GURGAON: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said India's deterrence capabilities have ``matured and have been given concrete shape'' in the last nine years, even as the country has become ``better equipped'' to deal with non-conventional threats, especially in the cyber and space domains.
``We are implementing a national architecture for cyber security and have taken steps to create an office of a national cyber security coordinator,'' he said, after laying the foundation stone for the Indian National Defence University here.
``India's defence and security are a fundamental obligation of the government to our people and an essential prerequisite for our national social and economic transformation. Our government has attached the highest priority to these tasks. We seek to advance peace, stability, friendship and cooperation in our region and beyond, and we do so with the confidence that our armed forces can defend our country against any threat. This confidence is based on the many steps that the government has taken to strengthen our nation's defence capabilities,'' he said.
``In the last few years, we have added significantly to the land forces to protect our borders and inducted new equipment to increase the Army's firepower. Our ability to service our frontiers with improved infrastructure and enhanced air mobility is considerably greater today than in the past. We have enhanced the full spectrum of capabilities of our Air Force and are equipping it to remain at the cutting edge of technology for the decades that lie ahead,'' he said.
``Not only are our borders stronger, our seas are also more secure. The capabilities of our sea-borne forces to guard our coastline and offshore assets has seen enormous expansion in the last five years. We have placed special emphasis on strengthening the capabilities of our Navy, which is fully equipped to operate at great distances from our shores, protect our maritime interests, respond to natural disasters and provide humanitarian assistance to the need,'' he added.
The PM said the government was conscious of the fact that adequate defence preparedness is critically dependent on sound defence acquisition policies. ``We have paid close attention to this and have continually reformed those policies to ensure that our Armed Forces have the best equipment. We have also been guided by the objective of making our defence acquisition transparent, smooth, efficient and less vulnerable to unethical practices. We will continue to seek the highest standards of probity in defence acquisition,'' he said, in the backdrop of a series of defence scams erupting in the last few years.
``Another issue to which we have paid close attention is indigenisation of defence procurement. Our government is committed to taking further steps to stimulate the development of our domestic defence industry, including the Indian private sector. This is important not only to enhance our security, but also to spur industrial development and economic growth of our country. We must fully utilize the sophisticated management and technological capacities that are already present in our private sector, including in the defence field, not just for production but also for defence research and development,'' he said.
India faces the entire spectrum of security challenges. This is inevitable as India lives in a difficult neighbourhood, which holds the full range of conventional, strategic and non-traditional challenges. The country is also situated at the strategic crossroads of Asia and astride one of the busiest sea lanes of the world. ``We inhabit a networked and digital world. Our dependence on imported energy is significant and is likely to grow. We are also living at a moment of history when the world is witnessing change on a scale and at a speed rarely seen before,'' he said.
``Nowhere is this change more pronounced than in Asia, where we are witnessing multiple security challenges on account of the intersection of fragile states, internal conflicts, proliferation of arms and terrorist groups. Explosive development of technology is also transforming defence capabilities. As our dependence on the cyber and outer space domains grows, new sets of challenges will emerge, which can also assume military dimensions. The nature of conflict and competition is changing at the same time when national boundaries are being blurred by deepening global integration. Therefore, while defending and securing our homeland, we also have to be prepared to preserve India's expanding international assets,'' he added.
