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The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has asked for a draft core plan from the Ministry of Defence to make up for the delay in the finalization of the Tenth Five Year Plan and to maintain the tempo of modernization, upgradation and procurement programmes of the armed forces. The draft plan will include a non – core portion also.
According to the Defence Ministry spokesman, the Prime Minister has desired that as regards the procurement of defence hardware, the decision-making should be expedited. The Defence Minister has already ordered review of the existing procurement policy at the Secretary level, after which it will be reviewed by the Defence Minister himself.
This direction was given in a top level review meeting on defence matters held in New Delhi today. The meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister. The Defence Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Committee Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy, Chief of the Army Staff Gen NC Vij, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Yashwant Prasad, Defence Secretary Shri Ajai Vikram Singh, National Security Advisor Shri JN Dixit and Special Advisor to Prime Minister Shri MK Narayanan were present in the meeting.
In the context of the defence preparedness, the entire gamut of security related issues were discussed during the meeting.
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