Tag Archives: Defence Research

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Race for next DRDO chief heats up, incumbent eyes extension

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By Pradip R Sagar May 02, 2018 18:29 IST  – THE WEEK

DRDO chief S. Christopher (left) with Arun Jaitley, during his brief tenure as defence minister in 2017 | Facebook account of DRDO

With the tenure of S. Christopher, current chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), coming to an end later this month, the race for the top post in the country’s premier defence research organisation has begun. Christopher, who was given a one-year extension at the last moment in May 2017, though, is also eyeing another extension. But whether he will be second time lucky is unclear.

Hectic parleys have begun for the coveted post. The key players who are in the race to lead the DRDO include Sudhir Mishra, director general of BrahMos missile system division, and G. Satheesh Reddy, who is presently serving as director general (Missiles & Strategic Systems) and scientific advisor to the defence minister. Besides Mishra and Reddy, P.K. Mehta, who is currently heading the office of the director general of armament and combat engineering systems, is considered to be in the race to head DRDO, which has an annual budget of nearly Rs 20,000 crore.

According to sources in South Block, Reddy is the senior-most scientist in the organisation after Christopher. His name figured prominently last year also, but Christopher managed to get an extension at the last minute, meaning Reddy would need to wait for a year. Former defence minister Manohar Parrikar had bifurcated the post of DRDO chief and scientific advisor to the defence minister, which earlier used to be occupied by one person. Christopher is completing his tenure on May 29.

Mishra, head of BrahMos missile system division—a joint venture between India and Russia— is also among candidates vying for the top post in DRDO.

Mehta, who is heading the Pune-based cluster of armament and combat engineering systems, can be a dark horse in the race due to his proximity with top BJP leaders, sources claimed.

Christopher, who took over as the head of DRDO in May 2015, did his best to impress Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman by showcasing the work done under his leadership towards self-reliance in the recently concluded DefExpo in Chennai. A special pavilion under the ‘Make in India’ theme was inaugurated by Modi, in which all major equipment designed and developed by DRDO were showcased. Last year, Christopher had directed all the labs to remove his photographs, just two weeks before he was to retire. But only at the last minute, he was given extension for a year by the government.

DRDO has often been criticised for delayed projects, as most of its ventures, ranging from the Tejas light combat aircraft to long-range surface-to-air missile systems, have been repeatedly missing deadlines, with huge cost overruns. In the absence of self-reliance in defence, the Indian armed forces continue to be heavily dependent on imports. India continues to top the list of global importers of military hardware, with over 70 per cent of armed forces’ requirements being met by foreign firms. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first interaction with DRDO scientists in 2014 had sent a stern message to the defence research agency against their ‘chalta hai’ attitude.

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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.

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CBI to probe Major Gen’s role in security breach at VRDE

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Prateek Goyal
Tuesday, 13 March 2018
‌An official at the CBI office, Pune, requesting anonymity, said, “Initially we are going to conduct an inquiry and if there is any substantial proof, we are going to register a complaint and conduct an open inquiry.”
PUNE: A complaint was submitted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Pune office, on Sunday against the Director of Vehicle Research & Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar, Maj Gen Ajay Gupta, for allegedly compromising the safety and security of the defence establishment.

He was accused of conducting a 30-minute meeting on February 15 with two foreign nationals and a non-resident Indian, along with officials of a private company, without taking security clearance from the Directorate of Vigilance and Security, New Delhi, a mandatory rule for all DRDO officials prior to meeting any foreign national in any capacity.

VRDE, Ahmednagar is a laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which deals with research, design, development of specialist defence vehicles and is considered to be a highly restricted zone.

An official at the CBI office, Pune, requesting anonymity, said, “Initially we are going to conduct an inquiry and if there is any substantial proof, we are going to register a complaint and conduct an open inquiry.”

THE COMPLAINT
The complaint was initiated  by the security officer to VRDE, appointed by Army Headquarters in New Delhi.

