NEW DELHI: India Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold meetings with the three service chiefs every morning to ensure quick decision making in areas of strategic importance.
The defence ministry also said that it had also been decided that the Defence Acquisition Council, the highest decision-making body on defence procurements, would meet on a fortnightly basis to ensure a time-bound clearance of proposals on the military acquisition. The ministry added that Sitharaman would also have a separate meeting with the defence secretary every day.
“Daily morning meetings with the three service chiefs and a separate daily meeting with the defence secretary have been formatted as a new practice for quick decision making,” said the statement from the ministry.
“A whole range of meetings have been scheduled with the three defence service chiefs to review defence preparedness and allied issues of strategic interests,” said the statement and added that Sitharaman, during meetings with senior officials of the ministry, gave clear directions on critical issues while emphasising the need to step up the pace of acquisition proposals.
Other areas of focus would include settling all outstanding land-related issues for infrastructure projects and matters related to the welfare of defence personnel and their families, the ministry said.
According to reports, the defence minister has been holding a series of meetings with top officials of various wings of the ministry since taking charge on September 7 and has listed military preparedness, defence indigenisation, resolving long-pending issues and welfare of soldiers as the priority areas.
