DESPITE being faced with serious economic crunch, Modi government is bent upon building up its military might with the aim to achieve its hegemonic designs in the region. In recent years, the country has made big ticket deals such as Rafale with France and $ 5 billion deal with Russia to purchase S-400 missile defence system. Between 2013 and 2017, India remained the world’s top arms importer, accounting for 12pc of total imports globally, with Russia, Israel and the United States among the top suppliers.
But now the Modi government has some new plans to emerge as the major arms exporter in the years to come. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of a defence expo in the northern city of Lucknow, the Indian Prime Minister said India wants to double its defence exports over the next five years. Currently India exports about $ 2.4 billion dollars of defence products and it is now aiming to increase them to five billion dollars. Whether or not India achieves this target is another question but these ambitions have once proved that India wants to emerge as a major military power in the region, and for this it has the support of some important capitals. In fact, Pakistan has time and again raised concerns over the sale of sophisticated weapons to India by major countries saying these would contribute towards destabilization in the region and pose a threat to regional peace and stability. These countries should rise above their commercial and economic interests and be mindful of the consequences their defence sales to New Delhi can bring to the region. It is also time for our authorities to keep a close eye on the military ambitions of India. Our defence industry has progressed over the years but we need to further modernize it to achieve complete self-reliance as we cannot afford big ticket purchases. For this we need to enter into joint ventures with friendly countries such as China, Turkey and Malaysia.
