Chiefs of armed forces to depose before Parliament panel

In a new policy shift, the parliamentary standing committee on defence has asked the three service chiefs to appraise it on the state of preparedness of the armed forces.

Chiefs of the Army, Air Force and the Navy have been asked to present the scenario ahead of a review of the budgetary proposals of the defence ministry for 2012-13, sources said.

The move comes after the Chief of Army Staff Gen V K Singh wrote to the prime minister on the apparent lack of preparedness of the armed forces.

The Vice Chief of the Army had detailed the Army's position at the committee's meeting on 4 April. The Vice Chief had conceded that while war-fighting stocks have to be for 40 days, in some areas like Armour Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (a special tank ammunition), stocks are down to four days. The Vice-Chief, however, clarified that it does not mean that tanks will run dry.

While various members of the panel sought to hear from the Army Chief, it was finally decided to summon all three service chiefs, as the committee needs to examine the whole spectrum of defence preparedness.

Sources said that the committee would also look at the capacity and operationalisation of the capacity in terms of threat perception and geo-political strategy.