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Drdo

Security oversight at DRDO, chief under fire

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By Abhinandan Mishra, Sunday Guardian

May 19, 2024

NEW DELHI: Samir V. Kamat is being faulted by some within the DRDO for ‘continuing to sit on the findings of BrahMos’ own internal committee’.

In the first week of September 2022, a three-member Fact Finding and Investigation Committee (FFIC) that was constituted in January 2022, submitted its report to the present Defence and Research Development Organization (DRDO) chief Samir V. Kamat.
The said committee was formed on the directions of scientist Atul Dinkar Rane, who was appointed as the chief executive officer and managing director of BrahMos airspace on 20 December 2021 after his predecessor Dr Sudhir Kumar Mishra had retired on 30 November 2021.

While taking over the charge from Mishra, Rane was also given the details of the documents, both sensitive and general in nature, as a part of “handing over”. However, on 28 December, Mishra returned a set of “secret” documents back to BrahMos headquarters, which were not in the list of documents that Mishra had shown to be in his possession during the handing over process earlier.
This action prompted Rane to constitute the three-member committee to find out if any other sensitive documents were unaccounted for and if any other things which should not have been taken out from the premises of BrahMos were taken out.

During their probe, the committee members found that from 27 November till 30 November, Mishra had engaged private packers and movers who packed 40 cartons that contained stuff lying in his office. The statement of the packers and movers revealed that 20 paintings, 8 cartons of books, medals in 10 cartons, 10 cartons of liquor amounting to 100 bottles and 8 cartons of blankets, bedsheets and towels were allegedly taken from the BrahMos Headquarters to the residence of Mishra at Vasant Kunj. The Sunday Guardian has accessed the statement of the transporter.
No inventory register of these things was maintained, but the committee found videos and stills of the cartons from the cameras that were installed at the entry and exit of X-ray machines.

When the committee sought to check the CCTV footage of these three days, it found that footage of the corresponding days were missing. As a result of these lapses, Lieutenant Colonel R.S. Suri (Retd), the Chief General Manager (CGM) responsible for data security, document handling, and outgoing materials at BrahMos Aerospace, was transferred to Hyderabad, but he chose to resign.

The committee also found that Mishra was still in the possession of over Rs 7 lakh (depreciated value) worth laptops, desktops and mobile phones and inventories that belonged to BrahMOs. When he was asked about it, he sent a cheque of Rs 1.71 lakh on 23 March to BrahMOs in lieu of the stuff that was lying in his possession.
The then Personal Assistant of Mishra told the committee members that he took a lot of documents outside the headquarters after photo copying them. Such a claim remains unverified.
However, the committee members decided to end their probe abruptly after they found INSAS guns, rocket launchers, ammunition and live bombs inside the BrahMos campus. They decided that the matter was now a case for the probe of specialized agencies like the National Investigation Agency.

The said report was then submitted to DRDO chief Kamat through BrahMos chief in September 2022. Kamat ordered that the said arms and ammunition should be sent to Armaments Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) for further investigation.
Till now no action has been reported as being taken on these series of lapses that occurred under the watch of Kamat and Mishra. Kamat, on his part, is being faulted by some within the DRDO for “continuing to sit on these findings of BrahMos’ own internal committee”.
The entire incident would have continued to be unknown if Mishra had not recently applied for a non executive advisory consultancy position (Raja Ramanna Chair) in DRDO.

Kamat after receiving the application from Mishra wrote to BrahMos seeking their suggestions on his application, it was then that the officials in the defence establishment and Kamat were made to recall the findings of the three-member committee, which the DRDO chief has allegedly refused to act on for almost 20 months now. Sources said B.P. Sharma, who is the Chairman of Recruitment & Assessment Centre (RAC) in DRDO, has refused to move ahead with the application of Mishra in wake of the findings of the said committee.

