Jaitley lauds Defence Public Sector Undertakings for its performance

Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday gave away Raksha Mantri's awards for excellence for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 in recognition of exemplary performance amongst ordinance factories and the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) in New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, Jaitley said that India has conventionally depended for its defence preparedness on DPSUs, which have done an excellent job.

"Now the emphasis has to be to utilise its entire potential as a country to expand rapidly in defence production," he added.

The Defence Minister further said the policies therefore, are also being liberalised to allow a fair competition between both the DPSUs and the private sector and that is why the recent policy, which the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has approved on the Strategic Partners, factors in both these contents.

Jaitley noted that no country can indefinitely win wars and battles only on the strength of trying to buy imported equipment from outside.

"I think history has provided us with an opportunity where now our emphasis has to be to improve on manufacturing and that is why the Prime Minister gave this great emphasis on the 'Make in India' brand and manufacturing abilities would be incomplete for a country like India unless we improve on our defence manufacturing," Jaitley said.

"Defence manufacturing is also impacted by the security requirements of a country and security requirements are dictated by the kind of neighbourhood you have, and obviously in view of the peculiar situation from a geopolitical point of view where we are located, our preparedness is the best deterrent and which is certainly a guarantee for peace as far as our region is concerned," he added.

For the year 2014-15 in the Institutional awards category Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad received the Excellence in Performance award while Goa Shipyard Limited, Goa got Best Performance in Exports award.

Under best performing division/factory/shipyard awards category Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Hyderabad received the award for the best performing division among DPSUs, Ordnance Factory Medak, Telangana got the best performing factory of OFB award and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai awarded for best performing shipyard among Shipyards.

For the year 2015-16 in the Institutional awards category Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bengaluru received the Excellence in Performance award while Bharat Electronics Limited, Bengal got Best Performance in Exports award.

Under best performing division/factory/shipyard awards category Naval Systems (Radar Systems & Fire Control Systems), Bharat Electronics Limited, Bengaluru received the award for the best performing division among DPSUs, Ordnance Factory Medak, Telangana got the best performing factory of OFB award and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai awarded for best performing shipyard among Shipyards.

Jaitley also inaugurated a grid connected solar power plant of 16 MW capacity at the Ordinance Factory, Medak in Telangana through video link.

It has been set up at a cost of Rs. 105 crore by Bharat Electronics Limited.

The plant has been set up for captive consumption of the factory, on 80 acres of spare land available with it, making it self-sufficient not only for its power requirement but also reduced carbon footprint.

The Defence Minister also inaugurated a 9 MW windmill project installed at Dammur, Karnataka at a cost of Rs. 53 crore by BEML through video link.

With commissioning of 9 MW windmill project at Dammur, BEML would be generating 250 lakh units which will meet 68 percent of its energy requirement.

Minister of State for Defence, Subhash Bhamre, Secretary (Defence Production) Ashok Kumar Gupta, Vice Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Sarath Chand, Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal S.B. Deo, Additional Secretary (DP) Surina Rajan and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence also participated in the function.