Preparedness is India’s best defence, says Jaitley

Hyderabad, Aug 27 (IANS) Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that given its geographical location, India has to always remain prepared and that the defence preparedness is its best defence.

"The harsh reality in today's modern world is that India in its present geographical location has to remain prepared. In fact our defence preparedness itself our best defence," he said at a ceremony at Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), where he handed over long range surface to air missile to the Indian Navy.

"Whereas the entire country has full confidence in our forces which represent one of the best traditions anywhere in the world, we obviously need to equip our forces with the support system they require," he said.

Stating that the country faces multiple threats, he underlined the need for the country to become self-sufficient to meet its defence requirements.

Jaitley said India had the best human resources, available at competitive price, and believes India is capable of offering the services to other developed economies.

"There is hardly any country in the developed world, where the presence of Indian minds is not visible, be it in the field of medicine, science or technology. And therefore, not only do we have a large human resource pool, we have surplus resources which serve other countries too," he added.

He claimed that India's human resources resources, compared to other economies in the world, were available at a very competitive price.

"That being a reality, over the last few decades we have seen some of the best companies -- be it pharmaceutical or IT - shifting their research and development bases to India," he added.

Jaitley also visited Ordnance Factory in Medak near Hyderabad as well as the plant of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (Midhani).