Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announces import embargo on 101 weapon systems

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, August 9, 2020: In a major announcement on Sunday morning, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the Ministry of Defence was ready for a big push to the "Atma Nirbhar Bharat" initiative and would introduce import embargo on 101 items beyond given timeline to boost indigenisation of defence production.

Embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2024. Our aim is to apprise the Indian defence industry about the anticipated requirements of the Armed Forces so that they are better prepared to realise the goal of indigenisation, said Rajnath Singh

"Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi has given a clarion call for a self-reliant India based on the five pillars, i.e., Economy, Infrastructure, System, Demography & Demand and announced a special economic package for Self-Reliant India named ‘Atamnirbhar Bharat’," Singh tweeted.

Singh’s office had informed via a tweet that "Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh will make an important announcement at 10.00 am today."

The announcement comes a day after Road Transport, Highways and MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari urged the industry to identify the sectors heavily reliant on imports, particularly from China, and look for substitutes towards indigenous production to make India a super power.

Asserting that a case study is in the offing based on three years of imports and exports, Gadkari said China’s 70 per cent of exports pertained to ten sectors that included electrical machinery and equipment accounting for 26.09 per cent of its exports worth USD 671 billion and machinery including computers grabbing 10.70 per cent of its exports worth USD 417 billion.

Sunday’s decision is part of India’s recent emphasis on the idea of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push for self-reliant India during his address to the nation in May.

In his address, Modi had stressed on the importance of promoting local products. Terming it ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ (Self-reliant India Mission), the PM had said his government would highlight the details of an economic package towards this aim.