Self reliance in defence needed because can’t say who is ‘friend’ or ‘enemy’

New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while launching the fifth edition of “Defence India startup challenge ” said India needs to be self-reliant in the field of defence, in the changing global security scenario as dilemma over ‘who is true friend’ and ‘who is enemy’ exists.
“The global security scenario is changing rapidly. Our national security situation has become more challenging, and is becoming more complex,” Singh said.
“There is a change in the geopolitical situation and we are not untouched… We are seeing the situation in our neighbouring country. No one knows what situation would arise next”.
“In such circumstances, as a country we should not depend on someone else for our security. It is difficult to even identify who is our friend and who is our enemy. So it is important to have a defence industry which is strong and self reliant,” he said as he launched the Defence India Startup Challenge 5.0.
The comment comes in the backdrop of Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The DISC 5.0 is being organised under Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO).
Singh said the iDEX platform has succeeded to a large extent in bridging the gap. iDEX4fauji is also a similar initiative, which gives an opportunity to the service personnel to showcase their talent in these fields.