By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, May 23:
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh interacted with different stakeholders and urged them to boost the production of defence equipment indigenously as part of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) in Nagpur in Maharashtra on Sunday.
On arrival he was received by Air Marshal Shashiker Chaudhary, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) Maintenance Command of the Indian Air Force, and other dignitaries from Civil and military departments.
During the meeting with industry leaders and Defence officials, Singh was briefed about the various activities undertaken by Defence establishments, including Army, IAF, and Defence Public Sector Undertakings in and around Nagpur.
Singh in his address advised all stakeholders to focus on “Atma Nirbhar” in defence technology while keeping pace with technology outside. He also asked Commanders to follow the correct maintenance and operational practices with the safety of personnel in mind.
Nagpur is gradually emerging as a hub for defence industries. In addition to larger players, there are small and mid-sized industries catering to the sector as ancillaries. Following the corporatization of the ordnance factories, Nagpur is also a headquarter for “Yantra India Limited”, the public sector undertaking which manufactures shells and other hardware. Besides, there are Aerospace companies and Solar Group, India’s largest private ammunition manufacturer located in Nagpur. The Vidarbha Defence Hub & Industrial Cluster (VDHIC) is another upcoming ambitious project located at Mihan in Nagpur.
Executive Development Programme at NADP
In another development, the National Academy of Defence Production (NADP) located at Ambajhari on the outskirts of Nagpur city, completed the 4-week ‘Executive Development Programme for Defence Industries” on Saturday.
Thirty-Five participants from several defence industries like Ordnance Factories, Mazagon Dock & Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), Mumbai, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, Mihan, Nagpur participated in the program. Eminent and renowned faculty members were drawn from the Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India, Ordnance Factories, PSUs, and premier academic institutions like IITs and IIMs, Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh said.
D.C Srivastava, Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS), General Manager, NADP addressed the valedictory function and gave away certificates to the participating officers.
The program was completed in hybrid mode for middle-management level Executives in Indian defence industries. This course drew on cutting-edge research, functional experience in management, and the latest advancements in modern technology to impart a profound understanding of the modern-day defence manufacturing industry and defence business.
The program was aimed at expanding the business acumen of participants in key areas such as defence acquisition, marketing, and exports, innovation in defence, emerging technologies, operational and financial aspects of management in defence industries,
Seminar on modern technologies for quality inspection
In the meanwhile, a seminar on the use of modern technologies and processes for quality inspections and shop-floor repairs was organized by Naval Dockyard (Mumbai) on Friday.
The seminar saw a live demonstration of new technologies like drone-based inspections, laser surface cleaners, laser-based aggregate alignment, and ceramic liquid insulators that aim to optimize time, cost, and resources and provide highly accurate and digitized results.
