NEW DELHI: Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday took charge of the defence ministry, becoming the first full-time woman defence minister of the country while approving a grant of over Rs 13 crore for welfare of 8,685 retired defence personnel and their dependants.
As Sitharaman, 55, took charge of the key ministry in the presence of her predecessor Arun Jaitley, she said her priority areas would be military preparedness, defence indigenisation, resolving long-pending issues and the welfare of soldiers.
While approving financial assistance for the welfare of ex-servicemen, she said her priority was the welfare of the families of armed forces. “Let us not for a moment forget that it is in their welfare, in their families’ welfare that we can ensure that the soldier at the very toughest borders, challenging zones in which they are protecting this country remain absolutely assured that their interests are being taken care of,” she said.
“My priority will definitely be the armed forces preparedness. It is important that the armed forces receive the attention in terms of giving them every endowment and equipment necessary for them to perform their duty,” Sitharaman said while assuming charge.
On the issue of the country’s defence capability, she laid emphasis on ‘Make in India’ in defence production. “We shall ensure that the important character of what makes ‘Make in India’ an important flagship programme of the Prime Minister is given full play for defence production because India, as you know, is a very big defence equipment procurer.”
At her first engagement organised by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), she handed over indigenous military equipment and products, including armoured bus, bulletproof jacket, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and small arms among others to Central paramilitary forces.
Noting that the country’s “import dependence has gone up”, she said the systems being developed by the defence public sector undertakings will reduce such dependence. Though Sitharaman took oath as Cabinet minister on Sunday, she had not taken charge as Arun Jaitley was in Japan for a defence cooperation meet. He returned on Wednesday and handed over charge to Sitharaman on Thursday.