New Delhi, Nov 3 (PTI) India’s bid for ‘Aatmanirbharta’ must be understood as a quest for technological sovereignty, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday, asserting that self-reliance means ensuring critical defence requirements are not held hostage to external dependencies.
In his address at the Delhi Defence Dialogue hosted here by a think-tank, Singh also underlined the importance of technology in warfare, and said military preparedness in the 21st century cannot be separated from technological preparedness.
“As we set our eyes on 2047, our aim in the defence sector should be ambitious,” he said.
The defence minister also asserted that the difference between conventional and unconventional warfares is “becoming increasingly blurred” today.
The dialogue, hosted by Delhi-based Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), brought together senior officers from the defence ministry, domain experts from the country and abroad, and industry representatives.
“Aatmanirbharta must be understood as a quest for technological sovereignty. It does not mean producing everything ourselves… It means ensuring that our critical defence requirements are not held hostage to external dependencies,” the defence minister said.
He also cautioned that self-reliance without collaboration may “limit our technological horizons”, and said Aatmanirbharta should strengthen indigenous capabilities and facilitate co-development.
India’s pursuit of self-reliance is “not a retreat from world”, rather the quest for Aatmanirbharta allows it to better engage with the world, Singh said.
Terming ‘Aatmanirbharta’ a “strategic necessity”, Navy chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, in his address at the Delhi Defence Dialogue earlier in the day, said that there is a need to build a navy that can fight, sustain and adapt without being constrained by extraneous factors or external dependencies.
The Navy chief emphasised that Aatmanirbharta doesn’t mean isolation, and pitched for collaborating with friendly foreign countries “from a position of strength, and not from a position of weakness”.
Underlining the need for building greater self-reliance in defence, the admiral also said that all stakeholders need to put their minds and hearts together to build a navy that can “answer the requirements of 21st-century national security and make every single one of us proud”.
The theme of his address was ‘Aatmanirbharta in Naval Systems at 2047’.
In his address at a separate session, the chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, underlined that “Aatmanirbharta is not just a slogan” as much has been done in the defence sector, and hoped that more will be done in the area to harness its full potential. PTI KND ARI
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