‘We have to respect our weapons then only world will respect them,’ says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Dr Ambedkar International Centre (Photo/ANI)

New Delhi: The world will not respect our indigenously developed weapons unless we do it ourselves, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Speaking at Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) seminar ‘Swavlamban’ at Ambedkar International Centre, PM Modi said, “If you do not give love and respect to your own child and expect the same from your neighbours, can it be done? If we do not value our products, how can we expect the world to invest in us? When we showed confidence in our indigenously developed BRAHMOS, the world came forward too.”

He added that innovation is a necessity and it should be regular and only indigenous, no innovation can be done from items available for sale.

“We developed the habit of being dependent on foreign countries for even the simplest products. Like drug addicts, we were addicted to the products imported from abroad. To change this mindset, we worked on mission mode after 2014, after learning from the approach of the past, to create a new ecosystem of Defence with the help of ‘Sabka Prayas’,” he said.

He added that ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence is very crucial for the India of the 21st century.

“Creating 75 indigenous technology for the Navy by August 15 next year is the first step; goal should be to take India’s defence to unprecedented heights by the time we celebrate 100 years of independence,” he said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar and SP Shukla, President of the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) were also present on the occasion.

“Innovation and indigenisation are two components of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. In a few cases, the ingenious equipment in defence manufacturing has reached upto 90 per cent. Today, India is fulfilling the defense requirements of other nations,” said Rajnath Singh.