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Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday unveiled a statue of Maharana Pratap and paid tribute to him in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.
Addressing the event, Singh highlighted the steps taken by the current government to make India self-reliant in the defence sector. He stated that defence exports from India have now reached a value of Rs 24,000 crore and expressed confidence that the exports will increase to Rs 50,000 crore by 2029-30. "We are fully committed to making India self-reliant in defence production. When our government came to power in 2014, defence exports from India to other countries were around Rs 600 crore. Today, we have increased them to approximately Rs 24,000 crore. Our target is to raise this to Rs 50,000 crore by 2029-30," Singh said. "This is not just a target -- we will achieve it. This is our firm conviction. We have taken many steps to make India self-reliant in the defence sector," he added. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also paid tribute to Maharana Pratap on the occasion. He said, "...When I decided to build Samruddhi Highway, at that time I always used to say that Pune is the industrial magnet of Maharashtra, but now this industrial magnet is going to shift and this industrial magnet is going to be Sambhaji Nagar and Jalna... Whenever we bring industrialists to Sambhaji Nagar, they settle here and invest here..." Maharana Pratap was a 16th-century ruler of Mewar, known for his bravery and resistance against Mughal rule. A day earlier, on Thursday, Defence Minister Singh said that trade restrictions, tariff wars, the risks of overreliance on foreign components and logistics networks, and the drawbacks of the 'Just in Time' approach have become evident. Speaking at an event at the Manekshaw Centre, he emphasised that the government's goal is to prepare the armed forces for the future. In his address to senior defence officers and representatives of private defence manufacturing companies, Singh noted that until a few years ago, defence companies across the world were dependent on globalised and complex supply chains that were spread across multiple countries. (ANI)
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