Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the Narendra Modi-led government “believes in the capabilities of India and Indians” in the defence sector, while the previous dispensations were in some way “sceptical” about their capabilities.

In his address at an event here, the defence minister also said that if any criticism comes from the media on any government scheme, “We accept it and try to bring a change accordingly”.

Delivering an address at the NDTV Defence Summit here, Singh said when the government led by Modi came to power in 2014, “We made the defence sector one of our main priorities”.

“We took a step towards ‘atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) in defence. From establishing the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) to the creation of the post of CDS (Chief of Defence Staff), issuing of positive indigenisation lists for manufacturing of weapons in India…they naturally strengthen it (defence sector),” he said.

The DMA with CDS as secretary was created to facilitate optimal utilisation of resources and promote jointness among the three Services, the defence ministry said in February 2020.

“Our efforts to promote self-reliance in defence, military modernisation and the efforts to strengthen India’s defence sector… I will try to contextualise the ideological commitment of our government,” Singh said.

The defence minister said after coming to power when “we say that we focus” on military modernisation and self-reliance in the defence sector, “my intention certainly not is to say that previous governments did not give attention to make the defence sector strong”.