Rs 386 crores, 5 people and some “special” security
Back in 1985, on the recommendations of an obscure committee, the government set up a “special†group – whose sole task was to protect the Prime Minister. This was done in the aftermath of Smt. Indira Gandhi’s assassination which had revealed security lapses that authorities felt could only be fixed by a “special†security group. This was the beginning of SPG – the “Special Protection Groupâ€.
Like all good “ideas†from the government, the SPG too started expanding. Initially limited to protecting the Prime Minister, its mandate was extended to former Prime Ministers (for a period of five years from the date on which the former Prime Minister ceased to hold office) after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Somewhere along the line, this five years period became ten years.
In 2002, an amendment in SPG act was introduced to reduce the duration of protection accorded to former PMs to one year, with the proviso that this period could be extended based on the level of the threat. “However, an exception was made in the case of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her family, who are being given SPG protection continuously of the scale of the Prime Ministerâ€. Â
This is the act that gives “special†security to five people at present – the current Prime Minister, former PM (Sh. Vajpayee), Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Sh. Rahul Gandhi and Smt. Priyanka Vadra. This “special†protection does not come cheap. It costs more than Rs 1 crore each day.
Not that it was always so. More than five years back, when UPA-I came to power, the total expense was almost a fourth of this amount (Rs 97 crores). It was even lower before that, back in 1999, when the NDA came to power. At the time, this elite unit was responsible for the security of nine people (the then PM, five former PMs and Smt. Sonia Gandhi & her family). Its annual expenditure then was around Rs 75crores (by the way, none of the children of any former PMs or current PM enjoy SPG cover save one exception).
What explains the steep rise from Rs 97 crores in 2004-2005 to Rs 386 cores in 2010-2011? It surely cannot be the addition of just one person (present PM). Nor do I think inflation can be an excuse. Can it be the cost of ultra-modern equipments – including “special†helicopters for SPG protectees? Helicopters which reportedly cost Rs 110 crores each? or could it be the special counter-assault vehicles that cost Rs 51cr each?
And is it alright to feel somewhat uneasy that we pay Rs 1 crore every day just to provide “security†to these five people? Which, by the way, the vast majority of those who are reading this piece do not have?
Does a government which has repeatedly failed in its fundamental duties – of protecting life & property and delivering justice – have the moral right to spend such extraordinary amounts on the security of one family and two others?
But do you know what bothers me even more, far more, than the expenditure? It is the unstated, implicit assumption that Prime Ministers (current and former and in one case, their family members) are some “special†class of people who are incapable or being protected by our “normal†security forces. Ergo, we need a “Special Protection Group†for them.
Just why? I wonder. Do you?
P.S. By the way, being married to an “SPG†protectee has a little known additional advantage (beyond the usual ones of being able to sleep without worrying about burglars & such and being surrounded by “Top Gun†style commandos wherever you go). It exempts you from the “Pre-embarkation†security checks at all civil airports in the country!
Don’t believe me? Ask Sh. Robert Vadra. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Additional References:
In what might be a tragic irony, the suggestion to exclude former PMs from benefiting from SPG Protection was actually made by the Rajiv Gandhi Government
Rs 64 lakh spent by SPG on Sonia’s travels: RTI, Himanshi Dhawan, TNN Oct 8, 2012,  The high cost of security,  The Law that Protects Robert Vadra also: SPG expenses balloon in last decade, Rs 1,800 crores spent on 5 protectees since 2004
Did you know? The government in 2011 introduced a barely noticed amendment to the Whistleblower’s Protection Bill that excludes the SPG from the purview of the Whistleblower Law (even though the act includes armed forces under its purview)
Cross-posted over at my blog on Times of India
Related Post:Â On Robert Vadra, Security Checks and VIP Culture
Looks like the VVIP Helicopter deal (that I referred to above), has got in trouble..
Recall that, “The SPG will get its own wings-four of 12 VVIP triple-engined helicopters being contracted from Italy’s Augusta-Westland at a cost of Rs.110 crore each.”
Now read: VVIP helicopter deal: India seeks details from UK:
New Delhi, Nov 10 (PTI) Defence Minister A K Antony today said India has sought details from the UK in connection with corruption allegations in the VVIP helicopter deal with Italy and “strong action” would be taken in case any foul play is detected in the procurement process.
Very well written.
About the Heli deal, we may get another clandestine deal of her childhood boyfriend viz Mr Quattrocchi. Ganpati store on the streets of Orbasano speaks volumes.
Further to my comment #1 above, Head of Italian Firm Held on Charges of Bribes in India, Feb 12 ’13:
…”Giuseppe Orsi, the head of Italian defence and aerospace giant Finmeccanica, was arrested on Monday in relation to a probe into international corruption. He is suspected of involvement in the payment of bribes regarding the sale to the Indian government of 12 helicopters produced by Finmeccanica’s subsidiary AgustaWestland,” Italian news agency Ansa said.
The 2010 deal has been under the scanner for more than a year now after Italian media reports suggested the arrest of two alleged middlemen in Europe for paying bribes to secure the deal.
