'Achieving advancement in tech can make India superpower'

Pune: India can become a superpower if it achieves advancement in technology, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday. He was addressing students and researchers at the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), a deemed university of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), here.

PM Modi was committed to taking the country on the path of progress in research and innovation, he said. "Some initiatives have been started by the defence ministry to make progress in research and innovation through collective efforts from armed forces, industries and academia, and it can happen only through mutual understanding and by sharing knowledge and best practices," he said.

The defence ministry has created a platform called iDEX (Innovation for Defense Excellence) to engage and attract new talent and to get field experience and inputs from the armed forces personnel, and the Centre has allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the project, Singh said. Besides, the government has also allocated Rs 500 crore for research and innovation in aerospace and defence by supporting 300 start-ups, he added.

Talking about the successful delivery of one lakh hand grenades by a private Nagpur-based firm to the Indian Army within five months, Singh said the firm had

exported similar hand grenades to Indonesia.