New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday addressed the fourth edition of the Armed Forces Flag Day Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Conclave on the spirit of the soldiers deployed on the borders.
Emphasising on the issue of national security, the Defence Minister, as the chief guest at the conference organised by the Kendriya Sainik Board, said that many institutions do not take care of national security while investing capital. He said that a separate budget should be earmarked for capital investment, human resources, technology development as well as for protecting the borders.
He said that every citizen of the country remains carefree on the issue of national security depending on the soldiers posted on the border. He said that the average age of a soldier has been kept at 35-40 years to keep the military service always effective.
The Defence Minister said that on one hand there are 15 lakh serving military personnel, while on the other hand there are about 32 lakh retired military personnel. This number is continuously increasing due to the retirement of about 60,000 military personnel every year. Taking care of ex-servicemen is a national responsibility, so it can be possible with the collective responsibility of all sections of the society.
The Defence Minister launched a new website of the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund (AFFDF) on the occasion. This new website will be useful for interaction, which has been developed to encourage online contributions to AFFDF. Rajnath Singh also released this year’s campaign song for the Armed Forces Flag Day on the occasion and honoured the prominent people who contributed to this fund.
