DRDO should definitely be held more accountable for its work and it should stop saying it can do everything under the sun.
Coming from Dr Vasudev K Aatre, who headed the organisation between
2000-04, this could be the luxury of hindsight but yet, a painfully
candid admission to the need for reform.
Now a professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,
Aatre has responded to this newspaper's investigative series on DRDO's
dismal record (for the previous seven parts, visit
www.expressindia.com). "I have been honest about our delays, I could not
hide our shortcomings. There is a need to break certain cycles as the
series in The Indian Express has shown. It is crucial that DRDO is a
dictator of its own destiny."
For that to happen, Aatre prescribes a five-point programme
fundamental to which is, what he calls, "the absolute must for
accountability." And, two, the brisk introduction of the private sector
into the fold of defence R&D to take away the burden of prototype
production.
Calling for the immediate implementation of the incentive list
for scientists — from sharing royalty to increased travel allowances —
Aatre says the "Damocles' Sword of imports" should not be allowed to
hang over scientists engaged in fundamental research. Finally, and
probably most importantly, "DRDO should stop making exaggerated
promises."
The aspect of talent retention is severely underestimated. Even
President A P J Abdul Kalam, who headed DRDO through the '90s and saw
first-hand the initial exodus of scientists to the newly booming IT
sector — over 1400 have left in the last decade — said on November 11 in
Ahmedabad: "We should work for the creation of a science cadre, with a
clear mission and goal, well-defined growth path, and attractive
salaries."
But better remuneration is just one side of an intricate polygon
of reform that DRDO admitted in June to be working on. The other crucial
aspect is DRDO's involvement with the services. The Navy, the smallest
of the three armed forces, has the best depth of relations with DRDO but
the less said about the Army and IAF, the better.
Experience has shown that programmes in which the agenda is set
by senior serving officers, as in Navy's avionics and sonars, have
always performed with the greatest prudence — delivering on time, and
cutting away losses when viability was severely undermined.
In June, as a start, the Standing Committee on Defence directed
the DRDO to draw up a list of unviable projects that could be
terminated.
But there is a consensus that synergy with the services is one
way out of the present mess. Says Gen Shankar Roy Choudhary, former Army
chief and member of the Standing Committee on Defence: "Coordination
and interaction need a great deal of improvement. DRDO should make sure
that officers from the services are part of design teams, and not looked
upon as outsiders. Even today, they are accepted very reluctantly. I
tried to do my bit in my time as Chief, but somehow it did not work out.
This should be an immediate area of reform."
Choudhary's recommendation is an echo of what was officially
proposed by the Defence Ministry's Task Force on the "Reorganization of
Higher Defence Planning": a three-star serving officer should head the
steering committee of DRDO programmes and the Armed forces personnel
embedded with these programmes be recognised as integral members of the
DRDO design team. None of this has been implemented yet.
New Defence Minister A K Antony, who received a three-and-a-half
hour presentation on the DRDO on October 29, five days into office, told
The Sunday Express, "In the few weeks that I have been here, I have
realized the need for big changes. We need comprehensive reforms in this
area to keep with changing situations. Over the next few weeks, I will
be looking at this aspect in great detail."
Consider what one of emerging India's pioneers in industrial
R&D, Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw has to say about DRDO:
"Every research establishment in the country needs to be reformed.
Defence is one area where we need a high level of innovation. Enough is
not being done and the DRDO is no exception to this. There is no modern
approach at all," she told The Sunday Express. "They should be focusing
on every emerging technology and the application of new technology. At
present, there seems to be only imitative effort. A lot of the research
is ineffective. We need reforms in defence research that capitalise on
innovation. Good talent needs to be attracted to these organisations."
In DRDO's journey from its fetters, it cannot ignore the private
sector. The total volume of work undertaken by the private sector since
May 2001 amounts to Rs 6,976 crore out of total capital acquisitions
worth Rs 95,145.28 crore. Private sector potential in defence R&D is
therefore enormous and mostly untapped.
On September 19, members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee
received a compilation of the capabilities of just two private
companies. Their capabilities officially declared as everything from
weapon-launch systems, sea mines, submarines, fire-control systems and
special materials to deep water technology, tracking radars, even space
applications.
Atul Kirloskar, chairman of the CII's National Committee on
Defence, which played an integral advisory role to the Vijay Kelkar
Committee on reforming self-reliance and procurement, told The Sunday
Express: "With DRDO, there is a large opportunity to work on
technological issues. Raksha Udyog Ratnas, or private sector systems
integrators will be certified next year and will be able to make quotes.
The new procurement procedure also includes a Make category. There are
opportunities waiting."
In a sense, few would know this better than Lt Gen S S Mehta,
formerly Western Army commander and now Director General of CII. He
said, "With growing similarities between civilian and military R&D,
it is essential that Defence R&D evolve a collaborative structure
which adapts to the rapidly changing technology eco-system."
The journey to a weapons development system like in the US or
Europe is still, quite certainly, decades away. But with shifting
paradigms, the blurring of technological boundaries and a whole new
element to the meaning of self-reliance, the essence of DRDO's
revitalization will be in accepting that the past is just that. The
past.
(With Johnson TA in Bangalore)
What lies unread: the recommendations
• Kelkar Committee: streamline linkages with private sector, open up R&D, audit essential
• Task Force on Higher Defence
Planning: Get senior service officers to head steering committees, let
services personnel be part of design teams
• Create a science cadre with mission, goal, good salaries: President Kalam
• New evaluation technology to avoid time and cost overruns: ex-DRDO chief Aatre
• Cut losses, terminate unviable
programmes, use resources for new ones, fashion future programmes with
foreign partners: Defence Standing Committee
• Focus on emerging technology, innovate, attract best talent: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
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