Atmanirbhar in Defence

National security is one of the primary concerns of every nation, and thus, almost all economies spend a considerable amount in the defense sector. In view of the increasing terrorism, all the countries are investing heavily in defense to secure their borders. Similar to other nations, India is also making considerable investments in the defense sector each year and also promoting make in India and Atmanirabhar Bharat to develop defense technology and weapons in India. For the past many years, India has been dealing with several counties like the USA, Russia, France, and the UK or the arms deals. But under the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, the GOI is trying to reduce the imports of weapons and develop missiles and other artilleries in India itself.

India contributes around 13.3% of its annual budget to the defense sector, which costs around USD 66 Billion.

Brief of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Scheme:

The Atamnirbhar Bharat or the Self Reliant India scheme was launched by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi in May 2020. This scheme aimed to reduce the imports and boost-up the local production of the nation, thus reducing the dependency on other countries. The economy, demand, system, vibrant demography, and infrastructure are five major pillars highlighted by the prime minister. In order to support the Medium and Small scale industries of India and move a step ahead towards the Atamanirbhar Bharat, the Prime minister announced a package of Rs 2,00,000 crores, which is almost 10% of the GDP of the nation. 

Atmanirbhar Bharat: Self-Reliance in Defence Sector

Taking a step further towards achieving the aim of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the GOI not only increased the budget for the defense sector but also reserved 70% of the total defense sector budget for 2022-23 for the domestic defense industry. Additionally, GOI had signed a deal of more than Rs. 54,000 crores with the domestic defense sector industry for developing advanced defense technology and weapons. 

India is one of the largest economies, and it’s also one of the largest importers of arms and ammunition in the world and accounts for more than 11% of the total global arms sale. Thus the GOI was investing a huge amount each year and arms deals with nations, thus the defense minister of India, Mr. Rajnath Singh, encouraged netizens to research and develop in the defense sector so that arms and other defense technology can be made in India, thus making India self-reliant.

Recently India tested its made in India Ballistic Missile Defence Shield named Prithvi Air Defence (PAD)

Benefits of Atmanirbhar Bharat in the Defense Sector:

• It will reduce arms imports, thus boosting the economic growth of the nation.
• The increase in the domestic arms production capacity will strengthen national security, and will also allow India to export its weapons to other nations.
• The reliance on other nations for arms will decrease with the Atmanirbhar Bharat in the defense sector.
• The private sector industries and other MSMEs will also get benefited, as domestic production of arms increases.

Government of India’s initiatives Towards Making India, Self-Reliant in Defense:

• The GOI is going to launch two defense corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, for the development and easy transportation of arms.
• The Indian government has also launched the Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP 2020), a guiding document that shows the capabilities of the Indian defense industry.
• Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat for the defense sector Phase I, the GOI is going to approve a minimum of 5 R&D projects in the defense sector for the year 2022-23.
• The GOI is also planning to have strategic collaborations with the foreign defense sector OEMs, to share the technology and develop new and advanced arms.
• The GOI is planning to reserve a budget, especially for start-ups and other MSMEs for research and development in the defense sector.
• The GOI is going to soon launch an indigestion portal named SRIJAN for the MSMEs to support indigestion. 

Way Forward:

The Government of India is making consistent efforts in making India self-reliant in the defense sector and is also planning to further increase the share of the defense sector in the Union Budget. The Indian economy is aiming towards becoming a 5 trillion economy and an investment in the domestic defense sector, will help a lot to achieve it. Also Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), along with the defense ministry of India, is already engaged in the development and testing and new defense technology. Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, the GOI is trying to increase the involvement of MSMEs in domestic arms production as the MSMEs, are one of the efficient industries of India. If the domestic arms production of India increases, then India will soon turn to be a major exporter of arms instead of a major importer.