Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday underlined that a technologically advanced military was crucial for a country like India as it faced a double threat on the borders.

“Today we have one of the largest armed forces in the world, the bravery and valour of our military are praised all over the world. The countries across the world express their willingness to conduct joint exercises with our armed forces. In such a situation, it becomes imperative that we have a technologically advanced military to protect the interests of the country. For a country like India, it becomes very important because we are facing a double threat on our borders,” he said Inaugurating a two-day DRDO-Academia conclave here.

Underscoring the significance of the theme of the conclave ‘DRDO-Academia Partnership – Opportunities and Challenges,’ Rajnath said that there was a need for the DRDO and the academia to work in partnership to find solutions to the challenges being faced by the country in the 21st century. “This partnership will prove helpful in making India a leading nation in defence technologies,” he said.

He also underlined that the path to acquire advanced technologies traversed through research and development (R&D) which played a key role in the development of any country.

“Unless we do research, we will not be able to adopt new technologies. R&D has the ability to convert ordinary substances into valuable resources. It has been a key factor in the development of civilizations throughout history,” Rajnath added. He expressed confidence that as the partnership between DRDO and Academia reached new heights, the fruits of this partnership would unlock the potential of many new resources, which will benefit the entire country.

At another event, the defence minister called upon industry leaders to come up with innovative solutions to help India become a ‘leader’ from an ‘imitator’ in futuristic technologies and stay prepared to deal with challenges emanating from the current global security scenario.

Addressing the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he asserted that in today’s era, security equations were changing at an unprecedented pace and countries were focusing more than ever on technological advancements in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and genetics, etc.