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The Italian firm had pipped American Sikorsky to bag the Rs 3,600 crore deal.
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Despite initial objections from the finance ministry, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had cleared the deal in 2010.
Defence Minister A K Antony had then said, “IAF and SPG repeatedly told us the helicopters were required because of the changing security scenario… The finance ministry also agreed later. The CCS then took a considered decision.”
As per earlier media reports, “slush money” allegedly generated by Finmeccanica through arms contracts was used to bribe Italian political parties. The Indian VVIP helicopter deal has also come in for some mention in the reports.
After the allegations came to light, India had sought reports from the Italian investigators about their probe in the issue but no specific details were provided to it.
In Parliament, Defence Minister A K Antony had said that if any wrongdoing is found in the case, “suitable penalty measures” will be taken by the Ministry.
Antony had said the Defence Ministry was pursuing the matter and committed to take suitable penalty measures in event of allegations being substantiated.
“However, in absence of any specific information in this regard, government has not ordered any formal inquiry into the case so far,” he said.
From Ex-IAF Chief Tyagi was bribed to swing chopper deal: Italy probe:
..This is the first time that a service chief has been named in a probe into alleged corruption in the procurement of defence systems.
The report, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, alleges that technical requirements for the contract were tweaked by India to allow the AgustaWestland chopper enter the bidding process and that kickbacks of 51 million euros (about Rs 370 crore) were paid in Italy and India.
The Italian report names three brothers — Julie Tyagi, Docsa Tyagi and Sandeep Tyagi — as the Indian intermediaries who allegedly got kickbacks and passed it on to Indian officials. It says Finmeccanica’s Orsi and alleged middlemen Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Christian Michel facilitated the payments to India.
Julie Tyagi is the Indian businessman who had been named in October as a relative of S P Tyagi.
“They promised and managed to pay, through brothers Julie Tyagi, Docsa Tyagi and Sandeep Tyagi, a certain amount of money, not yet quantified, to Air Chief Marshal Shashi Tyagi, Chief of Staff in the Indian Air Force from 2004 to 2007 – a public officer or anyway in charge of functions and activities equivalent to those of a public officer in India – to perform and for having performed a deed against his office duties,” the report says.
The report also named Britain-based consultant Christian Michel as the other major middleman in the deal. It alleges that Michel was paid a “total amount of about 30 million euros, partly destined to support the corrupt activity meant to bag the order and partly to implement the contract”.
The report discusses the Indian contract in detail and alleges that technical requirements were tweaked to ensure that the Italian chopper qualifies. As first reported by The Indian Express, the service ceiling requirements for the contract were changed by the Defence ministry before the tenders were issued in 2006, giving AgustaWestland a chance to qualify.
“Haschke and Gerosa, through the Tyagi brothers, in turn through their cousin Shashi Tyagi managed first to change the tender details, in a favourable way to AgustaWestland, modifying the ‘operational ceiling’ from 18,000 ft to 15,000 ft of altitude, thus allowing AgustaWestland (which otherwise could not have even submitted an offer) to take part in the tender,” the report says.
It alleges that the flight trials were also tweaked. The trials were conducted after Tyagi retired in 2007.
“Then they managed to introduce a comparative flight trial with non-functional engine, thus facilitating AgustaWestland helicopters, the only ones which had three engines. In this way, they managed to get the contract to AgustaWestland,” the report says.
Somewhat related: Just 1 cop for 355 citizens, 3 for each VIP in Punjab, TNN | Apr 10, 2013.
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According to the recent affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court by the Punjab government, the state has a massive list of 1,294 VIP protectees enjoying the security cover of 4,121 personnel of Punjab police.
With this number, Punjab has topped the list of VIP protectees in the country, leaving behind Delhi (436) and Assam(390).
This also means, on average, a VIP in Punjab gets 24X7 security cover of 3 Punjab cops. However, just a total of 77,583 cops are available to protect 2.7 crore common citizens. This effectively translates into one cop protecting 355 people even as rising crime poses a serious threat to the security of the common man in Punjab.
Excerpts from NSG says no to more VVIP security duties, July 24, 2014:
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The National Security Guards, which protects the most ulnerable’ VVIPs of the country, has decided to stop taking any more protectees under its elite ‘black cat’ commando security cover.
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“We will not be able to manage more protectees under our cover. We protect the most vulnerable of the VVIPs and according to our mandate and present strength we will not be able to take anymore such duties,” NSG Director General J N Choudhury told PTI.
The elite commandos of the federal counter-terror force guard 15 VVIPs at present, who are accorded the top security categorisation of ‘Z+’, which generally entails over two dozen armed commandos with a host of gadgets and security paraphernalia to secure the individual.
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“VIP security is not our mandate but we have been doing this as it was required and decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs. We are a special force and our strength is in our compactness,” the DG stated.
Choudhury said in order to preserve the elite quality of his special force, which showed its mettle recently by eliminating terrorists during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the NSG “wouldn’t want to expand” in this (VVIP security) domain….