Nirmala Sitharaman takes over as defence minister

Soon after taking over as India's first full-time woman defence minister, Nirmala Sitharaman said she would give “importance, priority and focus” to indigenous manufacturing in the defence sector.
 
“I would be giving importance, priority and importance to Make in India programme for the safety and security of the country,” Sitharaman said at a function where six key new products developed by the defence PSUs and Ordnance Factory Board were handed over to the central armed police forces in the presence of Sitharaman and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
 
The 58-year old defence minister, who was promoted to the cabinet rank on Sunday, takes over from the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was looking after the ministry since the exit of Manohar Parrikar earlier this year. Jaitley who returned from Japan on Wednesday welcomed her in the South Block.
 
“India is the world’s biggest importer of weapons and military equipment. It’s very important for defence capability to have a make in India. We will ensure that it’s given full play for defence production,” she said in a brief statement after taking over.
 
“With technology coming in, we have to ensure that we 'Make in India' so that we benefit and also send these to the international market,” Sitharaman added. The welfare of the soldiers and military preparedness would be the other areas of focus.
 
Her first task in the defence ministry was granting of more than Rs 13 crore from the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund for 8685 ex-servicemen, widows and dependants. “Soldiers and their families should remain absolutely assured that their interests are watched,” she said.
 
Sitharaman would be flying to Goa on next Sunday (September 10) to flag off a naval expedition by six women officers to circumnavigate the earth in a sail boat, INSV Tarini, sources said.
 
This is the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by an all-women crew, who will begin their voyage from Goa and is likely to return in March 2018, after completing the circumnavigation. The voyage will be covered in five legs, with stop-overs at 4 ports: Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falklands), and Cape Town (South Africa).
 
The government on last Sunday announced Sitharaman's elevation from the relatively low -profile Commerce Ministry to the Defence Ministry, making her the second woman in the high-profile Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) along with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
 
A Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, Sitharaman did her masters in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and worked with Price Waterhouse, London before joining BJP in 2008.