Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tells army to be future-ready

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday asked the army to be future-ready at a time when lessons should be learnt from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

India's reputation has increased significantly in the international fora and this manifested in ceasing of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the leaders concerned to ensure safe evacuation of Indian students, he said.

Speaking at the 75th Indian Army Day event at the Army Service Corps (ASC) Bengaluru, he called upon the armed forces to enhance their adoption capabilities and that in the coming days all major armed forces would boost their security mechanism.

Earlier, when India used to speak, no one would take it seriously, but now when we say, ''the world listens to us carefully.'' ''An example of it is the evacuation of Indian students caught during the Russia and Ukraine war. There was an outcry to bring students back home safely,'' Singh said at celebrations here, which is happening for the first time outside the national capital.

''Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Ukraine President ( Volodymyr) Zelensky, Russian President (Vladimir) Putin and US President Joe Biden and the war was stopped for a few hours during which students were safely evacuated,'' he said.