Attacking the previous Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the defence preparedness of the country was hampered by UPA's policy paralysis, and said that his government has taken bold actions to meet the immediate critical requirements including finalising the procurement of bulletproof jackets and initiating a new process to procure 110 fighter aircraft.

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The PM was in Thiruvidanthai near Chennai to inaugurate the Defexpo 2018.

"We have seen the damage such laziness, incompetence, or perhaps some hidden motives can cause to the nation. Not now. Not anymore. Never again. Issues that should have been long addressed by previous governments are being resolved now," he said, referring to the issue of procuring bullet-proof jackets for soldiers which was kept hanging for years. He said that his government has brought the process to a successful conclusion with a contract that would provide a boost to defence manufacturing in the country.

PM Modi also referred to the Indian Air Force's long-awaited request for information (RFI) issued last week to global vendors for the procurement of 110 aircraft. "You would also recall the long-drawn process of procurement of fighter aircraft that never reached any conclusion (during the previous government). We have not only taken bold action to meet our immediate critical requirements, but have also initiated a new process to procure 110 fighter aircraft," he said.

In an attempt to deflate the Congress's charge that the fresh government-to-government deal for 36 Rafale jets was a scam-in-the-making, Modi raked up the scrapped Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal saying that he did not want to spend 10 years in discussions without any tangible outcome.

"We will work with you with a sense of mission to keep our defence forces equipped with state-of-the-art systems, and to create the necessary domestic manufacturing ecosystem," he said.

Modi also launched a new scheme 'Innovation for Defence Excellence' to link young innovators to defence agencies as part of the government's efforts to boost and modernise India's fledgeling military manufacturing sector. Under the scheme, the government would set up defence innovation hubs throughout the country to provide necessary incubation and infrastructure support to the start-ups in the defence sector.