Mishra on his part has called the revival of this entire matter as a “malicious campaign and propaganda” against him by some “vested interests” which stems from his application for the consultancy position (Chair) in DRDO. Mishra has said that he retired more than two years ago from DRDO and if there was any security breach then why it was not flagged and reported earlier. According to him, as per protocol, he had handed over all the documents including files marked “classified” and “confidential” to his successor in the presence of the company secretary. He said that on the day of his retirement he did carry back his “personal belongings”—the souvenirs given to him during his seven-year tenure as DG, DRDO; from 2014 to 2021, the degrees and honours he had obtained and other personal belongings in five to six boxes.

While responding to these developments, DRDO had said that it had “received a complaint against Dr Sudhir Kumar Mishra, Ex CEO & MD of BrahMos Aerospace. Based upon the complaint, a Fact Finding Inquiry Committee was formed by Secretary DDR&D and Chairman DRDO. However the committee didn’t find any evidence to back the allegation levied.”

However, sources aware of the matter said that the inquiry committee was not formed on the basis of a complaint, but an internal concern raised by the top officers of BrahMOs. Secondly, the fact finding committee had reportedly found multiple lapses, including the presence of unexplained arms and ammunition inside the campus.
A section of DRDO officials said it was a failure of Kamat to “sit on this entire findings” that included unexplained presence of ammunition, failure of working CCTVs which indicates major lapses in the organization.

Messages sent to Mr Kamat seeking his response on the matter including the inaction on the findings of the committee elicited no response till the time the report went to press.

Drdo

Lobbying on as officers eye top DRDO job

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Abhinandan Mishra
April 8, 2018, Sunday Guardian
With the tenure of the chief of Defence Research and Development Organization Christopher (DRDO) ending next month, the officers eyeing his post have started meeting bureaucrats and politicians to push their candidature.

Even Christopher, who was given a one-year extension on 29 May last year, is interested in another tenure with the premier defence organisation and is banking on Defence Expo 2018, the largest land, naval and internal homeland security systems exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region, which will be held in Chennai from 11 to 14 April.

The defence expo, which will be inaugurated by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will also see the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 12 April.

Sources said it is during this event that Christopher intends to showcase the “impressive work” done by DRDO under his leadership, ever since he took over as the chief of the organisation in May 2015, to give a message to the PM that he deserves another extension.

The other officers who are fighting it out to lead the DRDO, which has an annual budget of close to Rs 17,900 crore, include P.K. Mehta, who is presently Director General for armament and combat engineering system in the organization; Dr Sudhir Mishra, who is the Director General of BrahMos missile system division of the DRDO; and G. Satheesh Reddy who is presently serving as Director General (Missiles & Strategic Systems) and Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister.

Mehta, according to sources, is being backed by a very powerful leader from a western state, while Mishra is getting the support of some members of Niti Aayog.

Reddy’s appointment, according to sources, was almost finalised last year.

Last year, Christopher, who was given an extension at the last moment, had directed all the labs to remove his photographs from the lab, just two weeks before he was to retire.

Christopher in an internal communication had stated that “Old colonial practice followed by the Services, to display prominently, photos of their Chiefs and Commanders, is followed inadvertently by some of the labs. This practice is also not required. I request all DRDO establishments to display the photos of the President and Prime Minister of India only, and not the Chairman of DRDO. This may please be implemented at the earliest and not later than 15 May 2017”. He had stated that he was among the first few officials in the MoD who never used a red beacon, much before PM’s recent directive came. Sources within the organisation said that all the four people who were in the fray, had an exceptional profile.

Drdo

Race for DRDO top spot in its final lap

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HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, New Delhi| Updated: May 26, 2015 00:59 IST
Radar specialist S Christopher has emerged as the frontrunner to take over as the next chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Christopher heads the Bengaluru-based Centre for Airborne Systems and heads the project to develop airborne early warning and control systems.

The post has been vacant since January 31 when the government terminated then chief Avinash Chander’s contract.

