With India facing hostile situation on the Line of Actual Control(LAC)facing China and the Line of Control (LOC) with Pakistan, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday these posed challenges to resources.
He expressed confidence that to meet the twin challenges, the Government will ensure there is no shortage of resources, he said.
Meanwhile, apparently referring to the impact of social media in conflicts between nations, Rajnath said the reach of the mobile phone now was bigger than that of a missile.
“Covid-19 has adversely impacted our economy and we need to pay special attention for efficient utilisation of our budget,” the Minister said addressing scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at the annual awards ceremony.
Stating that the armed forces will be facing many new challenges and security threats in the days to come and technology can be used positively, Rajnath said in such a situation while carrying out a realistic assessment, there is need to develop our capabilities quickly, according to our needs.
At the ceremony, he handed over the DRDO made Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) to Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and the Border Surveillance System (BOSS) to Army Chief General M M Naravane.
“The system (BOSS) has been deployed at Ladakh border area for day and night surveillance. The system facilitates monitoring and surveillance by automatically detecting the intrusions in harsh high-altitude sub-zero temperature areas with remote operation capability,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement. The system is being produced by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Machlipatnam.
The IMSAS is state-of-the-art, fully indigenous, high performance intelligent software system that provides global maritime situational picture, marine planning tools and analytical capabilities to Indian Navy. The system provides masritime operational picture from Naval headquarters to each individual ship in sea to enable naval command and control, it added.
Addressing the scientists, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said the private industry is also motivated and need the scientists support. “I feel that in case of war in future, we will win it through indigenous weapons,” he said.
Addressing the annual Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh, Rajnath warned that different kinds of security threats may emerge in the future.
“This event is important from another point of view,” he said through video conference. “As times change, the nature of threats and wars is also changing. In the future, other security-related issues may come before us.” He added that conflicts are gradually becoming “comprehensive” in the manner never imagined earlier.
Possibly alluding to the power of social media and mobile apps, he said, “Today the range (marak Kshamta) of a mobile has crossed even the reach of a missile,” he said.
He added that the enemy can now reach people even without crossing any borders, and urged everyone to play the role of a soldier.
“We should remain alive to these dangers and save ourselves from wrong and misleading information and save others too, and festivals like this can play a key role in this,” he said, urging literary figures to make use of their talent to the full for this.
The defence Minister did not specifically refer to China. But in recent months, since the standoff between the two sides began at the LAC , India has banned several Chinese mobile apps, citing concerns related to national security and privacy. These included the popular TikTok and WeChat