Addressing the 41st Directors conference at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) here, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday said that India's security vulnerabilities are "much greater" today and they are going to be "much more greater" in the times to come.
"India's security vulnerabilities are much greater today and they are going to be much more greater in the times to come," said Doval.
He said that India had always remained a runner-up in Defence technology and there are no trophies for the runner-ups.
"The armies that were better equipped always called the shots and decided the destiny of mankind. They were always the one which had higher technologies. India's own historical experience on this has been sad, we were the runner-up. There is no trophy for the runner up," said Doval.
"This is the game where the winner takes it all and there is no trophy for the runner-ups. Either you are better than your adversaries or you are not there at all," he said.
He said that "technology" and "finance" are the two things that influence the geopolitics and the countries who have preponderance on these two over adversaries will win.
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"In the modern world, technology and money are two things which will influence geopolitics. Who will win, will depend upon who has preponderance over their adversaries on these two. Of the two, technology is more important," he said.
"Niche technologies are something that give India more security. It has to be need-based. We along with our defence services and intelligence agencies have to make a hard assessment that what are our needs which will give us an edge over our adversaries," he added.
"We are in the regime of distributed production. Probably nobody is making all the components of a system. We have to identify which are those critical technologies that we have to have control over and improve upon. We should also know how to integrate a system as the capability of integration of a system is more important than probably mastering the whole system. For the integration of systems in India, except DRDO no other organisation is capable. We also require to enhance our capacity for technology absorption," said Doval.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Army Chief General Bipin Rawat were also present at the event among other dignitaries.