G Satheesh Reddy, who heads the Hyderabad-based Research Centre Imarat, and Anil Datar, chief of Pune-based Armament and Combat Engineering cluster, were also in the running. The government will appoint a scientific advisor to the defence minister after the DRDO vacancy is taken care. Both roles were being essayed by the DRDO chief so far.

——————————————————————————————————

Above news publish on 26th May 2015  00:59 IST

Simultaneously  Following PIB release 26-May-2015 10:37 IST

ACC Appointment

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the assignment of additional charge of the post of Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development to Shri G. Mohan Kumar, IAS (OR:79), Defence Secretary for a period of three months or till a regular incumbent is appointed or till further orders whichever is the earliest w.e.f. 25.5.2015. __________________________________________________________

It means GOI in no mood to offer responsibility to above three stalwarts of DRDO.

May be Parrikar Shahib received bunch of Anonymous letter in which the DRDO officials exposes their great achievements like connections with suppliers / vendors, their encouragement towards incompetent beloveds, their technical compatibility, managing their in house awards, specially their patronage and soft corner to some one special  like Sh Avinash Chander pattern.

We request to PMO, MoD this time they should take care all above,  IB clearance, clear vision, original subject knowledge,  not deemed private universities credentials,  most important is the feedback from younger scientists because they are future of DRDO and they need fearless environment to grow so they can able to deliver their best.

Jaihind

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Months After Suhag Presented 100 Cr Cheque, Army Denies Contributing to PM Fund

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OUTLOOK – NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | MAY 14, 2015
In a curious case, the army has said no contribution from the salary of any of its personnel has been donated to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, a statement that comes four months after Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag had handed over a cheque of Rs 100 crore to the fund.

“It has been intimated by concerned agency that no amount on account of contributions from salary of any Army personnel has yet been donated to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

“The matter is under consideration,” army CPIO Lt Col Rajiv Guleria said in an RTI response to Dehradun-based Prabhu Dandriyal.

The photographs of the 67th army day event are posted on the web site of Prime Minister’s Office showing cheque titled “one day’s pay of all ranks of Indian Army” being handed over to Modi by Suhag in the presence of Defence Minister Mahohar Parrikar.

Dandriyal has now sent his RTI petition to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking to know what happened to the Rs 100 crore cheque which is said to have been donated by the army chief to the Prime Minister.

“When by March 20 no amount of contribution was taken from the salaries, then how did the army chief submit the fund of Rs 100 crore to PM relief fund. This is why I have sought clarification from the PMO by filing another RTI,” Dandriyal said.

PMO

Curious case of army donation to PM fund

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Press Trust of India | New Delhi/Mumbai May 14, 2015 Last Updated at 15:28 IST
In a curious case, the army has said no contribution from the salary of any of its personnel has been donated to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, a statement that comes four months after Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag had handed over a cheque of Rs 100 crore to the fund.

“It has been intimated by concerned agency that no amount on account of contributions from salary of any Army personnel has yet been donated to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

“The matter is under consideration,” army CPIO Lt Col Rajiv Guleria said in an RTI response to Dehradun-based Prabhu Dandriyal.

The photographs of the 67th army day event are posted on the web site of Prime Minister’s Office showing cheque titled “one day’s pay of all ranks of Indian Army” being handed over to Modi by Suhag in the presence of Defence Minister Mahohar Parrikar.

Dandriyal has now sent his RTI petition to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking to know what happened to the Rs 100 crore cheque which is said to have been donated by the army chief to the Prime Minister.

“When by March 20 no amount of contribution was taken from the salaries, then how did the army chief submit the fund of Rs 100 crore to PM relief fund. This is why I have sought clarification from the PMO by filing another RTI,” Dandriyal told PTI.

Uncategorized

Curious case of army donation to PM fund

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New Delhi/Mumbai May 14, 2015 – Business Standard
In a curious case, the army has said no contribution from the salary of any of its personnel has been donated to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, a statement that comes four months after Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag had handed over a cheque of Rs 100 crore to the fund.

