Pune: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday batted for making India a defence manufacturing hub, saying it is essential to deal with various security challenges like insurgency effectively.
No country can secure itself by depending on others for its defence supplies, the minister said amid steps by the government to bring in private players in the sector.
"If the economy requires us to become a manufacturing hub, then security requires us to become a hub for defence manufacturing. This is the area where the country will have to use the vast resources it possesses.
"We will have to use the large number of academic institutions we have for training minds and cover up the critical gap that still exists," Jaitley said.
In a veiled attack on the previous UPA government, he said the "conservative policies" of the past have hindered progress in the field of defence manufacturing.
The government has broken away from the restrictive past to achieve the goal of self-reliance in defence, he said.
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