According to the copy of the complaint letter available with Sakal Times, on February 15, at 10 am, the security officer, who is also an army officer, received a call from the security staff at Daund Gate of VRDE, informing him that two foreigners had arrived with representatives of a private company.  The caller stated they were asked by the personal assistant (PA) of the Director to be allowed to enter the complex.

However, the security officer refused to allow them in as they didn’t have the necessary clearance from the office of Directorate Vigilance and Security HQ, New Delhi. Though Gupta pressurised the security staff through his PA, he couldn’t succeed.

The complaint states that at 10.30 am, Gupta compromised the security of VRDE and went outside Daund Gate, where he conducted a half-an-hour meeting with the visitors, which is a security breach and violation of instructions promulgated by the handbook of instructions on Vigilance and Security and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

When contacted, Maj Gen Gupta said, “I did not conduct any meeting with those foreign nationals. They came to VRDE without any clearance, which is why I went to the gate to turn them back.”

VIOLATION OF RULE
A source in DRDO said, “Maj Gen Gupta didn’t follow the SOP. Details of foreigners, including their passport copies, are required for clearance. Even if you are meeting foreigners at their hotel or residence, prior permission is required. A DRDO official cannot meet a foreigner in any capacity without permission, because we deal with the research and development of weapons, as well as other products for our armed forces, and divulging any such information can compromise our national security.”

KK Mishra, retired Joint Director, VRDE, said, “Gupta himself was once director of Vigilance and Security, how can he commit a mistake like this? VRDE does research work on secret projects and there are possibilities that the foreigners you are meeting can be spies, that is why such strict measures are taken.”

A DRDO official, requesting anonymity, said , “Why did the director have to go to gate to turn back any foreign national and why did he spend half an hour over there? It is the duty of security officer or guard on duty to inform visitors to leave the gate area, and not of the Director.”

WHAT THE RULEBOOK SAYS
– According to the handbook of instructions on Vigilance and Security and Standard Operating Procedures, DRDO officials cannot meet any foreigner in any capacity without permission of Directorate of Vigilance and Security.
– Application for security clearance in respect of foreign nationals of prior reference countries should be forwarded to the Directorate at least six weeks before their visit, whereas for foreign nationals of all countries, it should reach the Directorate at least 10 days ahead.
– Meeting with foreign nationals in DRDO establishments can be held only after obtaining security clearance from DRDO HQ. Interaction/ meeting should be avoided at DRDO guest house/ transit facilities.
– No foreign national is allowed to stay at DRDO guest house.

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DRDO drone crash-lands on farmer’s land in Karnakata

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TNN | Updated: Feb 22, 2018,


                                                                   

 

 

 

 

 

NEW DELHI: An unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) being tested by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) crash-landed on an agricultural plot in Nayakanahatti, near Challakere in Chitradurga district, about 200km away from the state capital.
The drone, which had a camera attached to it, was launched to keep a watch on the outer perimeter of the Chitradurga Aeronautical Test Range (CATR).
Sources said the aircraft took off from the facility and later lost contact with the command centre. No injury or damage was reported.

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India test-fires medium range nuclear capable Agni-II missile

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Times of India, PTI | Feb 20, 2018,
BALASORE: India on Tuesday test-fired its medium range nuclear capable Agni-II missile with a strike range of 2,000km from Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast, defence sources said.
The trial of the surface-to-surface missile was conducted from a mobile launcher at the launch complex-4 of the integrated test range (ITR) at around 8.38am, the sources said.
The Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has already been inducted into the services and Tuesday’s test was carried out by the Army’s strategic forces command (SFC) with logistic support provided by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), they said.
The 20-mt-long Agni-II ballistic missile has a launch weight of 17 tonne and can carry a payload of 1,000kg over a distance of 2,000km.
The state-of-the-art missile, already a part of the country’s arsenal for strategic deterrence, was launched as a training exercise by the armed forces, a DRDO scientist said.
Agni-II, a two-stage missile, equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system and guided by a unique command and control system, was propelled by solid rocket propellant system, he said.
The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and two naval ships located near the impact point in the down range area of the Bay of Bengal.
Agni-II was developed by the advanced systems laboratory along with other DRDO laboratories and integrated by the Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad, sources said.
The missile is part of the Agni series of missiles which includes the Agni-I with a 700km range, Agni-III with a 3,000km range, Agni-IV and Agni-V both having long range capabilities.
The first proto type of the Agni-II missile was carried out on April 11, 1999 and last launch was a user’s trial on May 4, 2017.

