Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor project in Jhansi on the concluding three-day 'Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv' event.

The event was being organized by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) along with the government of Uttar Pradesh.

The Centre has decided to set up two Defence Industrial Corridors in the country-- one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor has nodes at Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Lucknow and Kanpur.

Uttar Pradesh government has made nearly 1,034 hectares of land made available for the Defense Industrial Corridor.

Bharat Dynamics Ltd which is a Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU), is going to set up a plant for the propulsion system for Anti-Tank Guided Missiles in the Jhansi node. It will be spread over 183 acres of land in Jhansi. The facility will involve an investment of Rs 400 crores.

The project is expected to provide direct employment to 150 people and indirect employment to nearly 500 people.

The Ministry of Defence has taken several steps to promote 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' in defence in the last two years. These include the issue of positive indigenization lists, earmarking of 64 per cent of capital procurement budget for the domestic industry, promotion of startups under Innovations For Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative, speeding up of capital acquisition process and setting up of Defence Industrial Corridors among others.

Speaking at the event in Jhansi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh assured the country that India will achieve the target of ‘Make in India’ defence equipment, set by PM Modi, by 2024. “I want to assure the country that the day will come soon when 90% equipment of the country’s defence requirements will be Made in India,” he said.

The Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy are adopting indigenously designed and developed platforms for their use. Three platforms were formally handed over by the Prime Minister to respective Service Chiefs in the event.

These platforms depict maturing of the Indian defence industry ecosystem with contributions from Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), DPSUs and Defence industry and start-ups.

Prime Minister Modi also announced that now even girls can seek admission in Sainik schools and take inspiration from India’s warrior women like Rani Laxmibai, and do their part for national security.

“Today, on one hand, the strength of our forces is increasing, but at the same time, ground is also being prepared for the capable youth to protect the country in future. These 100 Sainik Schools which will be started will work in the coming times to give the future of the country in powerful hands. Our government has started the admission of daughters in Sainik Schools. In 33 Sainik Schools, the admission of girl students has also started from this session. Daughters like Rani Laxmibai will also emerge from Sainik Schools, who will take the responsibility of defence, security, development of the country on their shoulders,” PM Modi said.

Image Courtesy: ANI