*Defence manufacturing to accelerate in next 5 yrs: Rajnath
Prabhat Ranjan Deen
LUCKNOW, Feb 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that India is rapidly moving ahead to become a strong military power but we are a democratic country first and our strength means to secure and protect small neighbouring countries.
“India is getting stronger and self-efficient day by day in defence production. We are making India stronger not to be a big boss of the neighbour countries, but to be a helping and securing big brother of the neighbours…”, the PM said while inaugurating five day DefExpo-2020 here today.
He said India is becoming producer of indigenous defence materials and Uttar Pradesh will be the main hub of defence manufacturing. “By organizing such a big and historical event Uttar Pradesh is fulfilling the dream of ‘Make in India’ and this will give huge employment to the youths, Modi added. On the occasion, PM also witnessed grand Army and Air Force show, portraying might of the nation.
Modi expressed his pleasure that for the first time the Department of Defence Production in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs is also convening the first ever Indo-Africa Defence Ministers’ conclave in the Expo. Ministers of 15 different African countries are participating in the conclave and the aim of India is to further strengthen defence cooperation with the African nations.
Prime Minister assured the delegates of foreign nations that India is the country which believes in peace, peaceful existence and mutual cooperation. ‘We were compelled to fight two world wars of no reason and sacrificed a lot. But our culture is to believe on world-peace and tranquillity’, Modi added. Modi said that whenever and wherever in the world people debate on flourishing countries of 21st century, India is always counted in the list. Security is obviously our major point of concern.
“Technology being used by nefarious hands is becoming serious threat. We are creating a strong technical wall against the pilferages of technology. We are also concentrating on artificial intelligence and very soon we are going to produce 25 products of artificial intelligence, Modi added.
Speaking on the occasion, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the Defence Expo-2020 held in Lucknow is the result of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that the Defence Corridor to be built in Uttar Pradesh will be unprecedented in the entire world. India will become the hub of defence manufacturing in future. In the next five years, defence manufacturing will accelerate more. Companies in the field of defence from all over the world are coming to India because India is a big market in the world, he added.
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath said, “Defence Expo 2020 will prove to be very important for making India self-reliant in defence sector. This is a great opportunity to show the might of the army. He said that 23 MoUs are going to be signed for investment in Defence Expo. Investment of Rs 50,000 crore is expected to take place, which will provide employment to 3 lakh people. He said that the foundation stone of the Defence Corridor was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February. Six nodes are being made in it”.
Yogi said that they have a large network of expressways. Work is going on at Purvanchal Expressway and Bundelkhand Expressway after Yamuna and Agra Expressway. He said that work has also started on the Ganga Expressway in the State while work on building 11 airports along with Asia’s largest Zewar airport has been expedited.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
