India must be ready for war-like situation: Rajnath

India must remain ready for a “warlike situation” in the wake of the military conflict with Pakistan in May and redefine its security and strategy because of the weakening of the established world order, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday.

- Rezaul H Laskar

New Delhi should conduct in-depth assessments in every domain amid contemporary global uncertainties, and step up the pursuit of self-reliance by focusing on innovation and dominating supply and maintenance chains, Singh said while addressing the annual session of the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM).

Though India gave a “firm response” to Pakistan during the four-day conflict in May, Singh called for continued introspection. “Operation Sindoor should serve as a case study from which we can learn and chart our future course. This incident has once again shown us that anything can happen at our borders, anywhere, at any time,” he said.