In his keynote address, Lt. Gen. VG Khandare, Principal Advisor, Ministry of Defence, talks about the challenges we need to overcome as a nation to achieve indefeasible feats. According to him, the defence of the nation is no longer solely related to security. There are new forms of warfare such as cyber, space, and information, and these new kinds of threats are non-attributable. Hence, combating them is a major challenge for the government.

Giving a new meaning to the term "Atmanirbhar," he reiterates that this requires a strategic culture because we have been sabotaged by superpowers in the past. Hence, becoming self-sufficient in every arena is key. As the transfer of technology is expensive, the need to own it is very important for the nation to tread the path of success.

Also, he talks about how work culture improvement is required, and accountability needs to be fixed if transformation in the manufacturing sector is to happen. Furthermore, the cost of manufacturing needs to be lowered to make it more affordable. Also, the transition from labour intensive methods to mechanisation needs to happen to emerge as a winner. Instead of setting long-term goals, he talks about how we need to set short-term goals like a "100- day agenda" to progress faster.

Lt Gen VG Khandare, also talks about the loopholes like silos and inter-governmental and inter-ministerial gaps that need to be bridged to enable growth as a nation. Also, modernising the armed forces is key to emerging as a stronger nation, as the focus needs to be shifted to the security sector.

Further elucidating, he gives an illustrative example of BrahMos, which is a profitable venture. Talking about accountability, he wants the people in charge to take hold and move at a faster pace than usual.