“It has been intimated by concerned agency that no amount on account of contributions from salary of any Army personnel has yet been donated to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

“The matter is under consideration,” army CPIO Lt Col Rajiv Guleria said in an RTI response to Dehradun-based Prabhu Dandriyal.

The photographs of the 67th army day event are posted on the web site of Prime Minister’s Office showing cheque titled “one day’s pay of all ranks of Indian Army” being handed over to Modi by Suhag in the presence of Defence Minister Mahohar Parrikar.

Dandriyal has now sent his RTI petition to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking to know what happened to the Rs 100 crore cheque which is said to have been donated by the army chief to the Prime Minister.

“When by March 20 no amount of contribution was taken from the salaries, then how did the army chief submit the fund of Rs 100 crore to PM relief fund. This is why I have sought clarification from the PMO by filing another RTI,” Dandriyal told PTI.

Drdo

Uncertainty dogs a leaderless DRDO

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Ajai Shukla | New Delhi May 4, 2015 Last Updated at 00:38 IST – Business Standard 
A sense of drift is palpable within the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), which has been without a leader for three months since the ouster of its widely respected chief, Avinash Chander, on January 31.

On that day, Defence Secretary R K Mathur was given additional charge of Chander’s post of Secretary, Defence R&D, for three months. That period expired on Thursday.

Mathur had held charge of only one of the three posts that Chander occupied – that of Secretary Defence R&D. The other two posts – Director General, DRDO, and Scientific Advisor to the Raksha Mantri – have lain vacant for three months.

The defence ministry is not alone in having key positions without incumbents. There has been no Chief Information Commissioner since August 22, and no Chief Vigilance Commissioner since September 28.

Without a chief, there are problems in coordinating between the DRDO’s seven technology clusters, each relating to a specific subject – e.g. aeronautics, missiles or naval systems. While cluster heads. called directors general, can function independently within their clusters, major development projects involve several clusters.

Among the programmes suffering from this lack of leadership is the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project. While the DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency oversees the Tejas project, it has no authority over the four technology clusters that feed into the LCA project. That coordination was always facilitated by the DRDO chief, who personally oversaw the LCA programme.

Another problem, say senior DRDO scientists, is professional insecurity caused by Chander’s unceremonious removal. On November 28, the defence ministry had granted him an 18-month service extension to head the DRDO till May 31, 2016. Forty-five days later, that extension was withdrawn.

The insecurity is most obvious among junior scientists, most of whom looked to Chander as an icon of the DRDO’s successful missile programme. “With such an accomplished scientist removed so arbitrarily, what job security do we have?” wonders a young scientist bitterly. Nor is there any clarity about who might succeed Chander. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said while removing Chander, he wanted someone good from the DRDO who has the urge for development. Parrikar also stated he wanted a younger scientist to head DRDO.buisness standard 4 may 2015With almost all the DRDO’s top scientists already on extension, or nearing the retirement age of 60, 11 of the DRDO’s 12 top scientists might soon retire.

Of these 12 “distinguished scientists”, the DRDO’s top rank, equivalent to a lieutenant general, six have already crossed 60 years and are serving on extensions. Another five are 59 years of age, knocking on the doors of retirement.

The only candidate who fits Parrikar’s twin conditions – being from the DRDO, and also young – is Satheesh Reddy, the highly regarded chief of Research Centre Imarat, a missile technology laboratory outside Hyderabad. Reddy is just 52 years old.

Even so, MoD sources do not rule out bringing in an outsider, possibly from the Atomic Energy Agency, to head the DRDO.

There is also speculation that the three hats the DRDO chief traditionally wore might be split into two or more posts. Opinion on this is divided. The Rama Rao Committee, which proposed reorganising the DRDO, recommended the three posts remain vested in a single person. The subsequent Naresh Chandra Committee recommended separation, though not trifurcation.

