Defence Minister addresses 277^th Annual Day event of Defence Accounts Department

• Of the total 32 lakh defence pensioners, 30 lakh have been successfully linked to SPARSH portal, says Defence Minister at 277^th Annual Day celebrations of Defence Accounts Department

• Rajnath Singh exhorts DAD to establish a robust data management system to assess the impact of defence expenditure on the economy

• “Prepare a roadmap to make DAD a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in defence finance & economics”

• India is today seen as a defence exporter due to the Govt’s self-reliance efforts: Defence Minister

New Delhi, October 1. “Out of a total of 32 lakh defence pensioners, 30 lakh have been successfully linked to the SPARSH {System for Pension Administration (Raksha)} portal,” said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during the 277^th Annual Day celebrations of Defence Accounts Department (DAD) at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on October 01, 2024. While commending DAD’s focus on technology adoption, the Defence Minister asserted that despite numerous challenges, the department has been successful in the implementation of this web-based system, which processes pension claims and credits the pension directly into bank accounts of defence pensioners without any external intermediary.

SPARSH Audit Manual was among the publications of DAD launched by Mr. Rajnath Singh to mark the day. Other publications and initiatives include Comprehensive Statistical Handbook on Defence Expenditure (COSHE) 2024, Market Intelligence Report 2023-24 and Defence Travel System 2.0.

The Defence Minister commended the efforts of DAD towards modernisation & strengthening of the country’s defence ecosystem through optimum utilisation of resources, efficiency & transparency in accounting and adoption of latest technologies. He lauded the department for focusing on every little detail, which leads to necessary improvements in defence related policies and proposals.

Reflecting on the progress achieved in the defence sector in the last few years, Mr. Rajnath Singh stated that there was a time when acquisitions were mainly dependent on imports, and the positive impact of defence expenditure on the economy was very limited. He added that due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government’s efforts to attain self-reliance, India is today seen as a defence exporter.

The Defence Minister urged DAD to prepare a roadmap to make the department a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in the field of defence finance and economics. He also batted for establishing a robust and comprehensive data management system that gives analytical reports to the government on the impact of defence expenditure on the country’s economy, such as the contribution of defence vendors in revenue generation and employment generation. This will prove to be helpful in establishing a holistic policy regime, which would develop a sense of ‘Whole of the Government approach’, he added.

Mr. Rajnath Singh exhorted DAD to remain innovative in its thinking, and continue exploring new frontiers in defence accounting & financial management. He emphasised that every individual would have to contribute to realise the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat by 2047’.

The Defence Minister highlighted the vital role DAD plays in supporting the Ministry of Defence’s vast network of organisations, including the Armed Forces, Indian Coast Guard and Border Roads Organisation. “There are over 50 lakh personnel associated with the Ministry, and the budget is larger than the GDP of many small countries. DAD is a link which connects all the units of the Armed Forces and civilian organisations. Whether it is our resolve of self-reliance, the efforts to encourage the participation of MSMEs and start-ups or issues related to the three Services, all these different dimensions, all these different dimensions ultimately come to DAD,” he said.

SPARSH Audit Manual

‘System for Pension Administration {Raksha} (SPARSH) is an initiative of the Ministry of Defence for automating the defence pension ecosystem. The system is embedded with numerous automated checks and controls, with Operational Decision Manager-based rule engine which incorporates over 500 rules and 1,000 on-screen validations. In order to ensure integrity, efficiency and accountability of the system, Internal Audit is essential and helps improve the functionality of SPARSH. It also ensures that necessary controls are in place for integrity and accuracy of pension management processes.

The SPARSH Audit Manual is a departmental publication to guide the officers and staff of DAD to keep a constant watch on various system processes and outputs generated through application to ensure uniform applicability of rules and regulations for Defence pensioners.

COSHE – 2024

The office of the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) is publishing COSHE-2024 which provides a broad perspective on the expenditure by Defence Services in the last several years. The book provides data on the Defence Budget, trends in expenditure from Financial Year 2010-11 onwards, and legacy data from 1992-93 onwards.

The data presented in various forms will facilitate the optimal utilisation of funds and help policy and decision-makers better analyse them with a broader perspective and work on the mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Market Intelligence Report 2023-24

With changing times, there is an increasing need for provision of aggregated decision-making driven by consistent financial data information. The Raksha Mantri, during the DAD foundation day 2023, had highlighted the need for analysing demand and supply side data and developing an expertise in market intelligence. Since then, the Department has undertaken an ambitious exercise in aggregating, compiling and analysing available procurement information.

This report on Market Intelligence is an attempt to present meaningful insights into vendor and product profiles of procurement undertaken on the GeM platform, along with a code-head level analysis of GeM procurement by Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and DRDO to help highlight and augment procurement reform.

Defence Travel System 2.0

The Defence Travel System (DTS) is a web-based travel booking portal for defence personnel, which was started in 2009, and has come a long way from providing just rail tickets to integration of Air Tickets, payment of advance and online submission of final claims. Presently, there are around 7,325 Units/Offices actively using the DTS portal, with more than 18 lakh active user profiles.

DTS 2.0 is a comprehensive technological upgrade of the platform and will offer a more seamless and integrated experience for defence personnel. It will provide not only an updated user interface but is also envisaged to integrate with office automation systems of Payment and Accounting Offices (PAOs) in future. This integration will ensure that once a booking is made, claims are processed without delay, and the payment process is streamlined.

Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence 2024

The Defence Minister also gave away the Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence 2024 to two teams for exhibiting exemplary initiative in implementing key department projects, namely, the team of PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj for ‘Achieving Milestone in redressing Grievances’ and the team of PIFA (Air Force) New Delhi for the ‘Automatic Replenishment System (ARS) Scale Analysis’.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr Samir V Kamat, Secretary (Ex-servicemen Welfare) Dr Niten Chandra, Secretary (Defence Production) Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Financial Advisor (Defence Services) Mr. Sugata Ghosh Dastidar, Controller General of Defence Accounts Smt Devika Raghuvanshi and other senior officials of Ministry of Defence were present on the occasion.

Tracing its roots to the appointment of the Military Pay Master in 1747, DAD has continuously re-invented itself to provide exemplary services to the Armed Forces, and in turn to the Nation, in the fields of Internal Audit, Accounting, Financial Advice & Defence Pensions Management.