Lok Sabha Question No. 5015 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-31
Subject: Indigenisation in Defence Manufacturing Sector
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Santosh Kumar Gangwar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PRODUCTION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5015

TO BE ANSWERED ON 31 st  March, 2023

## INDIGENISATION IN DEFENCE MANUFACTURING SECTOR

## 5015.  SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

- (a)  the details of schemes for promoting indigenisation in Defence manufacturing sector;
- (b)    whether  the  Government  is  taking  any  steps  for  empowering  women  in  the  Defence sector;
- (c)  if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d)  the status of 'Dare to Dream' scheme to promote startups for innovation in the area of Defence during the last three years?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

(a):  Several policy initiatives have been taken by the Government in the past few years and brought in reforms to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment, there by promoting self-reliance in defence manufacturing in the country. These initiatives,  inter-alia,  include  according  priority  to  procurement  of  capital  items  from domestic  sources  under  Defence  Acquisition  Procedure  (DAP)-2020;   Notification  of   four 'Positive Indigenization Lists' of total 411 items of Services and three 'Positive Indigenization Lists' of total 3738 items  of Defence Public Sector Undertakings(DPSUs), for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timelines indicated against them; Simplification  of  Industrial  licensing  process  with  longer  validity  period;  Liberalization  of Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) policy allowing 74% FDI under automatic route; Simplification of Make Procedure; Launch of Mission DefSpace; Launch of Innovations for Defence  Excellence  (iDEX)  scheme  involving  startups  &  Micro,  Small  and  Medium Enterprises (MSMEs); Implementation of  Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017; Launch of an indigenization portal namely SRIJAN to facilitate indigenisation by  Indian  Industry  including  MSMEs;  Reforms  in  Offset  policy  with  thrust  on  attracting investment  and  Transfer  of  Technology  for  Defence  manufacturing  by  assigning  higher multipliers; and Establishment of two Defence Industrial Corridors, one each in Uttar Pradesh and  Tamil  Nadu;  Opening  up  of  Defence  Research  &  Development  (R&D)  for  industry, startups  and  academia  with  25  percent  of  defence  R&D  budget;  Progressive  increase  in allocation  of  Defence  Budget  of  military  modernization  for  procurement  from  domestic sources, etc.

(b) & (c):  DPSUs provide equal opportunities to women in employment. Various guidelines issued for the women workforce and followed in order to ensure a safe work environment. Modernized  Creche  Centres,  recreation  rooms  and  Medical  Rooms  have  been  set  up  at DPSUs for welfare of women employees.

Indian  Army  encourages  women  to  join  the  force  by  adopting  enabling  policies  for  their inclusion. Recent major initiatives are as under: -

- i. Grant of Permanent Commission (PC) to Women Serving Personnel.
- ii. Armed  Forces  have  opened  entry  for  women  candidates  in  National Defence Academy (NDA).
- iii. Indian  Army  has  also  opened  avenues  for  Women  Officers  to  serve  as pilots in the Corps of Army Aviation since year 2021.
- iv. Provision for enrolment of women as Other Ranks in Corps of Military Police in the Indian Army has been introduced in 2019.

In Indian Navy, following avenues are available for women: -

- i. Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers in the Indian Navy are eligible for consideration for grant of Permanent Commission.
- ii. Women officers are appointed onboard warships.
- iii. Women  Naval  Air  Operations  (NAO)  officers  have  been  appointed  as specialist NAO officers to ship borne helicopters.
- iv. Women officers can join the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) stream.
- v. Entry  of  women  candidates  into  NDA  has  been  permitted  from  2022 wherein women officers are being inducted as PC officers.

In Indian Air Force (IAF), following avenues are available for women: -

- i. Women officers are inducted in all branches and streams of Indian Air Force.  Gender  neutral  approach  in  IAF  facilitate  the  employment  of women officers of IAF in all combat roles without any restrictions.
- ii. An opening has also been provided through National Cadet Corps (NCC) Special Entry for flying SSC (Women) from July, 2017 onwards.
- iii. The  scheme  of  induction  of  women  SSC  officers  in  the  fighter  stream commenced in 2015, has been revised and made permanent.
- iv. IAF has started  the  induction  process  for  women  joining  through  NDA for  the  course  commenced  in  June,  2022  (Tech  and  Non-tech)  as Permanent commission officers.
- v. Women are  also  eligible  for  selection  in  various  long  duration  service courses, short/exchange visit and deputation abroad.

(d):  Three versions of Dare to Dream (D2D) contest have been successfully conducted till  date.  As  on  date,  a  total  34  startup  have  been  selected  as  winners  and  awarded  Rs. 2.40 Cr as prize money. Total 08 Startups winner of D2D contests have been supported under  Technology  Development  Fund  (TDF)  Scheme.  Recently,  Dare  to  Dream  4.0

edition  inviting  applications  against  10  challenge  areas  was  also  launched  on  20 th October, 2022 during Def Expo-2022 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

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