Defence Minister George Fernandes called upon the business barons to come forward in nation building to take India to greater heights in the 21st century.
"If India has to hold the leadership in the world, it has to be ready to face the competition from China, which started their nation building almost at the same time. China had progressed well because of the inflow of foreign exchange from their overseas residents,” he said on Thursday while speaking at the 94th Foundation Day of the Indian merchants' chambers in Mumbai.
In India, the trend was the outflow of money to foreign banks and this attitude should change if the country was to become a regional power, he said.
He said that it was time for all Indians to double the efforts in all the fields to improve efficiency. Later, replying to a question on the high rate of plane crashes, Fernandes enumerated three reasons--pilot error, bird hits and engine flaws.
He emphasised that MIG fighter planes were not old and said that the last one which crashed at Delhi airport was hit by a bird.
On cooperation with the private industry, Fernandes said his ministry had formed six task forces with the Confederation of Indian Industry for improving defence infrastructure.
Bureau Report