The departments of space and atomic energy, which are often held up as models the DRDO could emulate, centralise powers in a single chief. The chairman of the Space Commission also heads the Indian Space Research Organisation, while simultaneously advising the prime minister on space matters.

PMO

PMO to replace existing public web-interface with new portal ‘PRAGATI’

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By Rajesh Ramachandran, ET Bureau | 24 Mar, 2015, 10.20AM IST

pmo-to-replace-existing-public-web-interface-with-new-portal-pragati
By categorising and sub-categorising themes and departments, the new portal will help users to be more specific in their complaints.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a brand new website for public grievances on Wednesday. Corruption in central government seems to be the top concern as the PMO replaces the existing public web-interface for the prime minister with ‘PRAGATI’, the new portal. The portal is getting launched along with the PM’s monthly programme of interaction with union secretaries and chief secretaries through video-conferencing.

While the Manmohan Singh-era public grievances portal, “PMO CPGRAMS”, had a category on “corruption/malpractice”, the new one will go beyond the simple label. The corruption category will have nine sub-categories on its drop-down menu just to register complaints of corruption within various government departments.

The departments listed under the category of corruption are telecom, railways, department of financial services, ministry of power, petroleum, heavy industries, urban development, road transport, rural development and others. This could even be treated as a list of departments with the highest potential for corruption.

By categorising and sub-categorising themes and departments, the new portal will help users to be more specific in their complaints.

For instance, harassment is further sub-categorised into minorities, SC/ST, backward class, women, children, differently-abled and others. Also, the theme ‘police’ would have separate sub-categories for corruption, atrocities and inaction of police along with reguregular policing issues like murder and rape.

The new architecture has the back-end bureaucratic and technological support to ensure that these grievances are addressed and pursued to their logical conclusion.

All the issues flagged by the PMO will be uploaded a week ahead of the “PRAGATI day”, which will be the third Wednesday of every month. Union secretaries and chief secretaries will have to offer their comments and updates about the issues by the Monday prior to the PRAGATI day.

Finally, the PM will get to look at the issues addressed by the relevant departments and then discuss them with the concerned secretary or the chief secretary through video conferencing on the third Wednesday of every month. PM’s directions on every issue will remain in the system for further follow up and review till the issue is closed.

The portal is thus designed to keep every complainant engaged with the government machinery at the highest level and to ensure systemic corrections through the redressal of the complaints.

Drdo

‘Sacking Not a Good Word to Hear After 42 Years’, India’s Agni Man Says

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http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/sacking-not-a-good-word-to-hear-after-42-years-india-s-agni-man-says/355104

Top scientist Avinash Chander, who was recently ousted as chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation or DRDO has said the termination of his contract was “totally unexpected” and that he was taken by “surprise” by the swift move of the government. “Sacking is not a good word to hear after 42 years of service,” Mr Chander told NDTV, also saying that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was well within his rights to choose his team. The minister had said the government wanted younger scientists on the team.

 

Drdo

DRDO Chief and Architect of Agni Missiles Avinash Chander Sacked

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NDTV-All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: January 13, 2015 21:50 IST

NEW DELHI: The government today removed the chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation Avinash Chander, 15 months before his contract was to end.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “approved the termination” of the contract of Avinash Chander with effect from January 31, an official notification said.

Interestingly, Mr Chander who was Secretary, Defence Research and Development cum Director General, DRDO and Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, had retired on November 30 last year after he turned 64. He was given a contract for 18 months till May 31 next year.

Efforts to contact Mr Chander did not fructify as he did not answer the calls made on his phone.

Mr Chander joined the DRDO in 1972 after completing his graduation in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

He is considered to be the chief architect of Agni series of ballistic missile systems.

Development of the Agni range of missiles under a highly-restrictive international control regime was possible only due to his technology forecast, perspective planning and relentless efforts, DRDO officials said.