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DRDO Decay Part 1: Keeping end users in dark, poor planning, flouting of SOPs hurt UAV projects, reveals CAG test audit

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Yatish Yadav Feb 27, 2020

  • A test audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General examining the working of Aeronautical Development Establishment reveals that the lab is taking up projects aimlessly without any focus and priority, spending money on research which has been abandoned without completion.
  • The projects undertaken by the ADE from 2007 to 2017 (10 years) were selected for review under the test audit of CAG.
  • While decoding the reasons for such a high failure rate, the audit said, the main reason was non-involvement of user representatives in neither in the pre-project work nor during project execution. Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a two-part series of investigation on irregularities in the UAVs development programme by ADE for forces as unearthed by a CAG audit. The second part focuses on how drones costing hundreds of crores failed to lift off. New Delhi: More than a decade ago P Rama Rao Committee in a report to the then defence minister AK Antony in 2008 had asked for a complete overhaul of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the country’s premier research and development agency for the armed forces. Since then, the debate within the armed forces community has been centred on whether the DRDO which has an annual budget running into thousands of crores disappointed the forces or it was able to meet their expectations.
Rustom UAV developed by DRDO. Image courtesy

It is in the national interest to empower the DRDO, make it more efficient with indigenous technology. However, year after year, the criticism of DRDO for not meeting the requirement of the armed forces continues to grow. The tales of DRDO’s successes have been lauded by the government in the past but the inefficiency, which has far-reaching consequences for national security, is too glaring to be ignored.

A test audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) examining the working of Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) reveals that the lab is taking up projects aimlessly without any focus and priority, spending money on research which has been abandoned without completion and even projects which are said to be completed have no takers within the armed forces community.

The report unearths dismal performance pointing out that out of the 10 completed projects in 10 years, only two projects were able to achieve the objectives. The mission of ADE is to develop and lead to the production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and aeronautical systems to meet the needs of the services and progressively enhance the technological infrastructure and capabilities. However, the audit report claimed that ADE is unable to meet its mission objective.

The report reviewed by Firstpost is scathing on ADE’s floating ventures. It said: “ADE undertook its projects without adhering to the provisions of Procedures for Project Formulation and Management (PPFM), both during planning as well as execution stage. Non-adherence to provisions of PPFM resulted in project deliverables for which no users could be identified and resultantly, the products developed could not be productionised and used by the services.”

The audit pointed out another interesting fact that except for pilotless target aircraft named Lakshya designed and developed by ADE way back in the 1990s, no other ADE product has been inducted into the armed forces.

“This indicated that R&D effort at ADE was not fructifying into usable products for armed forces,” the report observed.

A DRDO spokesperson did not comment on the findings of the test audit report. However, he said ADE is the centre of excellence for the flight control system of manned and unmanned aircraft in India.

“ADE has developed Full Mission Simulator for LCA which is installed at ADE and is also upcoming at IAF squadrons. ADE has developed and delivered Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS) in 2014 which is commissioned at three air force stations with 20 psychomotor and 100 cognitive terminals at each air force station for the pilot selection process of IAF,” the DRDO spokesperson said.

An email questionnaire sent to the Director, ADE, seeking response on the audit findings remained unanswered till the filing of this report.

Distressing details

The projects undertaken by the ADE from 2007 to 2017 (10 years) were selected for review under the test audit of CAG. As per PPFM, which outlines procedures and formats for preparing project proposals, peer review and project closure etc., 16 projects costing about Rs 2,306 crore were undertaken in different categories.

There are broadly five categories — Mission Mode (MM), Technology Demonstration (TD), Science & Technology (S&T), Product Support (PS) and Infrastructure & facilities. The audit in its findings has unearthed non-compliance at the pre-project stage and slammed ADE for the lackadaisical approach.

It said that the projects were initiated without adequate caution and groundwork, which resulted in either product developed by ADE not meeting the user requirement or no user service showing interest in these products. There is also an observation about non-compliance in preparing feasibility report and the audit said that out of 16 projects examined, no feasibility report was prepared with respect to nine projects.

Moreover, the ADE has been criticised for not having user agency (armed forces or paramilitary) on peer review committee board which is required under PPFM to discuss existing systems in use with them and elsewhere in the world and other details about the operation, maintenance and use of the product.

“Involving users in project progress reviews help into cutting short the delays and to know their views in advance and also to keep continuous visibility of the project. Audit found that out of the 16 projects examined, there was no user representation in the project monitoring in 13 projects,” the report said.

Another issue that has been highlighted is the lack of outcome realisation plan, which is primarily to ensure that stages of the project are managed in a satisfactory manner. The utilisation of the project’s outputs are linked to the planned project outcomes and success of the project’s output are assessed and corrective action are taken.

The audit found that out of the 16 projects examined, outcome realisation plan was not prepared in respect of 11 projects. Then there is the issue of time overrun as well as cost overrun. The report said at least 10 projects out of 16 were delayed for a period ranging from six months to six years. The audit found that the cost in respect of three projects was revised upwards ranging from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 369 crore.

“Two projects are still ongoing and further increase in cost cannot be ruled out,” the audit findings revealed.

Another shocking fact in the audit findings is about the procurement of Rs 4.34 crore worth equipment that was received by the ADE after the closure of four projects and remained unitized for the intended purpose for which they were procured.

Negligible success rate of projects

The audit revealed that objectives were achieved only in two out of 10 completed projects. All types of DRDO projects are taken up for execution by the lab after being sanctioned by the competent financial authority. The sanction clearly mentions about the objectives of the project which subsequently becomes the benchmark to assess the success of the project. ADE completed 10 projects out of 16 projects it undertook in 10 years (2007-2017).

“Success rate in achieving the objectives of the project was only 20 percent as ADE could achieve the project objectives in only two out of 10 completed projects and eight projects were closed without achieving objectives,” the audit said.

While decoding the reasons for such a high failure rate, the audit said, the main reason was non-involvement of user representatives in neither in the pre-project work nor during project execution.

“As a result, when the project was developed, either there were no takers or the deliverable did not meet the requirements of the services. In respect of one project even though user representative was involved in the development activities, the product could not be successfully developed by ADE to match the user requirement,” the audit disclosed in the report.

