Letter to BS: India continues to be largest arms importer in the world

This is with reference to Ajai Shukla’s thought provoking article, “Why defence indigenisation fails” (July 31). As a nation, we must hang our heads in shame because despite large Budget allocations made over the past six decades for setting up in-house defence development and production set-ups, India continues to be the single largest arms and ammunition importer in the world thanks to the Ministry of Defence’s managerial inefficiency. Had this happened in the US, Donald Trump would have straightaway downsized half of the defence’s bloated civilian bureaucracy. Had it been in the UK or Israel, the entire research and development