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DRDO testing drone falls in agricultural field in Karnataka’s Nayakanahatti

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By Express News Service | Published: 21st February 2018
CHITRADURGA: A drone operated by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for surveillance crash-landed at an agriculture field belonging to Bangarappa of Doreyagalahatti village near Nayakanahatti of Chitradurga district on Wednesday morning.

The drone which was launched to test the capabilities of its surveillance from the Chitradurga Aeronautical Test Range (CATR) of Challakere taluk took off well from outer perimeter of the range, but fell in the field at around 8 am said Bangarappa. This is the first time a drone fell down during the testing in Chitradurga district.

Scientists Saravana, Shivabalasubramanyam and others visited the crash site and collected the drone and other equipment and took it back to their centre.

The 20 kg weighing drone lost connection with the radar immediately after taking off from the testing arena and fell within a radius of three kilometers from the range in a Ragi field. However, no problems, loss of valuables or life has been reported.

Palamma, an agricultural labourer who was working in the field was shocked when the drone fell on the field. Speaking to Express she questioned, ‘I am still in a state of shock, if it fell on me what might be my fate?’.

‘When I was watering the Ragi plants, the drone came down very fast, I feared to its speed and ran for my safety,” she added.

Bangarappa said, “Falling of drone in my field has created a fear psychosis in me and my neighbouring fields. DRDO without consulting farmers is conducting drone testing programmes nearby the fields. They should consult farmers in future to avoid such accidents.”

If any casualties would have taken place during the accident who would have been responsible, he asked.

According to a scientist, the drone was fitted with a camera and was being tested to conduct surveillance on the borders to ensure that no intruders enter into the Indian territories. Immediately on knowing the failure of the drone, scientists and officials of the CATR arrived at the crash spot and collected the drone from the spot. Nayakanahatti police are investigating the incident.

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Make in India and a Dilly-Dallying Defence Ministry

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Published: 17th January 2018 The New Indian Express
The flip-flop over the purchase of Spike anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) from Israel is symptomatic of a larger battle between Make in India proponents and those who argue that waiting for the wheel to be reinvented makes no strategic sense. Particularly when the reinvention involves the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), renowned for its inordinate delays. In October 2014, months after the Modi government came to power, India’s Defence Acquisition Council cleared the purchase of at least 8,000 Spike missiles and more than 300 launchers. Just before Modi’s historic visit to Israel, the deal was finally firmed up, much to the disappointment of the US, which was lobbying to sell Raytheon-Lockheed Martin’s Javelin ATGM—some argue it’s a better weapon. The Israeli ATGMs were to be co-produced in collaboration with Bharat Forge’s Kalyani Strategic Systems in Hyderabad.

Then, barely days after Modi’s return from Israel, rumours surfaced about the deal being scrapped in favour of indigenous production of the MP-ATGM, a derivative of the Nag missile. Days before the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India, Rafael admitted India had indeed cancelled talks to close the deal. This led to howls of protest from the Indian Army, with Army Chief General Bipin Rawat pointing out that the DRDO missiles would not be ready till 2022, which would impact India’s operational capabilities at a time when both its western and northern borders were heating up.

Now it appears that New Delhi might execute part of the terminated tender by directly importing 5,500-odd missiles and 275 launchers via an inter-governmental agreement, instead of a commercial deal with Rafael. India needs to get over its dependence on imported weapons, which constitute almost 70 per cent of its inventory at the moment. But last-minute scrapping and reworking of deals not only undermine our credibility in the defence market, they also highlight the lack of a think-through by our defence ministry.

