India's Armed Forces need new ideas from startups and innovators to keep up with the times. This is how India will become Aatmanirbhar.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has urged startups and innovators to come up with new ideas to modernise the Armed Forces through research and innovation and to contribute in making the nation strong, prosperous, and 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' as envisioned by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. In his address, Shri Rajnath Singh used the term "modernise the Armed Forces through research and innovation." Shri Rajnath Singh, the Minister of Defence, made these remarks as he inaugurated Manthan 2022, an event that was organised by Innovations for Defence Excellence-Defence Innovation Organisation (iDEX-DIO), Ministry of Defence as part of the 12th DefExpo. He stated that a large number of startups and innovators are venturing into the defence sector as a result of the government's creation of a robust ecosystem for both their growth and the growth of the nation.

It was stated by the Raksha Mantri that more than Rs 300 crore have been approved for over 100 iDEX winners to develop products or technologies in over 50 different technological areas. The Raksha Mantri emphasised that the iDEX initiative has changed the perception that the production of defence goods is only for large businesses and industrialists. "Over the past seven to eight years, there has been a shift in the mindset of the nation, with more of an emphasis placed on finding answers and achieving goals. Previously, it was challenging for young people to make contributions in a variety of disciplines; however, programmes such as iDEX have enabled our young entrepreneurs and given them the ability to soar to new heights. "iDEX is a platform to provide economic support to entrepreneurs to develop state-of-the-art technology. It is a huge initiative towards making India self-reliant," he added. "iDEX is a major step in making India self-reliant."

Shri Rajnath Singh praised iDEX for hitting new heights of success since its debut by the Prime Minister during DefExpo 2018 and for winning the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration the previous year. He went on to say that other ministries have been inspired to adopt creative strategies as a result of the success of the iDEX programme, which is run by the Ministry of Defence. Shri Rajnath Singh highlighted the fact that it has stimulated the entrepreneurial potential of the country, which was not able to emerge in the past owing to governmental restrictions. He referred to iDEX as a "innovation for innovation," and he emphasised this point. He went on to say that the initiative has made it easier for prospective start-ups and innovators to collaborate with other players in the defence industry. Shri Rajnath Singh described iDEX as a movement to work for the nation, and he stated that the collaborative efforts of the government and entrepreneurs had produced a beneficial domino effect on the economy.

The Raksha Mantri elaborated further by stating that iDEX generates direct and indirect employment chances and is helpful for both people who are looking for work and people who are trying to create work. He brought attention to the fact that since the establishment of iDEX, over 6,000 applications have been submitted for the Defense India Start-up Challenge and the Open Challenge throughout the course of the last seven iterations. In addition to this, he gave information on iDEX Prime, which is an initiative that was created to provide Grant-in-Aid support of up to Rs 10 crore.

Shri Rajnath Singh, speaking on the development of iDEX, stated that the platform now has a presence in Tier-II and Tier-III cities and is connecting with incubators all over India. He advocated for concentrating on the twin concepts of distribute more and gather more in order to further expand the reach of the initiative to other sections of the country, with the goal of connecting with more young minds that had recently been ignited. He exuded confidence that iDEX will aid in the overall development of the defence industry as well as demonstrate the way forward for innovation in areas that have not yet been explored.

The purpose of Manthan 2022 was to bring together start-up companies, large corporations, and representatives from the armed forces in order to identify the homegrown ideas that are propelling the Indian defence sector into a prosperous future. It offered a one-of-a-kind chance for innovators associated with iDEX-DIO to demonstrate their capabilities, products, and technologies that are considered to be state-of-the-art to the audience that was comprised of industry experts. During the event, it was brought to everyone's attention that the results for 75 challenges that were held under DISC 7 (SPRINT) and PRIME (SPRINT) were announced in a record amount of time, which was under two months. iDEX – DIO declared 118 winners throughout the 75 challenges that were held. Congratulations were given to the champions of OC 4, OC 5, DISC 6, and DISC 7 SPRINT respectively.

The event also included a panel discussion on the topic of "Harnessing Start-up Innovation in India for Space Technologies" with industry veterans and experts from the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces. The conversation was focused on a topic that is currently trending. The attendees were presented with a static exhibition that featured a wide variety of start-up businesses that were supported by iDEX-DIO.

The Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan, the Defence Secretary Dr. Ajay Kumar, the Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar, the Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande, and other senior officials from the central and state governments as well as representatives from the industry were present at the event.