On August 13, 2020 Rajnath Singh, Union Defence Minister launched the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation(NIIO) through an online webinar. NIIO establishes dedicated structures to enable end users to interact with academia and industry towards fostering innovation and indigenisation for self-reliance in defence in Accordance with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Indian Navy Signed MoUs
On the occasion, Indain Navy signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the following:
Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA); Raksha Shakti University (RSU), Gujarat; Maker Village, Kochi; and Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM).
Key Info about NIIO
i.NIIO is a 3 tiered organisation.
- The Naval Technology Acceleration Council (N-TAC) will combine the dual aspects of innovation and indigenisation and provide apex level directives.
- The group working under N-TAC will implement the projects.
- To induce the emerging disruptive technology in an accelerated time frame, a Technology Development Acceleration Cell (TDAC) has been created.
ii.The Draft Defence Acquisition Policy 2020 (DAP 20) anticipates Service Headquarters establishing an Innovation & Indigenisation Organisation within existing resources.
iii.Indian Navy already has a functional Directorate of Indigenisation (DoI), and the new structures that have been created will build upon the ongoing indigenisation initiatives and focus on innovation.
About Progress of Indian Navy:
The defence minister highlighted the Indian Navy’s significant progress in indigenous design of warships and suggested to focus on design and development of armaments.
- The Navy has an in-house design bureau, which, over the years, has made significant progress in designing the ‘float’ component, and made some progress in the ‘move’ component, which is propulsion.
- However, there is heavy reliance on imports for armaments, called the ‘fight’ component.
Launch & Release in the Occasion
Online Discussion Forum Launched
During the webinar, an online discussion forum to engage domestic industry and academic institutes was launched. It has been created in partnership with RSU
‘SWAVLAMBAN’ Released
‘SWAVLAMBAN’, a compendium of Indian Navy’s Indigenisation perspective plans was also released during the occasion.
Key People– Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and other dignitaries were also present at the event
Recent Related News:
i.Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Steel & Petroleum and Natural Gas virtually inaugurated the Asia’s first Continuous Galvanized Rebar (CGR) Production Facility near Gobindgarh, Punjab launched by Madhav KRD Group in association with International Zinc Association(IZA) with the support of Hindustan Zinc Limited.
ii.Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Jairam Gadkari released the consolidated notification in the form of guidelines for classification and registration of MSMEs, which are facing several challenges due to theCOVID-19 impact. The new process of Classification and Registration of MSMEs will be known as ‘Udyam
Registration’. The MSME Ministry launched a new portal for Udyam Registration- www.udyamregistration.gov.in.
About Ministry of Defence:
Union Minister– Rajnath Singh(Constituency-Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of State– Shripad Yesso Naik(Constituency- North Goa, Goa)
