Defense Minister Rajnath Singh unveiled Swavalamban 2.0, a redesigned indigenous Navy program.

 

Rajnath Singh, India's Defense Minister, unveiled the Navy's Swavalamban 2.0 initiative, which emphasizes self-reliance in the defense industry. During the event, he emphasized the government's commitment to strengthening indigenous capabilities and R&D efforts, as well as the tremendous progress made in making the defense sector self-sufficient. He praised the government's accomplishments in numerous domains, instilling trust in the people, and issued a list of 98 things for indigenization. Singh spoke about the success of the 'SPRINT Challenges', which promote the use of indigenous technology in the Navy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated these challenges in July 2022 as part of the 'Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' scheme. At the ceremony, the Minister gave 76 challenges for the defense sector as part of the 10th Defense India Start-up Challenges (DISC 10), DISC 10 PRIME of Innovations for Defense Excellence (iDEX), and problem statements as part of iDEX for Fauji. Rajnath Singh also presented two INDUS X challenges as part of the 'INDUS-X Mutual Promotion of Advanced Collaborative Technologies' (IMPACT) program, which was developed together by iDEX and the US Department of Defense (US DoD). He also introduced the SBI NAVeCash card, which can be used both online and offline in locations where direct access to the bank is not possible.