The report further observed that there were instances of projects being short-closed without realising objectives, project deliverable not finding any users, inordinate delays in execution of projects and project goals being changed midway.

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‘Akash missile system can’t be trusted during war’: Degraded by govt defence agencies, loopholes in strategic weapon system threaten national security

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Yatish Yadav Dec 02, 2019 18:22:43 IST

Other squadrons reported frequent unserviceability of mobile surface-to-air Akash Missile system and long duration downtime, which means that the missiles are dysfunctional and may not be cocked and loaded against enemy in contingency

Several government agencies, including missile manufacturer Bharat Dynamics Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, did not tell the truth to the government about malfunctioning Akash Missile system and poor quality of spare parts provided by the private vendors

CAG was perhaps far-sighted, when in a 2017 report, the national auditor observed that Akash Missiles cannot be trusted in situation of a war

On 3 June, 2018, Akash Missile’s Transportation and Loading Vehicle (TLV), parked at an Air Force Squadron, was jolted after a sudden burst of tube followed by shearing off wheel bolts due to impact. The incident shocked Air Force headquarters. The Air Force officials wanted not only wanted the routine analysis of the incident, but also an in-depth discussion with Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), a multi-disciplinary Missile System laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to unearth issues hampering the functioning of the strategic weapon system.

More than a month later, another squadron reported cracks on air intake caps of dummy missiles. An investigation by Firstpost revealed that the incidents were followed by other squadrons reporting frequent unserviceability of mobile surface-to-air Akash Missile system and long duration downtime, which means that the missiles are dysfunctional and may not be cocked and loaded against enemy in contingency. This incident forced Guided Weapon Maintenance Department of Air Force on 5 September 2018 to raise the issue, where they clearly stated that the “Squadrons have been reporting frequent unserviceability of Missiles and it has been noticed that time taken to resolve these failures is considerably high due to delay in analysis of failures.”

The sheer inertia of government defence enterprise involved in Akash Missile production and maintenance reached to such an alarming level that at least three squadrons of Akash in February 2019 reported that missile system remained down or simply broken and sometimes even out of order during 90 percent of the time since their date of commissioning. These squadrons were commissioned between 2013-2015 to counter Chinese aggression.

Multiple government agencies, including Missile manufacturer Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) which comes under the Ministry of Defence, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) which is responsible for radars and maintenance and the DRDO, did not tell the truth to the government about malfunctioning Akash Missile system and poor quality of spare parts provided by the private vendors.

The malfunction of Integrated Air Compressor and Storage Facility (IACSF) revealed another shocker and the Air Force mentioned it on record that the IACSFs of Akash Missile System units are unserviceable due to wobbling and vibration, pneumatic leakage, breaking of mounting pads and bolts. A missile had failed to take off during combined guided weapon firing exercise known as ‘CROSSBOW-18’ and a team of Missile System Quality Assurance Agency (MSQAA), BDL and DRDL was constituted to investigate the failure.

MSQAA is an independent inspection Agency under the administrative and functional control of Director General Aeronautical Quality Assurance, which comes under the Department of Defence Production of Defence Ministry. The incidents of leakage from fuel tanks and leakage in pressurised Missile containers were taken so lightly that the Air Force, responsible to secure the nation from aerial threats, was forced to direct to the DRDL, BEL and BDL that present configuration of certain systems of Akash Missile will not be acceptable for future squadrons, which are under the process of procurement. The Air Force, BDL, BEL and DRDL are yet to respond to a questionnaire sent by Firstpost on 24 November.

Details expose criminal act by government defence enterprises

If there is an emergent situation, several Akash sqaudron may not be able to launch counter offensive because deficiencies in many of the system including hydraulic oil leakage and container pressure leakage, which is pending since 2017. The complaints received from Air Force headquarters, Eastern Air Command and other Akash field units reveals there is no back-to-back agreement with vendors for equipment under warranty, making it difficult to repair the faults. Documents reviewed by Firstpost showed that almost all squadrons have expressed that they are unable to get proper feedback from BEL on repairing the faults in Missile System and on problems plaguing Akash Missiles which Indian agencies are ill-equipped to resolve. Surprisingly the field engineers, who are supposed to rectify the critical snags, are not even aware of any action plan.

Documents further said: “Currently majority of the Akash field engineers are working to pass information about issues without any tangible technical output. The untrained and poorly equipped field engineers are neither aware of any corrective action plan nor they are committed.”

The documents also pointed to massive delay in supply of spares for Missile System, virtually grounding them for for six months to a year. Air Force in a meeting had informed that most of the problems reported in 2017 were pending for over a year now. The documents also pointed at the repairing of Akash trailers which are covered under annual maintenance contract. It said: “Akash Trailers serviceability is poor and some cases spares supplied to Akash Missile units are not configured as per system requirement which is affecting equipment serviceability in case of failure.”

Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) the manufacturer of Akash Missile has not been able to resolve three important issues for the last two to three years. BDL, founded in 1970, is a government enterprise under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence. It is learnt that BDL was told in high level meeting convened last year to come out with solid plan after conducting an investigation and study of faults in Akash Missile System within a month on long delays of critical faults. Even the investigation to unearth and address the issues was delayed.’


The Air Force has refused to pay for new maintenance contract for certain Akash Missile squadrons as the old ones expired in September 2019. They argued that missile systems in several squadrons were left idle for more than a year. Instead, it had asked for extension of warranty for certain squadrons which have been dysfunctional for 17 to 15 months in the last two years. Air Force asserted since system was down and faults were neither rectified nor replaced, it violated the maintenance contract. Air Force is learnt to have said that “during the warranty period, the seller shall either replace or rectify the failed goods free of charge within 30 days of notification of such defects. As per article of the contract, warranty of the equipment would be extended by such duration from time the buyer has reported such unserviceabilities till the time seller has restored the status of the buyer’s satisfaction.”

Red tapeism in government defence enterprises hurt national security

Firstpost investigation also revealed gross inefficiency of government defence agencies BEL, BDL and DRDL to address the problem in Akash Missile System. Documents reveal that meetings after meetings were convened on the issues but the government defence enterprises couldn’t satisfactorily answer the questions raised by Air Force. These government defence enterprises have been passing the buck. They also cheated Air Force by providing substandard and fake spares.

