India is all set to receive its new plane, Boeing 777-300 ERs (ER stands for extended range), which will be used to ferry the President Ram Nath Kovind and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other top senior Indian dignitaries. The new aircraft will be replacing 25-year-old Boeing 747 fleet which was used by VVIPs to travel long hours on Air India’s Boeing while for shorter distances, aircraft from IAF’s Communications Squadron’s fleet of Boeing business jet and Embraer executive jet are used.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said that while the first aircraft will land next week, the second will arrive by the end of this year. According to news18, the two VVIP planes with advanced protection suite will be sold from US-based Boeing aircraft would cost around Rs 8,458 crore to the exchequer.
Features of Boeing 777
The new aircraft will have advanced defence systems similar to Air Force One, which is considered as the safest plane in the world and is used by the President of the United States. The aircraft have their missile defence system, Self-Protection Suites (SPS) that can jam enemy radar frequencies, and state-of-the-art communication system. The planes function as a full-fledged flying command centre. Its advanced and secure communication system facilitates audio and video communication without being tapped or hacked. A team of 40 Air India pilots are being trained alongside IAF pilots to fly the state-of-the-art VVIP planes.
Difference between Boeing 747 and Boeing 777
The new aircraft can fly continuously for straight 17 hours without the need of refuelling However, Boeing 747 aircraft are not capable of flying more than 10 hours and need to be refuelled. Boeing 777 also stands out for having an exclusive high tech defence system. Moreover, The new aircraft will be operated by pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and not of Air India, which was the case earlier.
Measures taken to survive plane crash, but what about the economic crash?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his exclusive record of travelling around the world still tops the list of any preceding minister, holding the same power. While Modi’s visits have won him sprays from supporters, the costs associated with them remain questionable for others. In the Budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a total of Rs 810.23 crore was allocated for the purchase of two new aircraft for Special Extra Section Flight (SESF) operations.
“हम तो फकीर आदमी हैं, झोला लेकर चल पड़ेंगे” ( we are poor people, all we need is a bag to carry ourself away) is a very famous saying of PM Narendra Modi, but now it seems that you can carry anything in your bag, might it be Boeing 777, specifically made for fleeting VVIPs. Amid the downfall in the economy, fuelled by coronavirus pandemic and lockdown prevailing throughout the country, expenses are done over travelling for VVIPs. Public charitable trusts were set up (PM-CARES Fund), where PM requested people to donate for tackling through the hard times as the Central Government didn’t seem to have enough money for building new isolation centres and arrange even local trains for the poor labourers. But seems to have enough money for purchasing new aircraft, restricted to be used by commoners.
While India’s fast-growing economy faces an unprecedented slowdown thanks to the pandemic — shrinking as much as 45% annualized in the second quarter of 2020, according to Goldman Sachs. Despite receiving huge amounts of cash in the name of the PM Fund from the people of the country itself for tackling the havoc that occurred due to pandemics, there were no special arrangements for food and income of the stranded workers for the first 50 days of the lockdown. What else did the government expect jobless, food-less and hopeless workers to do, except walking back? Why do we not get a report of this kind from any other country in the world, even African countries much poorer than us? Why was the government surprised by the scale of the problem of the migrants (eight crores, as Sitharaman admitted in her press conference)?. Where in one place Indian Air Force aircrafts showered flower petals over hospitals treating Covid-19 patients and at the other, the centre failed to provide PPE kits to Doctors. At such crucial times, when our economy is even suffering to survive., we are giving it another blow by doing unnecessary expenditure.
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