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DRDO lab up in arms against scientist’s transfer

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The employees of the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), which is regarded as one of the most distinguished labs of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), are up in arms against what they have called arbitrary transfer.

By ABHINANDAN MISHRA | New Delhi | 28 January, 2018 Sunday Guardian

The employees of the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), which is regarded as one of the most distinguished labs of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), are up in arms against what they have called arbitrary transfer of a scientist who last year was named the “best lab scientist of DRDO”.

According to ADE officials, the said scientist, who has been working with the DRDO for 30 years, is being victimised for not agreeing with his seniors who wanted materials for a project to be procured from a particular company, despite the said company not matching the requirements of the project.

On 16 January 2018, on the ground of “public interest”, A.P.V.S. Prasad, “scientist-G”, who was made the project director of the coveted RUSTOM-II UAV programme of the DRDO in 2015, was moved out of the ADE to another DRDO lab in Bangalore without any notice and without taking the permission from his director.

However, official sources said that Prasad was being pressurised to give his permission to procure products for the UAV programme from a company whose product did not match the requirements of the project and when he did not relent, he was transferred.

Prasad has been credited with making sure that the much delayed India’s UAV programme got the needed push. Within two years of Prasad taking over the project, RUSTOM-II completed its maiden flight, earning him the best DRDO scientist award in 2017. An angry employees’ union of the ADE has now approached Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to intervene in the matter. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, S. Narayanappa, who is president of the ADE civilian employees’ union, said that discriminatory transfers like this affect the morale of the scientists.

“I have been trying to speak to Dr S. Christopher (chairman of DRDO) on this issue but he is not taking my calls or responding to our messages. It was due to this that we were forced to approach the Defence Minister directly. Prasad is a very capable scientist which is clear from the work that he has done. His transfer, without taking even his director into confidence, is shocking. We are still awaiting a response from the Defence Minister. You can just imagine the kind of damage these kinds of things do to an official’s morale. He was offered multiple employment opportunities from various private corporate entities to head their division but he rejected them all,” Narayanappa said.

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DRDO has much to answer for its poor performance

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India has been unable to increase its self-reliance capability despite taking several steps.

By Dinesh Kumar | Chandigarh | 21 January, 2018 – Sunday Gaurdian
On paper the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) comes across as formidable. It is currently engaged in about 70 projects that include making almost every major conventional weapon system and platform that major military powers are already manufacturing. From rifles and machine guns to tanks, fighter aircraft, airborne warning and control system, aircraft carrier and a wide array of missiles—surface-to-air, surface-to-surface and sub surface. In reality, the DRDO has much to answer for its performance.

The DRDO, entrusted with developing weapon systems for India’s defence requirement, is critical for ensuring a high degree of self-reliance. Its huge establishment comprises a partnership with over 40 academic institutions, 15 national science and technology agencies, 50 public sector undertakings including the nine defence public sector units, the 40 ordnance factories and the over 250 private sector industries. By 2008, an estimated 1,500 small and medium enterprises were engaged in supplying about 20% to 25% of defence components to defence firms.

Notwithstanding, however, India’s self-reliance continues to hover at 30% to 35% despite a series of measures taken by the government that has resulted in India continuing to remain overly import dependent for its defence requirements. India has been unable to increase its self-reliance capability from the current 30% to 35% despite a series of measures it has taken in the last two-and-a-half decades in particular. Much of even the existing self-reliance capability is based on licence manufacture and transfer of technology by foreign state-owned or private companies. What is more, the government itself has expressed doubts about the country’s capability to even develop core technologies in reports prepared by the parliamentary standing committee on defence.

The harsh reality is that India’s state-owned defence industry has been unable to even develop a rifle, let alone a tank or an aircraft engine. The DRDO has consistently been shifting the timeline for all projects, ranging from rifles to aircraft. Furthermore, the DRDO has been unable to successfully complete a single major project except for a few missile systems and the nuclear powered submarine, although the latter has several shortcomings in capability. The procurement process continues to be time consuming and the private industry remains mired in bureaucratic processes. Most of the private industry’s involvement currently is low scale and focused on making sub systems. It is yet to graduate to making complete weapon systems or highly sophisticated technologies as is the case with major defence companies in the US and Europe.