A meeting earlier this year chaired by Air Vice Marshal Bhanoji Rao pointed at severe negligence in handling Akash Missile System which may have serious ramifications in contingency. Documents revealed that certain spares, especially those of sub-vendors (procured by BEL) were being received at Akash Missile System units without ‘Quality Assurance’ certification and on a few instances it came to light that these spares were old and fake. In a letter, it was noted: “On few instances it has been noticed that the items were not new/authentic.”

Air Vice Marshal Rao clearly told his team at the Air Force not to accept spares without ‘Quality Assurance’ certification. The meeting also revealed a lack of expertise of government-owned defence enterprises which are acting merely as a supplier of equipment after procuring it from domestic and foreign vendors. It basically means that these government enterprises are acting like a payment facilitators. Their complicity in this entire saga was further exposed when government defence enterprises officials told the senior Air Force officials that sub-vendors (private companies supplying spares) were not willing to share their design documents.

An appalled Air Vice Marshal asked, if the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) is the authority then it must have intellectual property rights of all designs related to Akash Missile System. Obviously, the defence agencies representatives were not aware about it since they never took the pain to look into the agreements and promised the Air Force to look into the matter to ascertain whether these rights were with vendors. A promise was made to list all major vendors for unhindered supply of spares to overcome single vendor situation. As far as BEL is concerned documents said: “Almost all squadrons have expressed that they are unable to get proper feedbacks from BEL on progress and plan of action of pending faults.”

The meeting chaired by Air Vice Marshal Rao also discussed high failure rate of one of the systems of Akash Missile, lacunae in analysis of faults and mismatch in software versions used for the this strategic weapon.

Another major loophole, which highlights the non-seriousness of defence agencies, is the contract with the private vendors. The agreements are more favorable to private parties putting Akash Missile System in jeopardy. Documents flagged these concerns further pointing out that all the vendor supplied items are outside their warranty obligations and in certain cases supplied spares are not configured as per system requirements. Some spares for Akash Missiles are not fit and functional and this is affecting the equipment serviceability in case of failure.

It appears that careless handling of most critical weapons has been going on for a long time. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) was perhaps far-sighted when in a 2017 report, the national auditor observed that Akash Missiles cannot be trusted in situation of a war. CAG had categorically stated that Akash missile system delivered by BEL were deficient in quality and 30% missiles failed the test.

“Audit found that the Strategic missile system delivered by BEL were deficient in quality. Out of 80 missiles received up to November 2014, 20 missiles were test fired during April-November 2014. Six of these missiles i.e., 30 percent, failed the test. Preliminary failure analysis report revealed that the missiles fell short of the target, had lower than the required velocity, and also there was malfunctioning of critical units like Servo Control Unit and Connector. Two missiles had failed to take off because the booster nozzle had failed. These deficiencies posed an operational risk during hostilities. Two missiles had failed to take off because the booster nozzle had failed. These deficiencies posed an operational risk during hostilities.” CAG report had said.

Firstpost investigation showed that after the CAG report, the squabbling between government defence enterprises had come to light. Eight critical snags in Akash Missile Systems were reported after the CAG report which were pending for three-seven months. CAG had recommended that Ministry of Defence needs to ensure better synchronisation of the various activities and agencies involved in such strategically important projects to ensure their timely completion and quality of Strategic Missiles also needs improvement so as to bring down failure rate.

Notwithstanding, many snags were not rectified citing lack of spares. The Air Force anguished over lackadaisical attitude of BEL and BDL has firmly directed them to resolve all internal issues immediately and ensure that no Missile is kept unserviceable due to their internal problems.

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Destroy DRDO Institutions, Get Rewarded

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An open letter to Mr PK ,Chattopadhyaya RDE(E)

By

Rajendra Kale

Dear Mr Chattopadhyaya

Friends broke the wonderful news that you are back in your office a day after your retirement. I thought I must personally congratulate you.

Among the top management comprising officers who have gallantly delayed even the Golden Jubilee Monument Project of R&DE(E) by six years, you have achieved the unique distinction of successfully destroying a full Institution that was created by DRDO through some of us to bring in an element of accountability of Contracting processes in the Lab.

PDOC was DRDO’s response to the CAG audit report, CA No. 16 of 2012-2013 (Defence Services) that had detected 94% failures in R&DE(E)’s projects in 15 years and lamented that the Lab “did not even have a  reliable database of the projects undertaken”. The Report further said, there was no mechanism in place to assess the “accountability of personnel towards success or failure of the projects”, implying that recommendations for promotions were based on dubious considerations.

PDOC had brought in the long-awaited order. A small team in a short time created an ISO-compliant IT-enabled database from whatever project documents it could lay its hands on. This wasn’t easy given that each project group was treated like an independent kingdom by their directors and they guarded their dark secrets jealousy. But the real skeletons began tumbling out when PDOC scrutinized the contract documents. This is where, you, at the helm of the ISO compliance, came to rescue of the culture of great Indian corruption which holds us from what it takes to become a developed nation. I am sure Mr Parlikar, the lab director, also deserves a lot of compliments for your reappointment.

Best warm wishes

Rajendra

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Railways Mull Rs 6,250 Cr Replacement To Flawed Bio-Toilets–After Spending Rs 1,620 Cr

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IndiaSpend Team, June 18, 2018
Mumbai: Having spent nearly Rs 1,370 crore on 136,985 railway bio-toilets–criticised for being “no better than septic tanks”–and after earmarking Rs 250 crore to install bio-toilets on remaining trains by March 2019, the railway ministry is now considering “upgraded” vacuum bio-toilets at a cost of Rs 6,250 crore.

“We have started experimenting with vacuum bio-toilets like those in an aeroplane,” Railway Minister Piyush Goyal told PTI. “Some 500 vacuum bio-toilets have been ordered and once the experiment is successful, I am willing to spend money to replace all the 2.5 lakh toilets in the trains with vacuum bio-toilets.”

Vacuum toilets, which cost around Rs 2.5 lakh per unit, will be odour-free, will cut down water use by 1/20th and have fewer chances of getting blocked, he added.

This takes the cost to Rs 6,250 crore.

