Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Visakhapatnam on Friday to review the preparedness of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet.
He received Guard of Honour at INS Dega in Visakhapatnam.
The Defence Minister shared the information about his arrival through on social media platform X, “Leaving New Delhi for Visakhapatnam. Shall visit the Eastern Naval Command and review the defence preparedness. Looking forward to it.”
Earlier, on Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with various top officials and dignitaries of the security forces to discuss the ‘100-day Action plan’ of the Ministry of Defence with a special focus on ex-servicemen welfare. He instructed the officers to re-dedicate themselves to achieve the desired results as per the Action Plan.
The meeting was attended by CDS (Chief of Defence Staff) General Anil Chauhan, COAS (Chief of the Army Staff) General Manoj Pande, CAS (Chief of the Air Staff) Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, CNS (Chief of the Navy Staff) Admiral Dinesh Tripathi and other officials of the department after he took charge as the Defence Minister.
Meanwhile, he also had a meeting with National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Thursday.
Union Minister Rajnath Singh who took charge as Defence Minister on Thursday said the priority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will be to develop a strong, ‘Aatmanirbhar’ government with robust and self-reliant defence manufacturing.
Singh who took charge as the Defence Minister at his office in South Block in the national capital said that the government will strive to boost exports in the defence sector and aims for a target of Rs 50,000 crore over the next five years.
“PM Modi has given me the responsibility of the Defence Ministry again. Our priorities will be the same, the protection of the country. We want to develop a strong and ‘Aatmanirbhar’ Bharat. We want to become self-reliant on defence manufacturing. We have exported defence equipment worth over Rs 21,000 crore. Our target is to take this figure to Rs 50,000 crore in the next five years. We are proud of our three armed forces, Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force,” Singh said.
Rajnath Singh is a Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and took the responsibility to head the Ministry of Defence for the first time on June 1, 2019. (ANI)