Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday that the broad consensus achieved by India and China to resolve their differences is proof that continuous dialogue brings solutions.
“Development and security are often viewed from separate perspectives but are, in actuality, deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Historically, the study of key factors for economic development such as land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship has been central to economic analysis,” the Defence Minister said while delivering the keynote address at the Army’s Chanakya Defence Dialogue in New Delhi.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh added that the impact of defence and security has traditionally been underexplored. “This may be because security is often viewed as a necessary but non-economic factor. Defence spending, military infrastructure and national security can significantly affect economic growth and resource allocation, even in non-war periods or in peacetime,” the Defence Minister said.
He reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s resolve to bridge the gap between ‘development’ and ‘security’, stressing that economic development can only flourish when national security is ensured. He said that the government’s consistent efforts to attain ‘Aatmanirbharta’ have directly linked the defence sector with the nation’s development. “If defence had been recognised as an integral component of development and studied more comprehensively in the past, India might have achieved self-reliance in the sector much earlier. The prolonged dependency on imports can be attributed, in part, to the lack of a coordinated approach between defence and development. Consequently, while our defence industry missed out on critical opportunities for growth and innovation, a significant portion of our defence budget flowed into other economies, limiting our ability to strengthen our own capabilities.
Addressing this disconnect is essential for fostering a robust domestic defence industry that can contribute to national security and economic independence,” he added. Rajnath Singh underscored the need to examine the impact of the defence sector on key economic indicators, such as income generation, employment creation, regional economic balance, manufacturing growth, investment, research and development, and the expansion of the service sector. Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi brought out the crucial connection between national security and nation-building by referring to Chanakya’s ‘Saptang Theory’ to emphasise the importance of the development of effective state institutions, an operative governance mechanism, inclusive development, fostering a national identity and progressive transformation of the society as the contemporary paradigm of ‘nation building’.
He said that the Army provides a secure and safe environment for the people and contributes immensely to every facet of development and growth story, viz, economy, social cohesion, skill development, and environment sustainability, etc. On the occasion, Raksha Mantri also launched the Green Initiative 1.0 and Digitisation of Indian Army 1.0. Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, DG, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) Lt Gen Dushyant Singh and other senior serving and retired officers of the Armed Forces were present on the occasion.
–IANS
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