Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was speaking at the first NDTV Defence Summit.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday emphasised the role of innovation in creating military technology and hardware, arguing that while imitation might be quicker and cheaper, a reliance on copying also meant developing nations would always be 20-30 years behind developed countries.
The Defence Minister also flagged the possible stagnation of research and development, and human resources, if a country were to rely solely on copying others' military know-how and equipment.
"When we speak of military technology, developing nations have two options - innovation and imitation. Defence experts believe countries trying to play catch-up can only imitate. Yes... this is true."
"It is less expensive... it will be quicker. The military tech United States, Japan, or Europe has... we can be copy it and it will help us to advance," he said at the first NDTV Defence Summit.
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"I am not saying this is not right... many countries did this when they developing their defence sector. For example, in the 19th century, when the United States was developing, they copied technology from European nations. In the same way, in the 20th century China copied the US."
"We imitate when we know we, at this point, don't have the ability or knowledge or resources to innovate our own. And if you copy advanced nations, then you will still advance," he said.
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There are, though, sharp downsides to always choosing imitation over innovation, he cautioned
"This means you don't focus on improving your own ability... your own knowledge... your own human resources. And this means you will always be 20-30 years behind developed nations, whether in defence or any civilian sector," Mr Singh reasoned.
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"But more than this, my concern is how this affects our self-confidence as a nation. It will be low if we always copy others... if we are always a technology follower and not a leader. Always copying, whether in defence space or elsewhere, will not go away and it will creep into our mentality."
Building on his statements, the Defence Minister told NDTV the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, therefore, prioritised not just the sector but ensuring self-reliance, whether in developing tech, building indigenous fighter jets, aircraft carriers, and tanks, or pioneering research.
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"In 2014, when PM Modi came to power, we made defence a top priority. Atmanirbharta(self-reliance) was encouraged and we introduced 'make-in-India' initiatives," he said, "I am not saying previous governments did not put emphasise defence... but we brought atmanirbharta."
He stressed that India now imports military tech "only when our own innovation falls short".
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