In addition, vacuum toilets will need to be emptied and cleaned in rail yards.

As of May 31, 136,965 bio-toilets have been fitted in 37,411 coaches, at a cost of around Rs 1 lakh per toilet, according to railway ministry officials quoted by the PTI. This brings the expenditure to about Rs 1,370 crore.

There is a plan to install bio-toilets in around 18,750 more coaches by March 2019, when all the coaches of the Indian Railways will be fitted with such toilets, costing the national transporter around Rs 250 crore, the PTI release added.

The technology–and the criticism

Indian Railways are often described as the world’s biggest toilet: They eject around 3,980 tonnes of faecal matter–the equivalent of 497 truck-loads (at 8 tonnes per truck)–onto rail tracks every day, according to a report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2013.

Bio-toilets are small-scale sewage-treatment systems beneath the toilet seat: Bacteria in a compost chamber digest human excreta, leaving behind water and methane. Only the water, disinfected later, is let out on the tracks. That’s how they were supposed to work.

But, signs of failure came early.

In 2007, an experts committee headed by Vinod Tare, a professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, had concluded that bio-toilets developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) were not workable. “Yet, the Indian Railways went ahead with the decision to proliferate this model,” Tare told IndiaSpend in this January 7, 2018, interview.

Sanitation experts and various studies–including commissioned by the railways–have pointed out that most of the new “bio-toilets” on Indian trains are ineffective or ill maintained and the water discharged no better than raw sewage, as IndiaSpend reported on November 23, 2017.

Lokendra Singh, former director of the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), had, after an expedition to Antarctica, brought home psychrophilic bacteria that can survive in extremely low temperatures. The bacteria were mixed with cow dung and normal soil, which have methogens (microorganisms that produce methane) capable of breaking down human excreta. This was then supplied to the manufacturers of rail bio-digesters.

Singh’s claims of a scientific breakthrough were questioned: The bacterium did not have independent third-party certification, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) did not have a patent for the design and manufacture of bio-toilets, and once the tank is filled, human excreta is allowed to drop down onto the tracks.

A December 2017 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on these bio-toilets echoed the findings of our November 2017 investigation into their widespread malfunctioning: The CAG found 199,689 defects in 25,000 toilets. Some major issues were:

Highest number of problems/ defects (41,111) found at the Bengaluru coaching depot, followed by Gorakhpur (24,495) and Wadi Bunder (22,521);
Complaints per bio-toilet were highest at the Bengaluru coaching deport (98), followed by Wadi Bunder (32), Rameshwaram (28) and Gwalior (17);
Of the 102,792 instances of choking, 10,098 (10%) cases reported in March 2017;
Of the 102,792 cases of choking in 25,080 bio-toilets, the highest (34%) were reported from Bengaluru. This implied that one bio-toilet got choked 83 times a year;
Choking incidents have risen from 2015-16: One bio-toilet got choked four times a year during 2016-17.

Responding to the CAG findings, the railway ministry said its criticism was “not correct” and that “some problems of choking were occurring on account of misuse of toilets by passengers”. An official note from December 20, 2017, said: “These issues are being dealt with promptly.”

The denial

The railways ministry responded to our November 2017 investigation, pointing out what it calls “factual inaccuracies” and a lack of “technological understanding”. We had published the rejoinder verbatim, with our response:

The ministry said the IIT Madras study was conducted “on stationary toilets on selected 15 field installed units and 6 units installed at IIT Madras Campus with bio-digesters based on DRDO technology”, and not on railway coaches. “There is absolutely no difference,” professor Ligy Philip of IIT Madras had told us. “The same technology and the same bacteria is being used for both the land-based and the train bio-digesters.”
“It is not correct to say that bio-toilets in coaches are ineffective or ill-maintained,” the ministry said, adding that periodic tests are conducted to ensure that the discharged water meets specific norms. However, agenda papers of a Railway Board meeting in October 2017 showed that bio-toilets have not passed the performance tests.
“DRDE has more than a dozen national and foreign patents not only on the basic technology but also on the bio-digester fitted in railway coaches,” the ministry said. However, the patent is for engineering and septic tank design. There is no mention on the use of the Antarctica bacteria to aid the bio-digestion process.
The ministry said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the DRDO in March 2010. However, the patent for engineering and septic tank design was awarded in 2015–five years after the MoU for supply of bio-toilets was signed.

The policy U-turn

As a possible solution, IndiaSpend had offered the ‘zero-discharge toilets’ developed by IIT Kanpur.

“IIT Kanpur developed ‘zero-discharge toilets’ which have a separator to segregate the solid matter of human excreta from the liquid portion,” Tare, the professor, told us. “The liquid portion, after treatment, can be used for flushing, while the solid waste can be evacuated at junctions with the aid of assembly suction pumps. Human excreta–mixed with cow dung–could subsequently be used for vermi-composting.”

The railway ministry rejected this solution saying the system “involves installation of ground handling facility to evacuate retention tanks at the terminals”.

“This involves huge infrastructure cost, man-power, terminals are landlocked, inter- track distance is not uniform everywhere,” the ministry said. “Whereas, in IR-DRDO system, waste is treated on-board itself and thus no ground infrastructure is required. Thus, IR-DRDO bio-toilets being proliferated over IR, is a better solution.”

Vacuum toilets, such as those used in aeroplanes, as we said, will need evacuation facilities and treatment plants–which will come at an additional cost to the Rs 6,250 crore likely to be spent on replacing the bio-toilets.

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DRDO needs a major overhaul: House Panel

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DRDO needs a major overhaul: House Panel

A parliamentary panel, which examined the issue of preparedness of the country’s armed forces, defence production and requirement, has taken a dim view of the functioning of Defence Research and Development Organisation and felt it needs a “major overhaul”.

DRDO is the premier institution in defence research in the country, with more than 50 laboratories, 500 scientists and 25, 000 other scientific, technical and supporting personnel and has a budget of Rs 13,600 crore, which is about 5.5% of the total defence budget.

Noting that DRDO and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) are expected to be storehouses of strategic know-how in the development of missiles, armaments, light combat aircrafts, radars, electronic warfare systems and other defence hardware, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Estimates wondered as to why the country has to depend on foreign suppliers not just for sophisticated weapons but also for basic defence armaments.

