Strategic
and futuristic technology in the defence sector can only come through a real
partnership with industry, said Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to
Raksha Mantri, while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of ‘DEFTECH 2016 -
Realising Make in India through Defence R&D’, organised by Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) and supported by the Defence Research & Development
Organisation (DRDO). "Industry should use imagination and innovation to
build products for tomorrow,” he stated.
The
seminar aimed at enhancing partnership of industry in defence research and
development with DRDO. Dr Reddy urged the industry to engage with the
incubation centres of various universities which would complement the research
initiatives of DRDO. He added that interactions between DRDO and industry are
at an all-time high.
Dr
Reddy said that Make in India concept has been well received. However, he
cautioned that Make in India should not stop at Build to Print. Instead, it
should also involve indigenous design, development and manufacturing. He added
that the Government has already included safeguards through policy to ensure
that indigenous products get priority even if they are priced a little higher
than imports.
Lt
Gen Subrata Saha, Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning & Systems), stated
that during the course of travel, he felt that solutions to the Army's needs
should come locally and added that the Army would go out of their way to
provide an opportunity to replace imports with indigenous products.
Mr
Baba Kalyani, Chairman, CII National Committee on Defence & Chairman,
Bharat Forge, applauded the efficiency of the DRDO regarding India's quest
towards self-reliance. He said that decision making has become faster in the
last 2 years as several issues are being addressed.
Keeping
in mind Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of developing India's technology, Mr
Kalyani said that the DRDO should now develop products which would be
futuristic in nature.
Mr
Satish Kaura, Co-Chairman, CII Sub-Committee on Offsets, and Chairman, SAMTEL
Group and Mr Sukhvinder Hayer, Chairman, CII National Committee on R&D, and
CEO, Mahindra Defence, reiterated the need for industry involvement in defence
R&D.
New Delhi
18 October 2016