Singh underlined the government’s focus to equip armed forces with state-of-the-art weapons/equipment, manufactured by a self-reliant defence industry
New Delhi: Self-reliance & secured borders are central to making India a powerful nation, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday.
The defence minister, in his address, echoed the government’s unwavering resolve to transform India into one of the most powerful nations by 2047, asserting that the defence ministry was leaving no stone unturned to achieve PM Modi’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
Singh underlined the government’s focus to equip armed forces with state-of-the-art weapons/equipment, manufactured by a self-reliant defence industry.
Singh listed a number of steps taken by the ministry to reduce dependency on imports, including issuance of positive indigenisation lists. Citing the example of recently-commissioned INS Vikrant, which contains 76% indigenous content, he said that India has the ability and capability to manufacture modern weapons and platforms.
Due to steps taken by the Centre in the last few years, India’s defence exports have seen a massive jump. “There was a time when India only exported defence equipment worth ₹1,900 crore. The figure today has crossed ₹13,000 crore. We have set a target of ₹1.75 lakh crore of defence production by 2025, including ₹35,000 crore worth of exports. We are well on course to achieve the target,” he said.
Terming border area development as another aspect at the core of the government’s vision, Singh said that all efforts are being made to increase connectivity with far-flung areas to strengthen the preparedness of the armed forces and linking the country with people residing in the region.
“Our greatest achievement in the last 8.5 years has been the restoration of peace & prosperity in the North-Eastern states. Since 2014, there has been about 80-90% reduction in violence incidents in almost every state of the North-East. Most of the extremist organisations have either been rooted out or have surrendered and joined the mainstream. Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been removed from 80 per cent of the areas. This was made possible as now there is peace, stability and durability in the region,” he said.
Singh also commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi under whose leadership the country’s economy has become more dynamic and stronger. “Today, most of the countries are facing the problem of slowdown in economy. International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected its global GDP growth rate to be 2.9% in 2022-23. While India’s growth rate has been underestimated, it is still pegged at 6.1 per cent. The world is looking up to India’s growth story,” the defence minister said.