New Delhi: Amid concerns around the world after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said India’s national security challenges were growing and becoming “complicated”.
Singh stressed for a strong, capable and completely “self-reliant” defense industry in the country in view of the changing geo-political situation globally.
The Defense Minister, who was speaking after launching the ‘Defense India Startup Challenge 5.0’, said, “The security landscape across the world is changing very rapidly”.
“Because of this, the challenges to our national security are growing and becoming more complex. There are constant changes in the global geopolitical situation,” Singh said.
He said, “It is imperative that we not only build strong, modern and well equipped forces, but also develop our defense industry which is equally strong, capable and most importantly, completely ‘self-reliant’. Be.”
Assuring all possible cooperation from the Union Government, the Defense Minister called upon the private sector to “come forward and contribute in building a strong and self-reliant defense sector”.
“There is neither a dearth of talent, nor a lack of demand for talent, in our country. But due to lack of common platform, both could not match. The ‘iDex’ platform has been successful to a large extent in bridging this gap.
‘Defense India Startup Challenge 5.0’ is an initiative under Innovation for Defense Excellence (iDEX) which acts as an umbrella organization to promote technology development for the defense sector.
This comes as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has unveiled several reform measures and initiatives over the years to make India a defense manufacturing hub.
The Defense Minister had earlier announced in August last year that India would stop the import of 101 weapons and military platforms such as transport aircraft, light combat helicopters, conventional submarines, cruise missiles and sonar systems by 2024.
The government is also focusing on reducing dependence on imported military platforms and has decided to support domestic defense manufacturing accordingly.
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