Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to announce a defence industrial corridor between Hyderabad and Bengaluru while pointing out the two cities were already considered as hubs of defence research and technology of the country.

Reddy said this would ensure more investments their way. The defence minister urged the youth to adopt a scientific temper and excel in emerging technologies on the occasion of National Science Day.

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Singh inaugurated a science and technology exhibition, “Vigyan Vaibhav,” which was jointly organized by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Aeronautical Society of India, and the Kalam Institute of Youth Excellence to showcase defence products at the GMC Balayogi stadium at Gachibowli. The chief minister iterated his demand for a defence industrial corridor between Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

Pointing out that both cities were considered the two hubs of defence research in the country, Reddy said, “Hyderabad and Bengaluru are the defence centres. We have already requested you about this – if a defence industrial corridor between Hyderabad and Bengaluru is declared, more investments will come our way. Many private startups like Skyroot Aerospace already exist here.”

Skyroot Aerospace had developed the first private rocket, Vikram-S. The chief minister also expressed concern about brain drain, pointing out that more than one lakh engineers who pass out every year from Telangana opt for computer science so that they can land IT jobs and leave for the US. He said the exhibition was organized to draw students to other areas of engineering as well.

Singh emphasized the need to inculcate scientific temper among the youth and excel in frontier technologies by making the best use of the internationally competitive infrastructure which is being established due to the government’s efforts.

“War is increasingly moving from hardware to software-oriented. New technological breakthroughs are on the horizon, and we have to take a lead in transformative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI, Quantum Computing, Machine Learning and Cleantech. India can remain strong and secure in adverse situations if it has solutions to critical technological challenges,” he added.

He said the New Education Policy 2020 aims to transform science education in the country by encouraging creativity, critical thinking and innovation.

The two-day exhibition with more than 200 stalls provided students the rare opportunity to witness cutting edge defence and aerospace technologies developed by DRDO and leading Indian industries.