The world will not respect our indigenously developed weapons unless we do it ourselves, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday

At the Swavlamban seminar hosted by the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organization (NIIO) at the Ambedkar International Centre, Prime Minister Modi stated: “Can it be done if you don’t treat your own child with love and respect and demand the same of your neighbours? How can we anticipate the world making an investment in us if we do not appreciate our products? The world stepped forward once we shown faith in our locally created BRAHMOS.” He continued by saying that innovation is essential and should only be done by native people; it cannot be done with products that are already on the market.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official twitter account posted, “It is worth pondering over – why did our great nation become an importer instead of being an exporter when it comes to the defence sector? Our Government has broken this inertia and is betting on our skilled talent pool!”

In addition to the tweets, PM also wrote, “I am proud that our Government has enhanced the defence eco-system, addressed basic problems, expedited things and created the right environment for innovation.”

“We developed the habit of being dependent on foreign countries for even the simplest products. Like drug addicts, we were addicted to the products imported from abroad. To change this mindset, we worked on mission mode after 2014, after learning from the approach of the past, to create a new ecosystem of Defence with the help of ‘Sabka Prayas’,” he said.

He added that ‘Atmanirbharta’ in defence is very crucial for the India of the 21st century.

“Creating 75 indigenous technology for the Navy by August 15 next year is the first step; goal should be to take India’s defence to unprecedented heights by the time we celebrate 100 years of independence,” he said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar and SP Shukla, President of the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) were also present on the occasion.

“Innovation and indigenisation are two components of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. In a few cases, the ingenious equipment in defence manufacturing has reached up to 90 per cent. Today, India is fulfilling the defence requirements of other nations,” said Rajnath Singh.