Defence ministry to get technical advisor soon

Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar Tuesday said that a technical advisor will be appointed in the defence ministry in the next two months.

The advisor would oversee defence deals. Parrikar, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, said that middlemen will now have no place in such deals.

The former Goa chief minister, who was here to attend an event of the Central Command of the Indian Army, also said that as an experiment, recruitment in the army would soon be made online so that large crowds and chances of any fraud were minimized.

On disputes with neighbouring China, the defence minister said some had been sorted out with the Chinese and talks were on to address others.

He also announced that a recruitment rally (Bharti Rally) would be organised in Varanasi soon and added that a defence unit will be established in Kanpur to create jobs.

With regard to border tensions with Pakistan, Parrikar said the union government was aware about the proxy war being waged by that country and assured of a visible change in India's counter-strategy within the next six months.

Talking to reporters at the party headquarters in the state capital, he said that the Indian defence forces were doing their job well.

-- Indo-Asian News Service

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