Armed forces, GOI committed to Make In India initiative: Bipin Rawat

The Government of India and the Armed Forces have "clearly demonstrated their resolve and commitment" to the Make in India Defence initiative, said Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday.

"The Indian Defence Sector is today at an inflection point poised to take off. The Government and the Indian Armed Forces have clearly demonstrated their resolve and commitment to the Make in India Defence initiative. We are fully committed to winning India's wars with Indian Solutions," he said at a symposium on 'emerging defence exports'.

"In this era of multidimensional technology, we must focus on constant innovations and modern technological solutions, to keep ourselves ahead of the adversaries. Keeping in mind the macro-economic parameters and socio-economic requirement of our country we have to work through the budgetary constraints by finding the best solutions through new acquisitions and optimization/upgradation of legacy systems," he added.

The Defence Chief said that the creation of the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) admits the military "into the central edifice" of the Indian Government further adding that the restructuring of the Defence Ministry would give an opportunity to embrace "forward-looking" strategies.

"The creation of the DMA, headed by the CDS, having a central Staffing Scheme along with amendments to GoI Business Rules, in effect, admits the military into the central edifice of the Government of India," he said.

"This restructuring of the Ministry of Defence gives us the opportunity to embrace forward-looking strategies to seize and exploit the moment and set in motion a dynamic transformation process," Gen Rawat added.