“DRDO has not been able to meet nation’s expectations… the committee is of the view that the functioning of DRDO needs a major overhaul and its contribution in the context of country’s requirements need to be examined,” the panel said in a report which was adopted in its meeting on Tuesday.

The report is yet to be presented before Parliament.

The panel also referred to a CAG report of 2015 which had said that an examination of 14 mission mode projects carried out by DRDO laboratories revealed that all projects “failed to achieve their timelines” and the probable date of completion was extended many times.

The committee also flagged another report of a high-power committee constituted by the Ministry of Defence, which had reviewed the functioning of DRDO and had said that at least 11 laboratories of the organisation need to be closed down or amalgamated and its “non-core” research activities need to be stopped.

Referring to the high-power committee’s recommendation that DRDO needs to work with clearly defined objectives to develop weapon systems and platforms, the panel said that it feels that the end users – the three services – must be consulted on areas of research and development of weapon systems.

The panel also recommended the formation of an inter-ministerial group to facilitate collaboration among organisations such as SRO, DRDO and DPSUs.

It also called for “clear-cut road map” for meeting targets of Defence Production Policy, 2018, which aims at making India one of the top defence producers by 2025 with self-reliance in 13 areas covering almost the entire range of weapons and systems.

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Why Indian Railways Need To Buy 3,350 Truckloads Of Cow Dung For Rs 42 Cr

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Srinand Jha, January 6, 2018- IndiaSpend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Indian Railways need to buy 3,350 truckloads of cow dung at Rs 42 crore in 2018 to “recharge”–add bacteria to activate degradation–leaky, malfunctioning ‘bio-toilets’ that it has fitted on 44.8% of trains and hopes to expand to all trains by 2018, according to IndiaSpend projections of data released by the national auditor to Parliament.

Bio-toilets are small-scale sewage-treatment systems beneath the toilet seat: Bacteria in a compost chamber digest human excreta, leaving behind water and methane. That’s how they were supposed to work.

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on these bio-toilets echoes the findings of our November 2017 investigation into their widespread malfunctioning: The CAG found 199,689 defects in 25,000 toilets.

Responding to the CAG findings, the railway ministry said its criticism was “not correct” and that “some problems of choking were occurring on account of misuse of toilets by passengers”. An official note from December 20, 2017, said: “These issues are being dealt with promptly.”

“By November 2011, the performance issues of each design of bio-toilets were clearly showing up,” the note said. “Therefore, the ministry did not wait until the end of the trial period to make the decision (to order the procurement of bio-toilets from private manufacturers).”

Our November 2017 story quoted studies from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and IIT Kanpur that said the bio-toilets were no better than “septic tanks” and the water they let out no better than “raw sewage”.

Each bio-toilet requires 60 litres–or three large bucketfuls–of inoculum, a mix of cow dung and water, according to the December 19, 2017, CAG report. This inoculum begins the process of breaking down 3,980 tons of human excreta that is released untreated by trains on rail tracks nationwide every day.

The bio-toilets originally used a bacterium found in Antarctica by a defence scientist, who cultured it in 2005 and 10 years later, got a patent on its use. Over seven years to 2017, 97,761 such toilets were fitted in new coaches or retrofitted in existing Indian trains.

The railways went ahead with the toilet installation even though the flaw in the basic model designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had been pointed out by an expert panel in 2007. In an interview (to be published tomorrow), Vinod Tare, an IIT professor of environmental engineering, who headed this panel, told us that these bio-toilets had been found ineffective at two venues: Kumbh Mela, the massive gathering of Hindu pilgrims held every 12 years at a river bank, and the army base-camp at Siachen glacier.

The panel’s two-year study was completed in November 2017 by IIT Madras, as IndiaSpend reported on November 23, 2017.

The railways sent a rejoinder to our story–you can read it here–and soon after announced they were exploring airplane-style vacuum toilets.

The railways bought 3,600 litres of inoculum for Rs 68,400 in May 2016, said the CAG report. Based on this cost, we estimate that to recharge the 97,761 bio-toilets currently in use, the railways will need 23.46 million litres–or 3,350 truckloads–of cow dung.

With the railways failing to produce enough bacteria, the cow dung will be sourced from private sector at Rs 19 per litre. The railways have a workshop–with an installed capacity to generate 30,000 litres of bacteria each month–in Nagpur, but no action has been taken on a 2011 proposal to set up two more facilities, at Kapurthala and Perambur.

No clarity on funds or manpower for bio-toilet project

There is no clarity on two other critical issues relating to bio-toilets on trains: The infrastructure costs involved in installation, including procurement and installation of evacuation machines and hydraulic lifts, and anticipated expenses on training and deployment of manpower.

Further, if all 54,506 rail coaches are to be fitted with vacuum toilets atop the bio-toilets being installed–as is being planned–there will be an additional cost of Rs 10,900 crore. The current market price of a vacuum toilet unit is approximately Rs 200,000.

The additional expense might have been worth it if the bio-toilet scheme, 24 years in the making, had been efficient. But the CAG has amplified concerns about its performance and has endorsed the findings of the IndiaSpend investigation.

The flaws in bio-toilets, according to the CAG

In an evaluation of 25,000 toilets for the period under review (2016-17), the CAG detected 199,689 defects and deficiencies. Here are some major issues, according to the report:

Highest number of problems/ defects (41,111) found at the Bengaluru coaching depot, followed by Gorakhpur (24,495) and Wadi Bunder (22,521);
Complaints per bio-toilet were highest at the Bengaluru coaching deport (98), followed by Wadi Bunder (32), Rameshwaram (28) and Gwalior (17);
Of the 102,792 instances of choking, 10,098 (10%) cases reported in March 2017;
Of the 102,792 cases of choking in 25,080 bio-toilets, the highest (34%) were reported from Bengaluru. This implied that one bio-toilet got choked 83 times a year;
Choking incidents have risen from 2015-16: One bio-toilet got choked four times a year during 2016-17.
Quantity and quality of material used criticised by CAG

In an email dated May 21, 2016, to then defence minister Manohar Parrikar, Y Ashok Babu, a scientist at the DRDO, had alleged that a “nexus of bureaucrats and industrialists” was pushing for what was “nothing but gobar gas plants involving no technology”.

