NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, FEB 25
Highlighting challenges faced in procuring defence equipment from abroad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stressed on promotion of the ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharta’ and ‘Make in India’ campaign in defence manufacturing.
The Prime Minister also highlighted that about 70 percent of the defence budget has been kept for the domestic industry only.
Speaking on how the Budget will help further self-reliance in defence sector. https://t.co/aKGy6q2tCU
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 25, 2022
Addressing a webinar on ‘Aatmanirbharta in Defence – Call to Action’, the Prime Minister said, “When we procure weapons from outside, its process is so long that by the time they reach our security forces, many of them become outdated. Its solution is in ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat campaign’ and ‘Make in India’.”
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Union Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh and Principal Secretary to PM Narendra Modi, P.K. Mishra were also present at the webinar. PM Modi started the webinar lauding the country and its defence staff for focussing on ‘Atmanirbharta’ in the Defence Sector, and stated that this year too, a major amount of the annual budget has been allocated to the Defence Sector.
Emphasising the importance of self-reliance, PM Modi said that the country that does not manufacture their ammunitions lacks the ‘uniqueness’ and the ‘surprise element’ in the battlefield. Giving a history lesson, PM Modi said, “Even during British rule & right after independence, our defence manufacturing strength was very high. In World War II, arms manufactured in India played a major role. However, in the following years, this strength weakened. But this shows that India never had a dearth of capabilities.”
The Prime Minister spoke about the importance of Information Technology as well as the use of IT in Defence, saying that the more we strengthen our IT sector and use its power, the more “assured” our defence sector will be.
Giving data of licences issued by the incumbent government during his tenure, PM Modi said that the Centre has provided 350 new industrial defence manufacturing licences in the last seven years. PM added that the previous governments from 2000-2014 just provided 200 industrial defence manufacturing licences.
The Union Budget for the year 2022-2023 was presented on February 1. Deputy Chairman of the Upper House adjourned the Rajya Sabha for one month after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s response on Budget 2022-2023. The House will remain adjourned from February 12 to March 13 and the Parliament will begin the proceedings from March 14.
