New Delhi: Defence Minster Rajnath Singh on Tuesday exhorted defence industry stakeholders and innovators to come up with new ideas and translate them into products, so that the armed forces would feel that they were incomplete without these equipment.
In his address at Navy-hosted seminar ‘Swavlamban 2024’, he also asserted that the government’s concerted efforts have not only reduced import dependency and ensured public and private sectors to work together for ‘aatmanirbharta’ in defence, it has also resulted in the emergence of science, technology, innovation and self-reliance as a “revolutionary idea” throughout the country.
Singh was of the view that the idea of innovation and self-reliance has “blossomed”, and the government’s efforts have awakened this consciousness among the youth, the defence ministry said in a statement.
The third edition of Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI 3.0) challenge and 13th edition of Defence India Start-up Challenges (DISC 13) were unveiled by him during the seminar at Bharat Mandapam here. These challenges aim to advance indigenous defence technologies and operational efficiencies.
Singh congratulated the winners for their innovative solutions to the challenges given by the armed forces, terming their feats as “extraordinary”.
“Now you have to bring such ideas that become our need. The Services should feel that they were incomplete without this equipment of yours that you will come up with,” he said.
He highlighted the self-reliance efforts being made by the government, saying the changes brought about in the last few years have created an innovative culture in India, keeping the national security in mind.
“There was a time when we had become so dependent on imports for arms and equipment that innovative ideas could never take birth. Even if there were ideas, there was no system to execute them.
“It is a result of our Prime Minister’s farsightedness that the situation has improved rapidly in the last few years. Today, we also have a concrete ecosystem, and we are moving rapidly towards self-reliance,” he said.
The defence minister described the Indian Navy as an innovative navy, and praised its efforts towards achieving self-reliance.
Acknowledging the vital contribution of both public and private sectors in realising the vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, Singh reasserted the government’s commitment to march ahead on the road to progress by taking all the stakeholders together.
“Our public sector was already involved in the defence sector. But, when we came to power, we realised that a bird cannot fly with one wing, and there is a need to strengthen the other wing as well. We are making efforts to increase the participation of the private sector in the defence industrial ecosystem,” he added.
The defence PSUs are moving rapidly towards achieving the goal of self-reliance. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited recently achieved the status of ‘Maharatna’ by increasing its capacity.
“I am quite satisfied with the performance of our DPSUs. I appeal to our DPSUs and the private sector to continuously achieve new heights on the strength of ‘continuous innovation’,” he said.
Singh also felicitated iDEX winners and hackathon awardees on the occasion.
In the last two editions of ‘Swavlamban’, the Indian Navy has received over 2,000 proposals from the Indian industries, under the SPRINT challenges, which were unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Swavlamban 1.0 in July 2022.
SPRINT stands for Supporting Pole-Vaulting in R&D through iDEX, Naval Innovation & Indigenisation Organisation and Technology Development Acceleration Cell.
Singh said that these proposals have been converted into 155 challenges, which will help in completing 171 contracts. In addition, the Swavalamban initiative has collaborated with 213 MSMEs and start-ups under iDEX.
Till now, Acceptance of Necessity of worth more than Rs 2,000 crore has been given in 19 cases, of which contracts worth up to Rs 784 crore have been completed, the statement said.
Another highlight was the flag-off of the ‘Sagarmala Parikrama’ to conduct an autonomous passage of about 1,500 kms from Mumbai to Tuticorin.
Towards adding streamlined focus in developing manufacturing capability for niche products like semiconductors, an MoU was exchanged between Bharat Electronics Limited, 3rdiTech and Bharat Semiconductors, the ministry said.
Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh, Defence Secretary-designate R K Singh; Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, Chairman, DRDO, Samir V Kamat, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Lt Gen J P Mathew, other senior civil and military officials of the Ministry of Defence, various industry leaders and academia were also present on the occasion.
According to another statement, Defence Minister Singh reviewed the performance of defence PSUs at the South Block.
He emphasised the importance of development of new technology by DPSUs and indigenisation and lauded the role of DPSUs in preparedness of the armed forces.
He directed the DPSUs to put dedicated efforts and resources towards research and development, export and indigenisation.
