the contracted price was nine percent lower than the price of the 2007 deal. But, according to the CAG report the basic flyaway aircraft was bought at the same price as at the time of UPA’s deal and the deal was only 2.86% cheaper.

Basic aircraft was procured at same price, four items at lower cost than aligned price: CAG report

The report mentions that in the new deal, three items, including the basic aircraft, were procured at the same price, while four items were purchased at lower than the aligned price.

CAG report says that four Indian specific enhancements were not needed by IAF but were included nevertheless

The CAG report says that four of the Indian specific enhancements were not needed at all because in the technical evaluation of 2010, the IAF had pointed out these were not needed. However, they got included in the scope, despite IAF making several attempts to reduce these items. The report also mentions that the IAF did not define the Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQRs) properly. As a result none of the vendors could fully meet ASQRs.

P Chidambaram tweets about the missing clauses in Rafale deal

Reacting to CAG report on Rafale deal, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram tweeted, “No bank guarantee, no sovereign guarantee and no Escrow account! No anti-corruption clause!” 

The report has said that the Ministry of Defence had sought opening of an Escrow account to manage the payments as a measure of safeguard. However, the French side did not agree.

No of respondents to RFP were ‘far less’ than no of vendors invited for Rafale bid: CAG report

According to the press note released by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Rafale audit noted that the vendor response to the solicitation of offers was low, which restricted competition. The number of vendors who responded to the Request For Proposal (RFP) was far less than the number of vendors who were invited to bid, the report says.

Model used for calculating the Life Cycle Cost of acquisitions had several deficiencies, says CAG report

Report mentions that the Ministry faced difficulties in realistically estimating the benchmark price, making it difficult to establish the reasonability of price. This also caused a delay in the price evaluation and contract negotiations. The model used for calculating the Life Cycle Cost of acquisitions had several deficiencies and needs to be fine-tuned and improved further.

CAG report has based its cost analysis on 11 parameters

Here are the 11 parameters on which CAG based its cost analysis to prove that NDA’s deal is cheaper by 2.6%

1. Flyaway Aircraft Package

2. Service products

3. Indian specific Enhancement 

4. Standards of preparation 

5. Engineering support package

6. Performance-based logistics

7. Tools, testers and ground equipments

8. Weapons package 

9. Role equipment

10. Training of pilots and technicians 

11. Simulator and simulator training

Defence Ministry wanted to scrap 126 aircraft deal in 2015 as it found Dassault Aviation non-compliant with technical requirements

According to ANI, the report states that a Defence Ministry team in March 2015 had recommended the scrapping of the 126 Rafale deal saying that Dassault Aviation was not the lowest bidder and EADS (European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company) was not fully compliant with the tender requirements. 

Finding issues in UPA’s deal, Defence Ministry team had said in 2015 that the proposal of Dassault Aviation Rafale should have been rejected in technical evaluation stage itself as it was non-compliant with RFP requirements, the report says.

Interim Budget 2019-20 and Appropriation Bill passed in RS without debate

Rajya Sabha passes Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address without debate. Interim Budget 2019-20 and Appropriation Bill also passed without debate.

CAG report has conducted an item wise cost analysis of both NDA and UPA’s deals 

The CAG report, however, without giving pricing details, has conducted an item wise cost analysis of the Rafale jets comparing with price bid in 2007 and aligned price through the inter-governmental agreement in 2015. It has arrived at the figure that the NDA deal is cheaper than the UPA’s comparing the cost analysis at 11 parameters.

CAG report says that comparison of prices with UPA’s deal had created additional difficulties

The comparison of prices under 2007 (UPA deal) and 2015 offers has posed its own difficulties because the package offered in 2007 included the price of license production of 108 aircraft in India while 2015 offer included only flyaway aircraft, which was compared costs of 18 flyaway aircraft, says the CAG report on Rafale deal.

‘ASQRS weren’t properly defined’, there were many delays in acquisition process, says CAG report

The CAG report has said that the IAF did not define the ASQRs (Air Staff Qualitative Requirements) properly and as a result, none of the vendors could fully meet the ASQRs. ASQRs were changed repeatedly during the procurement process. 

