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Addressing a webinar on the effective implementation of the Union Budget’s provisions in the defence sector, the prime minister listed a series of measures taken by his government to boost self-reliance in the defence sector.
“Before Independence, we used to have hundreds of ordnance factories. In both the World Wars, arms were exported from India on a large scale, but after Independence due to a number of reasons, this system was not strengthened as much as it should have,” he said.
“The condition is such that even for small arms we have to look at other nations. India is amongst the biggest defence importers and this is not a matter of pride,” Modi stressed.
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“An India that could reach Mars, could have made modern weapons also but it became an easy way to import weapons from abroad,” he said.
But now India is working hard to change the situation and India is committed to enhancing its capacities and capabilities at a fast pace, the prime minister asserted.
Modi said with initiatives like de-licensing, de-regulation, export promotion, foreign investment liberalisation, the government has taken several measures to give the defence manufacturing sector a boost.
He said with the establishment of the chief of defence staff post, bringing uniformity in the procurement process and induction of equipment has become easy.