The CAG report too slammed the railways for the “quality and quantity” of material being procured.

As the report observed, there were complaints pending against seven of the nine firms against with which the Railway Board placed orders. These are: Ms JSL Life Style Limited, Ms Omax Auto Limited, Ms Mohan Rail Components Limited, Ms Rail Fab, Ms Amit Engineers, Ms Hindustan Fiber Glass Works and Ms Rail Tech.

In July 2017, the railways ministry barred three companies (Ms Rail Tech, Ms Rail Fab and Ms Hindustan Fiber) from being considered for railway contracts for an unspecified period. The ministry also proposed that the contract of another company, Ms Mohan Rail, be cancelled.

Negligence in testing of effluents and bacteria culture

The CAG report found that 12 coaching depots of nine railway zones had not finalised the annual maintenance and operating contracts (AMOCs) for bio-toilets.

“Evaluation of performance is a continuous process resulting in addition or deletion from the approved list,” the railways ministry said in a press note in response to the CAG report. It added that “all major coaching depots now had the AMOC contract, while this was progressively being extended to other depots”.

As the CAG found, Indian Railways have not adhered to the guidelines on testing the effluents released by bio-toilets. The tests had not been conducted at all at the Dhanbad coaching depot and records of the samples sent for testing and the results of these tests were not maintained at five coaching depots.

At the Lower Parel workshop in Mumbai, 18 drums of bacteria procured at a cost of Rs 68,400 in May 2016 had been lying unused even after their shelf life had expired.

After 2011, the railways placed bulk orders for the supply, installation and commissioning of approximately 80,000 bio-toilets. The CAG criticised the railways for failing to come up with a “standardized design” for these units. It also pointed to the “large scale proliferation” of 10,000 tanks in November 2011 “before test results of trials on seven different variants had been analyzed”.

Earlier news reports had suggested that the land-based variants of these toilets were unsuccessful.

This is the first of a two-part series. You can read our November 2017 report on railway bio-toilets here.

Next: ‘Railways Went Ahead With A Failed Bio-Toilet Model’

(Jha is a New Delhi-based freelance journalist.)

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‘Railways Went Ahead With A Failed Bio-Toilet Model’ IndiaSpend

✔@IndiaSpend

Tech solutions to train-toilet problem exist, but ‘the intention to find a lasting solution is not there’. Bureaucrats only interested in fulfilling targets, ensuring tenures are trouble-free: IIT engineer & professor Vinod Tare tells us. http://bit.ly/2CIZKAY

Amlan عملان अम्लान Dutta@orphean_warbler

Some yrs back Jairam Ramesh took initiative & DRDO installed some bio toilets in the villages near Wheeler Island. No one used them.
Biotoilets don’t work in Indian context

Mrinal Pande@MrinalPande1

द.ध्रुव से आयातित खास बैक्टीरिया से लैस करवाए गये हमारी रेलों के बायो- टायलेट करोड़ों खर्च करके भी नारकीय क्यों बने हुए हैं? जानकारी ।

Assa Doron@AssaDoron

So much for biotoilets http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/why-indian-railways-need-to-buy-3350-truckloads-of-cow-dung-for-rs-42-cr-78722 …

rsivaram@rsivaram

Wow, that’s some sh*t!

 12 minutes ago

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On-board treatment of human excreta in trains is difficult; evacuation facilities & treatment plants–for compost or biogas–can be set up in the rail yards: IIT’s Vinod Tare, head of 2007 team that studied bio-toilet project in Indian trains.

THE LEGAL INDIA@thelegalindia

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J’Railways  Went Ahead With A Failed Bio-Toilet Model’ – IndiaSpend http://ift.tt/2CN31jx

Dinesh Agrawal, Ex-IRS@dka1966
Replying to @IndiaSpend @MisaBharti

Who took decision to install bio-toilets in Railway, it appears that decision was taken decades back but installed during UPA regime but NDA is blamed

Harshit Gupta@hg6

Failed bio-toilet model?

IndiaSpend

✔@IndiaSpend

Bio-toilet model used in Indian trains failed to work at 2013 Kumbh Mela and Siachen but railways still pushing for use in all trains. Our interview with engineer & prof Vinod Tare, head of 2007 IIT study on train bio-toilets. http://bit.ly/2CIZKAY

Teesta Setalvad@TeestaSetalvad

Huge waste of your and mine..The Indian taxpayers money

Rakesh Kumar@rakeshkonfucius

Cc @PiyushGoyal @PiyushGoyalOffc

SK Iyer@iyer_sk

A 2007 study, jointly conducted by the Lucknow-based Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and IIT Kanpur, also concluded that excreta wasn’t being treated in the bio-digesters. The railways has not made this report public. http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/railways-went-ahead-with-a-failed-bio-toilet-model-17151 …

Quicksilver@shigrahrajat
Replying to @IndiaSpend

they planted the septic tank in the coaches.

#कमभक्त@chat2malay

Dr @PiyushGoyal ji ये हो क्या रहा है

Drdo

Indian Railways faces CAG heat on bio-toilets

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The report indicated that no awareness campaign was conducted by railway zones – except Southern Railway.
Shine Jacob | New Delhi Buisness Standard
Last Updated at December 19, 2017
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has criticised Indian Railways for installation of bio-toilets on trains, citing that majority of them face operation deficiencies including choking, foul smell and inadequate supply of bacterial inoculum.

The report indicated that no awareness campaign was conducted by railway zones – except Southern Railway. Moreover, only 36.62 per cent supervisory and 23.21 per cent non-supervisory staff were trained in maintenance of bio-toilets.

The ‘bio-toilet’ (using bio-digester technology) is an eco-friendly waste management solution, which reduces solid human waste to bio-gas and water with the help of a bacterial inoculum through biological degradation of human waste. It eliminates the direct discharge of human waste from coach toilets onto railway tracks and platform aprons in stations, and helps avoid manual scavenging while keeping the platform aprons and trains clean.