Also, there were delays at various stages during the acquisition process due to “complex and multi-level” approval process, where objections could be raised at any stage.

Arun Jailtey says the ’lies of mahajhootbandhan have been exposed’ with CAG’s report

“It cannot be that the Supreme Court is wrong, the CAG is wrong and only the dynast is right. How does democracy punish those who consistently lied to the nation? The lies of ‘mahajhootbandhan’ stand exposed by the CAG Report,” Jaitley said on Twitter.

‘Satyamev Jayate’, tweets Arun Jaitley as CAG reports reveals India saved money, got faster delivery with new deal

“Satyameva Jayate – the truth shall prevail.  The CAG Report on Rafale reaffirms the dictum. 2016 vs 2007 terms – Lower price, faster delivery, better maintenance, lower escalation,” Tweeted Jaitley after the CAG on Air Force deals was tabled in Rajya Sabha.

CAG report’s findings contradict news report on Rafale deal which had said that it was “no better than UPA’s”

As opposed to The Hindu’s report which had quoted experts to claim that Modi government’s deal “was no better” than UPA’s deal of 126 aircraft, the CAG report has mentioned that the government not only saved money with the new deal but the delivery schedule was also better by five months, in case purchase of the 36 Rafale jets.

Delivery schedule of 18 aircraft better by five months, compared to UPA’s deal: CAG report

The CAG report also mentions that the delivery schedule of the first 18 Rafale aircraft is better by five months than the one proposed in UPA’s 126 aircraft deal, ANI reported.

Modi goverment’s deal was 2.86% cheaper than UPA’s: CAG report

According to the CAG report, tabled before Rajya Sabha, as compared to the 126 aircraft deal of the UPA, the 36 Rafale contract done by the Modi government was 2.86% cheaper.

Congress also participated in protests outside Parliament House

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was seen flying paper planes, marked as Rafale, along with other Opposition MPs outside the Parliament premises.

Delhi: Earlier visuals of protest by Congress party, in the Parliament premises over Rafale deal. pic.twitter.com/7ciCSjXmO4

— ANI (@ANI) February 13, 2019

‘Bluff, bluster and intimidation’ has been the philosophy of Modi government, says Sonia Gandhi

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi gave a speech at the Congress’ parliamentary committee meeting on Wednesday, in which she attacked the Modi government for ‘weakening’ various institutions including the Parliament and called it an “unprecedented economic stress and social stain for the country”.

UPA Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi's full speech from the joint meeting of the Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha CPP in Parliament earlier today. pic.twitter.com/vwlMvYqKHC

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 13, 2019

Mallikarjun Kharge says ’negotiators of Rafale deal are now preparing CAG report’

Mallikarjun Kharge told the media, “You can see that they are prejudiced, who have already made a decision, so this report holds no value. Secondly, there is a conflict of interest. The man who was then a negotiator is now preparing the report.”

CAG report will also be tabled in Lok Sabha

Even as the Opposition created a ruckus over the tabling of the CAG report on Rafale deal in the Rajya Sabha, the report will next be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. 

Delhi: Earlier visuals of CAG report being brought to the Parliament. pic.twitter.com/JfDJBBOU7O

— ANI (@ANI) February 13, 2019

CAG report: ‘Air Force, Performance Audit on Capital Acquisition in Indian Air Force’ tabled in Parliament

The report which will include the performance audit details and a list of acquisitions made by the Indian Air Force, including the controversial Rafale deal, was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday by Junior Finance Minister Pon Radhakrishnan.

Mallikarjun Kharge slams Centre; says they have already told SC about the Rafale deal in  a ‘sealed envelope’ 

As the CAG report on the Rafale deal is set to be tabled in the Parliament today, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that the MPs might come to know what’s in the report on Wednesday, but the government has already told Supreme Court what their intention is, “in a sealed envelope”, on the basis of which SC ruled that there was no “scam in pricing” of the fighter jet planes.