Self-reliance in defence stressed

The central government is giving top priority to achieve self-reliance in the defence sector.

Accordingly, the Indian industry should gear up with proper capital and technology inputs in order to meet the demand of defence needs in the country, according to Raman Puri, the chief of integrated defence staff.

Speaking on 'Indian Navy and Industry-Partners in the Greater Cause of Self-reliance' at Naval Dockyard here on Monday, Raman Puri observed that, "building up of defence capability through imports will be very difficult and costlier in future, and what is developed abroad will not suit us, what is suitable will be denied, and what is not denied will be unaffordable. In this scenario, developing the indigenous technology with the help of local industries is the only alternative."

The chief of integrated defence staff said that the review committee was constituted to evolve a plan to increase the Self Reliance Index (SRI) from an estimated 0.3 in 1994 to 0.7 by 2005, while army's dependence on indigenous systems is higher than the two services. The navy's figures comes second with 70 per cent self reliance.