A joint seminar on ‘Self Reliance in Land Systems through Indigenisation –The Future Perspective’ was organized on 30th April 2014 by CLAWS (Centre for Land Warfare Studies) and Directorate General of EME (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering) at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi. The chief guest for the event was the Sh(Dr) Rajgopal Chidambaram, Padma Vibushan, Padma Shri, Principal Scientific Advisor to Govt of India. The chief guest mooted the idea that the seminar must provide a platform to the defence industry to project their capabilities and gain insight into the policies and procedures on indigenization as well as provide an opportunity to both the Army and the Industry to build an enduring partnership which will be instrumental in addressing the issues related to indigenisation of military equipment. He set the tone of the seminar by extorting the Indian industry to give their full support in turning the notion of total indigenization equipment into a reality.
On the sidelines of the seminar an exhibition was also organized to display the diverse range of items under indigenisation through SME’s (Small and Medium Enterprise) at present. The seminar witnessed contribution of ides of a large cross-section of the private industry, PSUs, military and academic experts. Over twenty papers will be presented in five technical sessions on themes like Policies and Procedures to Drive Indigenisation, Organizational Structures to Fast Track Indigenisation, Role of Academia in assisting Indigenisation, Leveraging ICT and modern manufacturing processes to accelerate indigenization and Public- Private Partnership.
The crucial take aways from the seminar were the compelling thoughts and ideas which came up during the technical sessions and gave a positive direction to the industry houses in planning their future investments and the policy makers in framing policy guidelines to keep all the stake holders on the same page and focused towards the common goal.