India Will Hit Back With ‘Double The Force’ If Sovereignty Is Challenged, Says PM Narendra Modi
- 21-Oct-2018
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New Delhi: India never eyes anyone else’s territory but will hit back with “double the force” if its sovereignty is ever challenged, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.
Speaking at an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the proclamation of the Azad Hind government by Subhas Chandra Bose, PM Modi said that efforts are underway to make the lives of soldiers easier by extending them with better facilities and providing the armed forces with better technology and the latest weapons.
Modi also announced that a national award in the name of Subhash Chandra Bose would be given every year to those police personnel who did “exemplary work” in the rescue-and-relief operations during any kind of disasters. The PM said his government took decisions, such as providing benefits of ‘one rank, one pension’ to ex-servicemen and carrying out surgical strikes across the Line of Control.
Modi said that “arrears worth Rs 11,000 crore have been released for ex-servicemen under the ‘one rank, one pension’ (OROP) scheme. OROP, coupled with recommendations of the seventh pay commission, have given “double bonanza” to former servicemen.”
The prime minister also alerted people about the forces inside and outside India which were working against the country by targetting its constitutional values. “A feeling of nationalism and “Indianness” was necessary to counter such designs,” he added.
Referring to the opposition faced by Bose when he set off to establish an all women unit of the Indian National Army — the Rani Jhansi Regiment, PM Modi said that it would complete 75 years of its establishment on Monday.
Citing the example of the decision allowing women in the army to opt for a permanent commission from short service commission following a transparent procedure, he said that the government was trying to fulfil the dreams of Bose.
“The air force is set to have the first batch of women fighter pilots and the work on the National War Memorial is in its last stages,” he added.
