The goal of self-reliance in the Indian Army is very essential for 21st century India. The creation of 75 indigenous technologies for the Navy is the first step towards this goal. We need to work to continuously increase the number of indigenous technologies.
Addressing the seminar Swavalamban organized by the Indian Navy, Prime Minister Modi said that when India celebrates 100 years of its independence, our Navy will be at an unprecedented height.
Prime Minister Modi said that India was an important exporter of arms during the Second World War. However, what happened in the subsequent period that India turned from an exporter to an importer of arms?
Modi said that along with increasing the defense budget in the last eight years, we have also developed the defense production system. Defense imports have declined by 21 percent in the last four to five years. We are rapidly moving towards being the largest exporter rather than the largest importer. Defense exports have increased sevenfold in the last few years.
Emphasizing on self-reliance, Modi said how long will we risk using the same weapons that other countries in the world have. He said that it is not right to deploy our soldiers in the field with weapons that are possessed by people of other countries of the world.
The Prime Minister further said that we should learn from what happened in the last decades. There are opportunities for our youth abroad but the opportunities for them at home were limited. Indian army had to depend on abroad even for simple weapons like rifles.