India must fight next war with indigenous solutions: Gen Rawat

Army pays homage to 3 soldiers killed in Naugam

23/05/2017

NEW DELHI, May 22: India’s armed forces must fight the next war with indigenous solutions, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat said today as he made a strong pitch for developing the domestic defence industry.
The army chief also called for greater synergy between industry and the armed forces to develop quality equipment and military platforms.
“Indian armed forces must fight the next war with indigenous solutions,” he said while addressing a seminar organised jointly by the army and the Indian Technical Textile Association.
Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani told the gathering that the National Textile Corporation will have a specialised facility to develop clothes and other gear for the armed forces.
“There must be effective engagement between the armed forces and the industry,” the army chief added.
He also referred to combat dress and boots being supplied to the US Army by the Indian private sector and said there was a lot of scope for cooperation between the army and the domestic textile industry for developing dress material and other gear for the forces.
“There is huge budget with the Army that has been spent on textiles. It is high time that we look for indigenous solutions,” he said.
His comments come two days after the defence ministry broadly finalised a much-awaited policy under which select private firms will be roped in to build military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign entities.
India is a leading importer of arms and military platforms globally and the current government has been maintaining that indigenisation of defence manufacturing is a priority area.
Rawat said discussions at the seminar must not be confined to files and official papers and practical steps must be taken to boost cooperation between the armed forces and the textile industry.
Irani said there must be cohesive alignment of cooperation between the textile industry and the armed forces.
However, Army today paid homage to three soldiers who were killed in a major counter-infiltration operation over the weekend along the Line of Control in Naugam sector of Kashmir.
Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen J S Sandhu led army officers and other ranks in paying homage to the three soldiers who died while fighting a group of heavily armed militants from across the LoC in the two-day operation which began Saturday, a defence spokesman said.
"Top officials from civil administration and other security forces operating in the Valley also paid their tributes to the martyrs -- Havaldar Giris Gurung, Havaldar Damar Bahadur Pun and Rifleman Rabin Sharma -- at Badamibagh Cantonment here," the spokesman said.
The three intrepid Gorkha soldiers, who hailed from Nepal, were part of a team which intercepted a group of militants along the LoC on Saturday morning, preventing them from infiltrating into the hinterland, he said.
In the operation, which lasted nearly 48 hours, four militants were killed and weapons seized.
Gurung, 38, who hailed from Kaski in Nepal, served the Army for 19 years and took part in many counter-terrorist operations. He is survived by his wife Panch Maya Gurung and two children.
"Pun (40) from Karaing Tun in Gulmi, Nepal, was an experienced soldier with 21 years of selfless service. The martyr is survived by his wife Kalpana Pun and two children," the spokesman said.
He said brave heart Rifleman Sharma, 23, had joined the Army in 2013.
The martyr, who hailed from Nepal's Chuwa village in Parbat district, is survived by his wife Sabita Sharma.
The mortal remains of the soldiers will be taken by an aircraft to Subathu in Himachal Pradesh for their last rites with full military honours, the spokesman said.
"The Army stands in solidarity with the bereaved families and remains committed to their honour and wellbeing," he said.

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