An audit conducted in 30 coaching depots of 15 zonal railways in 2016-17 by CAG indicated that out of 613 trains being handled in these depots, 160 trains did not have any bio-toilets fitted. “In remaining 453 trains with 25,080 bio-toilets, 1,99,689 instances of deficiencies were noticed,” the report said.
It was in January 2015 that the railway board decided to eliminate the provision of direct discharge toilets in new coaches by the end of 2016-17. However, during 2014-15 to 2016-17, utilization of funds for retrofitment of bio-toilets remained between 34 per cent and 71 per cent. For the year 2016-17, Minister of Railways had announced that 20,000 bio-toilets were to be inducted through retrofitment. Railway Board fixed an internal target of 50,000 bio-toilets to be inducted through retrofitment. “As against this target, various Zonal Railways could achieve induction of 22,198 bio-toilets through retrofitment. The shortfall of more than 30 per cent was noticed in five Zonal Railways out of 16 Zonal Railways (East Central-67 per cent, North Central-49 per cent, Northern-42 per cent, South Eastern-44 per cent and Western-43 per cent),” the report added.

The report also indicated that due to the inadequate progress of retrofitment of bio-toilets in passenger coaches by Zonal Railways, Railway Board decided to place a bulk order for supply, installation and commissioning of approximately 80,000 bio-toilets in in-service coaches. “As against 33,783 bio-toilets which were to be supplied to 16 Zonal Railways up to March 2017, only 14,274 bio-toilets were supplied by the firms. Out of these, 12,016 bio-toilets were fitted in coaches up to March 2017,” it said. CAG also highlighted that out of the nine firms, on which orders were placed, seven firms, had complaints pending against them regarding quantity and quality of material supplied during 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Drdo

Almost 2 lakh complaints of choking, foul smelling bio-toilets in trains: CAG

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PTI|Dec 19, 2017,The Economic Times
NEW DELHI: Almost two lakh complaints regarding choking, foul smelling and non-functional bio- toilets in trains were received from the public in 2016-2017, a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said today.

The CAG, in its report on ‘Induction of bio-toilets in passenger coaches in Indian Railways’, has said that out of the 613 trains being handled in 32 coaching depots it audited, 160 trains did not have bio-toilets.

“In the remaining 453 trains having 25,080 bio-toilets, 1,99,689 instances of deficiencies or complaints were noticed,” the report stated.

With 1,02,792 complaints, choking seemed to be the most common problem for passengers regarding bio-toilets, the report said, followed by complains of foul smell (16,375), non-functional toilets (11,462), non-availability of dustbins (21,181), non-availability of mugs (22,899) and other complaints like ball valve failure and wire ropes (24,980).

The report has said that 1,02,792 cases of choking in 25,080 bio toilets imply “that one bio-toilet got choked four times in a year during 2016-2017.” During 2015-2016, for 24,675 bio toilets, 61,088 cases of choking were seen.

“This shows that instances of choking of bio-toilets increased in 2016-2017 and needs to be addressed,” it said.

The report said that 33.89 per cent of the choking cases were noticed in Bengaluru coaching depot in South Western Railway alone, which handles only 1.6 per cent of the total bio-toilets, implying that one bio-toilet got choked 83 times in a year.

The report which is based on audit for the period 2014- 2015-2016-2017 and was submitted in Parliament today, also provided Railways’ view on the stinking and choking bio- toilets.

Comments
S.K.
Bio-toilets are a very dumb idea. FEKU should have learned the best practice of rlys in the West.

