Shri AK Antony, RM inaugurates Navy FIS

Defence Minister Dedicates Indian Navy's Financial Information System

 

RM and CNS release Manual of Navy's Financial Information System

 

“EVERY RUPEE THAT WE GET FROM THE INDIAN TAX PAYER WE MUST UTILISE IT

PROPERLY EFFECTIVELY AND AS PER THE PRIORITY”: AK ANTONY 

 

 

       The Defence Minister Mr AK Antony, on 11 Aug 12 dedicated the Indian Navy’s Financial Information System (FIS) to the Nation.

 

       Lauding the Navy’s initiative as a major initiative in the field of financial management Mr Antony said “I hope other two services and all the other departments of the Government of India will follow this timely and useful initiative of the Indian navy.  I would like to congratulate the navy for taking this timely initiative”. 

 

       Speaking about the need for judicious utilization of the nations fiscal resources, Mr Antony said  “Now our defence budget is touching nearly 2 lakhs crores, in actual terms 1,93,000 Crores, and in the years to come this will further step up every year, substantial step up is there.  But even then considering the security scenario around us we will not be able to find resources as per the aspirations of the armed forces fully”. Emphasizing the importance of laying out proper priorities he said that “We have prepared the annual plan, five year plan and the LTIPP upto 2027”. Urging other Armed Forces to take a cue from the Indian Navy’s initiative Mr Antony said “if the other services follow, will help you also, for a proper planning how to utilise our rare resources”. Ever conscious of the need for fiscal prudence Mr Antony stressed this aspect saying “Every rupee that we get from the Indian Tax payer we must utilise it properly effectively and as per the priority. That is why I feel it is a very timely initiative by Indian Navy. It will help entire nation even at least entire government if we can follow this initiative with all the departments of the Government of India”.    

The FIS, a comprehensive financial information system, will facilitate effective planning, allotment, expenditure and monitoring of the Naval Budget. The system links the New Delhi based Naval Headquarters with the three Command Headquarters and various ships and establishments located far and wide across the country. 

 

      The onerous task of Budget Management involved monitoring allotment and expenditure across about five hundred Code heads being spent by six hundred and fifty units across the Navy. The implementation of FIS marks a transition from the predominantly manual system of budget management and will reduce the delays and efforts involved in data collation and reporting, inherent in any manual system. By consolidating the transactions of disparate organizations across the various code heads on a single unified platform FIS will enable timely decision making to ensure optimal utilisation of budget.

 

     Saying that the FIS “is another step in the series of measures to bring about more probity, accountability and transparency in our public dealings and financial transactions”, Mr Antony stressed upon the need to “Overcome existing constraints and enhance integration of CDAs to ensure maximum utilisation of the FIS”. 

The Financial Information System (Navy) is built on SAP Enterprise Resource Planning tools and has been custom configured and developed by M/s Wipro for the Indian Navy.

 

    Earlier in the function, giving the welcome address the Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral RK Dhowan had pointed out that the Indian Navy had fully utilized it’s allocated budget for the last six years. It is pertinent to highlight that the Indian Navy has consistently maintained a healthy ratio of capital budget to revenue budget. For the year 2012-13 the budget allocation for the Indian Navy stands at 68:32 for Capital: Revenue budget.

India-made nuke submarine to be on trial soon: Admiral Verma

New Delhi: Indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant will be soon launched for sea trials as part of efforts towards completing India’s nuclear triad and achieve a credible and invulnerable retaliatory strike capability, the Navy said today.

However, the conventional submarine force levels of the Navy were on decline for which the maritime service was looking at the option of manufacturing submarines in foreign shipyards.

'Arihant is steadily progressing towards its operationalisation and we hope to commence sea trials in the coming months. Given our unequivocal no-first-use commitment- a retaliatory strike capability that is credible and invulnerable is an imperative.

'The Indian Navy is poised to complete the triad and our maritime and nuclear doctrines will then be aligned to ensure that our nuclear insurance comes from the sea,' Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma said at his farewell press conference.

He said commissioning of the nuclear attack submarine INS Chakra on 23 January launched India into a 'select group of six nations' that operate SSNs.

The Russian-origin submarine 'Chakra' has added 'considerable punch to our maritime power and will aid in developing future concepts of naval operations in this very critical sphere', he said.

On the 'declining' force level of Russian Kilo and German HDW diesel electric submarines, he said, 'It is a fact and that is why there is a proposal that we build two submarines at the collaborator's shipyard and that case is being pursued with the Defence Ministry.'

The Navy is planning to issue a tender soon for six new diesel electric submarines under Project-75 India and of these the two are planned to be developed at foreign vendor's shipyard, Verma said adding such an initiative will also help in training the construction team to work on the project when it starts in the country.

On alleged hacking of its networks by Chinese hackers, the Navy chief said 'very very stringent action' would be taken against officers and personnel found responsible for lapses in following cyber protocol.

He said the Board of Inquiry (BoI) into the issue was complete and was awaiting further action.

We have made several policies and advisories which, if followed, would prevent such incident. If there are any lapses, then such things can happen... There has not been much compromise and we are examining it in the headquarters.'

Asked if the hacking was by Chinese hackers, he said it was 'not hacking as such' and it was difficult to reach the sources.

Listing the major modernisation plans of the force, the Navy chief said the government has given approvals for around 200 Navy proposals worth of over Rs 2.73 lakh crore, of which contracts worth over Rs 92,000 crore have already been concluded.

A record number of 15 ships have been commissioned into the Navy over the past three years, which include the three Shivalik class stealth frigates, two fleet tankers, one follow-on 1135.6 class stealth frigate sail training ship and eight water-jet FACs.

He said the commissioning of INS Dweeprakshak and Naval Air Station Baaz in Campbell Bay in Andaman and Nicobar islands would also help enhance the security of the country's Island territories.

Asked about capabilities at the NAS Baaz, he said the base would operate smaller and lighter transport aircraft and once the air strip length is increased to 10,000 feet, it would be able to operate fighter aircraft also.