New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said India is rapidly moving towards “jointness” among the three Services and logistics in the defence sector is going to benefit the most with the development.
The Minister was delivering a keynote address in the Indian Army’s ‘Samanjasya Se Shakti’ Logistics Seminar which aims to provide a platform to strategise smooth transition to self-reliance in Indian defence logistics.
“As you all are aware, with the establishment of the Department of Military Affairs, we have moved rapidly towards jointness among the Services. One of the areas which will benefit the most due to jointness is logistics,” the Minister said.
He said that the role of logistics is also very important in the defense sector. Jointness between the three Services is a major dimension in the policy changes that have taken place in the Defense Ministry in the last three years, he added.
The Minister said that in order to integrate logistics in the country, and to make it self-reliant, the government has formulated many important policies.
“This includes emphasis on infrastructure development through National Logistics Policy, PM Gatishakti platform, and through other efforts. Apart from PM Gatishakti National Master Plan, the government has taken rapid strides in this direction realizing the importance of logistics and infrastructure. Today we are all seeing the construction of world class roads, highways and expressways in the country,” the Minister said.
Rajnath Singh said that there was a need for some common logistics at many places in Indian services.
“There should be common logistics nodes in the country, where the resources of one Service are seamlessly available to other Services as well. The need for jointness is also being emphasized in the context of training among the three Services,” the Minister said.
He said that ICT architecture is a very big and invisible architecture.
“Here also, all the Services have developed their ICT architecture. It is our endeavor that there should be inter-operability between these three Services, so that we can use our resources in the best way,” the Minister said.
Rajnath Singh said that logistics in future wars will require jointness not only among the services, but also among all bodies of the country in the form of industrial back-up, research and development, material support, industry and manpower.
The Minister said that a robust, secure and speedy logistics supply system was an important requirement to take the economy of a country to greater heights.
Underlining the fact that India has become the fifth largest economy in the world and that the country fast moving towards becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy, he said that whether it was a battlefield or civil sector, the criticality of logistics sustenance is going to increase in future.