Drdo

New toilets in trains no better than septic tanks: IIT-M study

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By Srinand Jha The Economics Times, Nov 23, 2017
A new kind of toilet using bacteria to break down human excreta has been deployed in Indian trains over four years to 2017, at a cost of Rs 1,305 crore, but this toilet is no better than a septic tank, the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has concluded after a two-year long study.
As many as 93,537 “bio-digesters” — as the toilets are called –have been installed in mainline express and mail trains by the Indian Railways. These are small-scale sewage-treatment systems beneath the toilet seat: Bacteria in a compost chamber digests human excreta, leaving behind water and methane. Only the water, disinfected later, is let out on the tracks.
However, sanitation experts and various studies — including those commissioned by the railways — have pointed out that most of the new “” are ineffective or ill maintained and the water discharged is no better than raw sewage.
“Our tests have found that the organic matter (human waste) collecting in the bio-digesters do not undergo any kind of treatment,” IIT professor Ligy Philip, who headed the latest study, told IndiaSpend. “Like in the septic tanks, these bio-digesters accumulate slush (human excreta mixed with water).”
The IIT-M study was sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and submitted last week to the Union Ministry of Urban Affairs.
Despite the criticism, an additional 120,000 coaches are to be fitted with these bio-toilets, jointly developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Railways, by December 2018. This is likely to cost Rs 1,200 crore, the railways revealed on November 2, in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request.
The bio-digester project began during the previous United Progressive Alliance regime. But the project has been speeded up under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat campaign. The idea is to meet this target in time for the celebration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th
Indian Railways is often described as the world’s biggest toilet: It ejects around 3,980 tonnes of faecal matter — the equivalent of 497 truck-loads — onto rail tracks every day, according to a report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2013.
The network has 9,000 passenger trains with 52,000 coaches with toilets that discharge human waste on to rail tracks. Covering 65,500 km across the country, these trains transport 24 million passengers every day, the equivalent of the population of Australia.
Since 1993, the Indian Railways have been experimenting with a host of technologies used worldwide to replace the open discharge system. This included vacuum toilets based on suction, commonly seen in aircraft; “controlled-discharge” toilet systems (CDTS) which allow waste to be dropped only after a train acquires a speed of 30 kmph, thus keeping stations clean; and “zero-discharge” toilets, in which solid waste is stored, evacuated and then dumped in pits for composting and the liquid filtered for recycling.
In 2008, the railways decided to install the bio-digester model developed by the Gwalior-based Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE).
Responding to the criticism of the bio-toilet, government officials said that the flaws are being fixed. “The issues regarding the bio-digesters are of a minor nature and are being effectively addressed. Some changes (in design or execution strategies) are inevitable, as this is a continuous process,” said Saxena.
Lokendra Singh, former director of the DRDE, had, after an expedition to Antarctica, brought home psychrophilic bacteria that can survive in extremely low temperatures. The bacteria were mixed with cow dung and normal soil, which have methogens (micro-organisms that produce methane) capable of breaking down human excreta. This was then supplied to the manufacturers of rail bio-digesters
“Because of the presence of a compound of bacteria, the bio-degradation process is set off in the toilet chambers-the bacteria eat up the organic matter (human excreta) and produce methane gas and water as byproducts,” Singh said.
But Singh’s claims of a scientific breakthrough using the bacteria from Antarctica have been questioned on several grounds, including the fact that the bacterium, as Singh admitted, has not obtained an independent or a third-party certification from an organisation such as the UIC (Federation of European Railways
Also, DRDO does not have a patent for the design or manufacture of these bio-toilets. A patent is necessary to market a commercial product. DRDO only has a patent for the design of “railway toilet tank”, as the organisation’s website reveals.
This is not the first time the railways’ bio-toilet project has been criticised. A 2009 study jointly conducted by the Lucknow-based Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and IIT-Kanpur concluded that no treatment of human excreta was happening in the bio-digesters installed in railway toilets.
“We had found the discharge from these toilets as being no different from raw sewage,” said IIT-K professor Vinod Tare, who had headed the study, which the Railway Ministry has not made public.
On September 14, 2004, DRDO scientist Y. Ashok Babu sent a letter to the then Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Pradeep Kumar, terming the bio-toilets “farce (sic) technology”.
Singh rejected these allegations. “Frustrated scientists who have never worked on the project are raising such issues,” he said. “Of course, there are some problems but these are being addressed by the railways.”
Singh, who has assumed charge as the chairman of the Digesters and Bio-Toilet Manufacturers Association (DBMA) after his retirement from DRDE this year, said questions of “conflict of interest” did not apply in his case, as he held only an “honorary position with the DBMA”.
Documents available with IndiaSpend suggest that there are serious issues with the bio-toilet venture. These were discussed at a high-level meeting convened by the Railway Board on October 26, with functionaries from 17 zones.
During the last three years of the last government (2011-14), 9,350 bio-toilets were fitted in trains but the figure rose by 539 per cent, to 59,735, in the first three years of the NDA government (2014-17). In the current financial year (2017-18), 24,215 bio-toilets had been fitted until August 30, bringing the cumulative figure to 93,537, the railways said in its RTI reply of November 2.
In this period, the cost of manufacture and fitment of bio-toilets climbed from an average of Rs 52,000 per unit to over Rs 75,000 per unit. After the imposition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), this cost burden has spiked further, with the railways having to absorb the 18 per cent levy.
“Cost escalation is inevitable, as manufacturing costs have been rising,” said Manoj Jha of Faridabad-based Arkin Technologies that manufactures and supplies bio-digesters to the railways.
In response to an RTI appeal from Dehradun-based activist Prabhu Dandriyal, the railways stated that the Hubli workshop of South Western Railways had been supplied 2,152 toilets at a cost of over Rs 22 crore during the financial year 2016-17. Based on this calculation, the current cost being borne by the railways works out to more than Rs 100,000 per unit.
By the time the task is completed, the railways are likely to exceed their budget of Rs 1,200 crore for additional bio-toilets. Arvind Dethe, a bio-toilet manufacturer based in Akola in Maharashtra, has been selling a similar toilet at Rs 6,000.

Drdo

Shut Down Laboratories And Overhaul The DRDO, Expert Committee Tells Defence Ministry

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All non-core research activity of the DRDO must stop.
Sudhi Ranjan Sen Deputy Editor (News)  The Huffington Post 14/03/2017 3:40 PM IST

HINDUSTAN TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES The Arjun tank stationed on the Parliament House premises for an exhibition in August 2016 in New Delhi, India.

India’s premier defence research organisation, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), needs a major overhaul, some its research laboratories closed and the organisation needs to concentrate only on development of defence platforms, a high-level committee appointed by the Ministry of Defence has said in its report.

In the last five years, DRDO has been getting between ₹6,000-₹8,000 crore annually for defence research — roughly 6% of the defence budget.

The DRDO was set up in 1958 to achieve self-reliance in manufacturing weapon systems to equip the armed forces. It has over 33,000 personnel, which includes nearly 8,000 scientists, 13,000 technicians, and 52 laboratories. Its area of research is wide and encompasses everything, from juices to nuclear missiles.

Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had constituted the committee led by Lieutenant General DB Shekatkar (Retired) in May 2016 to suggest ways to enhance the combat capabilities of India. The panel submitted its 550-page report to the government recently.

Top sources told HuffPost India the committee has said as many as 11 laboratories of the DRDO need to closed down or amalgamated and its “non-crore” research activities stopped. The committee also said that DRDO needs to work with “clearly defined” objectives to develop “weapon systems and platforms”.
Instead of the DRDO deciding on areas and focus of research, the committee has recommended setting up of a “Technology Commission”, headed by the defence minister, with representatives from the armed forces. The commission should formulate research and development policy and even set specific deadlines for research.

The committee feels that end-users — the three services — must be consulted on areas of research and development of weapon systems. To break the red-tape in the DRDO, the committee has suggested that DRDO scientists be given incentives for successful completion of projects.

Suggesting further reforms, the DB Shekatkar Committee has also said that Ordnance Factory Boards (OFB) — which produce bulk of the ammunition and weapons used by the forces — should consult the armed forces when inducting new technology or material. It has pointed to the fact that OFB, which produce rifles, wasn’t aware of the exact weight of the guns it was producing.

Interestingly, the committee has said that OFB needs to include private companies and has suggested using private-public partnerships to speed up production, ensure better quality and cut down delays.

This isn’t the first time an overhaul of the DRDO has been recommended. Questions have been frequently raised about the delays and cost over-runs in DRDO projects.

In a 2015 report, the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) had pointed out that audit examination of 14 mission mode projects, carried out by DRDO laboratories, “revealed that all projects failed to achieve their timelines and the probable date of completion (PDC) was extended many a times”.

These mission mode projects include the crucial S-band surveillance system ‘Rohini’ radars, secure video and fax communication between airborne platforms and ground station ‘Meghdoot’ and electronic warfare suit for the modified MIG-29 fighters.

The delays, the CAG pointed out, “were mainly due to inadequate monitoring”.