India’s mission to increase self-dependency for defence equipment to 70% remains a dream. In 1992, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, which had been India’s main source of weapons supply, catering to 70% of the country’s defence requirements, a defence ministry “Self Reliance Review Committee” conceived “a ten-year plan for Self-Reliance in Defence Systems”, which, starting from 1995, was aimed at increasing India’s self-reliance index to 70% by 2005. The defence ministry has now shifted its deadline to attain about 70% self-reliance by over two decades to 2027. But as of now, this seems unlikely in the next ten years.

Efforts of successive governments have failed despite two unprecedented decisions that were specifically aimed at facilitating the self-reliance process—(a) opening of the military-industrial complex to Indian private sector participation up to hundred per cent, and (b) opening up to foreign direct investment (FDI) permissible up to 26%, which was subsequently increased to 49% in 2014 and 100% in 2016.

The present government’s latest emphasis on “Make in India” is undoubtedly noble, but seemingly idealistic. It remains to be seen whether “Make in India” will translate into “Made in India” or remain “Assemble in India”, without intellectual property rights and design control. Perhaps there is wisdom in the advice of David Gross, a Nobel Laureate in Physics, who during a visit to India in January 2016 advised that in order to “Make in India”, the country should focus on first “Discover in India”, followed immediately by “Invent in India”, before it embarks on “Make in India”. But this seems unlikely, considering India’s inflexible, irrational and outdated bureaucracy and the fact that India overall has been spending a paltry 0.9% of its GDP on research and development, compared to 2.1% by China, 2.7% by the United States and 4.4% by South Korea.

India’s record of producing and exporting weapon systems is extremely modest. For example, India’s defence exports averaged a meagre US$88 million a year between 2006-07 and 2008-09, which marginally rose to $174 million in 2013-14 and $330 million in 2016. At a cursory level, the list of countries that have been importing Indian defence equipment is impressive, as it also includes the United States, United Kingdom and Russia. But a study of the equipment reveals that it is very rudimentary—flight control panels, forging equipment and electronic assemblies to the US, transmitting tubes to the UK and, to Russia, some spares and services for the Russian origin MiG-29 and Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft. None of these are critical technologies or anywhere close to a complete weapon system or a weapon platform.

In contrast, even while China is a major importer of defence hardware, it is at the same time also self-sufficient in certain key military technologies along with being a major weapons exporter. It was the fifth largest exporter of defence equipment to developing countries between 2000 and 2007, the third largest global supplier between 2010 and 2014 following an arms export increase by 143% and ranked fourth between 2008 and 2015 in arms transfer agreements with developing nations. China’s defence exports to developing countries averaged over $3 billion annually between 2011 and 2014, more specifically $2.5 billion in 2007, $2.2 billion in 2008, $3 billion in 2009, $1.9 billion in 2010, $3.2 billion in 2011, $3.4 billion in 2012, $4.2 billion in 2013 and $3.2 billion in 2014 and $ 6 billion in 2015.

India’s state-owned military industrial complex is characterised by flaws at several levels. Internal criticism against the military-industrial complex range from the way the DRDO is conceptualised and structured, its tendency to over reach, technological limitations and incapability; coordination problems with, and changing specifications by, the users, the myriad responsibilities of the head of the DRDO, the continuing limited involvement of the private sector and the predominant role of generalist bureaucrats with no expertise in defence. Moreover, the bureaucratisation of Indian science has created a scientific-work environment with features comprising caution, rules, reviews, screenings, scrutinies, committees, controls, centralisation, delays, doubts, indecision, inaction, suspicion, friction, and less communication.

Until India increases its self-dependence for its defence requirements, India’s import bill is only expected to rise, making it a foreign-made Indian armed force. But such overdependence has come at a high price for the country and the armed forces, which for the last two-and-a-half decades has been battling depleting force levels and antiquity of weapon systems.

The author is a defence analyst

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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