Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh reviewed activities of the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi on Thursday

The new defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday urged the officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to seek indigenous solutions for meeting the forces requirements to the extent possible and took note of the progress made under the Strategic Partnership programme.

The new defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday urged the officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to seek indigenous solutions for meeting the forces requirements to the extent possible and took note of the progress made under the Strategic Partnership programme.

According to defence ministry officials, while getting a briefing on the defence acquisition issues by the DG Acquisitions Apoorva Chandra, the minister directed the officials concerned to expedite the procurement process.

As reported by Financial Express Online, since the focus is on to maintain the momentum of modernisation to have operational preparedness to meet the challenge of a two-front war with Pakistan and China, he was apprised of defence procurement procedures, budget utilisation, the present status of procurement and payments along with implications of major deals with countries.

The high-level review of these issues was attended by Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and other top officials of the ministry besides representation from the three Services.

The minister took stock of the working of the MoD on various issues including tri-services agencies – Head Quarters Integrated Defence Services (HQ IDS) and Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency and Armed Forces Special Forces Division which was approved by the CCS in 2019.

Besides the defence cooperation with friendly foreign countries, Singh also reviewed the policy matters pertaining to defence diplomacy including Bilateral/ Multilateral exercises, Capacity building, training, material assistance to these countries. And also briefed about the Defence Planning Committee set up in 2018.

With the fast changing nature of warfare with extensive use of information technology and space, the government recently three tri-services units including Special Forces, Cyber and Space Agencies. Headed by Major General rank officer, these agencies have drawn personnel and resources from three Services for fighting any challenge in an integrated manner.

It will enable the military to achieve the military and political objective in the shortest possible time. In this backdrop, Singh reviewed the planning activities of these agencies.

He also reviewed Ex-servicemen welfare issues with the officials of the Department of Ex-servicemen welfare.