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In Between ISRO and DRDO- Where Lies the Difference?

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Friday, September 26, 2014, 9:01 [IST]- Oneindia news

After the initial euphoria over the emphatic and the most incredible success of ISRO’s Mars Mission has settled down, it would be interesting to do some analysis as to why ISRO stands apart from other similar organizations when it comes to crossing one milestone after another and that too in a field where very few dare to venture.

Space research is not everyone’s cup of tea and even though most of the major economies of the world have their own independent space research programmes, only a handful have been successful in making a significant mark in this field.

The Milestone Machine named ISRO

Even before the envious milestone of reaching Mars in its very first attempt, ISRO has been known for having had more than 100 launches and with the ISRO workhorse namely the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) alone having been responsible for launching 65 satellites into the orbit out of which 30 are of Indian origin and 35 of foreign origin.

Earlier this year, ISRO also succeeded in taming the unruly horse namely the GSLV or the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle with the launch of GSAT-14 weighing 1982 Kg by GSLV-D5 rocket. Today ISRO is not just known for its flawless but frugal engineering and space research credentials but also for making the impossible achievements possible with a fraction of the budget that NASA has.

The Big Question- What Sets ISRO Apart and Where Does DRDO Falter?

So what sets ISRO apart? What makes ISRO so globally competitive and how is it possible that a nation which can on its own make a spacecraft and make it travel for more than 660 million Km, finds it difficult to make a quality combat aircraft?

Isn’t it strange that a nation which has outsmarted NASA in terms of frugal engineering and low cost Mars Mission finds it difficult to retain its own engineering talent? Is it not a reality that ISRO has succeeded where DRDO has faltered if not failed?

In fact one should remember what Prime Minister Modi had to say to the top brass of DRDO in the month of August this year. He had expressed his anguish at the ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude of DRDO for its inability to finish projects on time and made it clear to them that the world would not be waiting for them.

Modi had stated to the top brass of DRDO no unclear terms, ‘”The world will not wait for us. We have to run ahead of time. We should not say in 2014 that a project conceived in 1992 will take some more time,” (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/World-wont-wait-for-you-PM-Narendra-Modi-tells-laggard-DRDO/articleshow/40550218.cms).

Clearly Modi was referring to DRDO’s numerous long delayed projects including that of the Light Combat Aircraft as well as that of its failure with several others including the Kaveri Engine, the Advanced Light Towed Array Sonar (ALTAS) projector the agonizing delay in the Long Range Surface to Air Missile or LR-SAM, which it was doing in collaboration with Israeli Aerospace Industries.

One though cannot deny the success of DRDO for materializing the Agni and Prithvi range of missiles and making some reasonable progress with some others such as Akash, Prahaar, Shaurya, Brahmos and with the anti ballistic missile systems. Barring the missile projects, the success rate of DRDO has been extremely unsatisfactory.

The other key problem with DRDO is its inability to realize its areas of core competence and concentrate on them. Instead it tried to put its hand on everything and ended up failing in many. On the contrary ISRO is known for its core competence and sticking to it.

Not Just DRDO but all Defence PSU’s and Ministry of Defence should be Blamed as well

In fact the blame should not just be with DRDO but equally with all the Defence PSUs and the Ordnance Factory Boards (OFB) who all suffer from similar laid back attitude and producing flawless quality products has not their hallmark.

At a time when ISRO has exemplified how a Mars Mission can be made successful at with fund less than what was used for even some of the top line Hollywood flicks, DRDO and its brethren in defense production are masters in cost overrun, delays and snail pace.

A major part of the blame for the sheer difference in the performance of ISRO and DRDO has to taken by the Ministry of Defence as well. The Ministry of Defence has failed to evolve with time and is manned with bureaucrats devoid of any specialized knowledge of strategic and defence affairs.

Their idiosyncratic tendency to cancel tenders at the whiff of a gossip of a wrong doing, without taking the issues of national security and priority for weapons, their tendency to manage issues of technology with a bureaucratic mindset and sheer inability to harness the potential of the private sector has done much harm.

The Real Reason for ISRO’s Success- No Bureaucratic Red Tape and Meddling in its Affairs

The real reason for which ISRO has succeeded is because it always had the free hand to perform without the needless bureaucratic hurdles to throttle their work.ISRO works directly under the supervision of the Prime Minister as part of the Department of Space and is managed by specialized technocrats rather than generalist bureaucrats. The ISRO website states:

‘The Space Commission formulates the policies and oversees the implementation of the Indian space programme to promote the development and application of space science and technology for the socio-economic benefit of the country. DOS implements these programmes through, mainly Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), North Eastern-Space Applications Centre (NE-SAC) and Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL). The Antrix Corporation, established in 1992 as a government owned company, markets the space products and services.’

Contrast this with the ad-hoc manner in which Ministry of Defence operates and the arms length distance it keeps from the end users of defense products, i.e. the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy. The Ministry of Defence completely lacks a strategic intent and has failed to create a Defence Commission on the lines of Space Commission to formulate policies and oversee implementation.

Further, it has failed to create a dedicated cadre of personnel with impeccable understanding of defense issues and issues related to the importance of development of indigenous capabilities. Fact of the matter is that defence PSUs or the DRDO were never taken to task everyone was happy with the lackadaisical approach and the dependence on imports.

Put DRDO directly under Prime Minister’s Supervision, just like ISRO

One cannot deny the success of DRDO in terms of making India capable of making developing missiles but at the same time, one also cannot overlook its sheer failure in other areas of defence research. The best thing to do, to salvage the situation would be to directly bring DRDO under the supervision of Prime Minister’s office.

In fact the whole Department of Defence, much on the lines of Department of Space should be directly under the Prime Minister and should ideally be supervised by a Defence Commission manned by defence experts and technocrats. Only that can salvage India’s defence research and bring it at par with its space research feats. DRDO has immense potential and talent to make excellence a norm like ISRO. All that it would take is to put it right under the supervision of Prime Minister and release it from the clutches of bureaucratic meddling.isro org

 

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Two top DRDO scientists awarded jail term by Madras high court for contempt of court

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A Subramani,TNN | Sep 25, 2014, 02.00 PM IST

CHENNAI: While the science community behind Mangalyaan’s success is still basking in glory, the Madras high court on Thursday awarded a three-week jail term to the nation’s two top scientists for contempt of court. The court also imposed a fine on them and directed the Centre to initiate stringent action against the duo.

V K Saraswat, scientific adviser to the minister of defence and director general of research & development, DRDO, and G Malakondaiah, director of Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) in Hyderabad, have to surrender to police in a week and start their three-week jail stint. If they fail to do so, an arrest warrant shall be issued to get them under custody, ruled an irate division bench of the high court.

“The government is directed to take appropriate departmental action against them for the reckless negligence and wilful disobedience of the orders of this court,” said the bench of Justice S Rajeswaran and Justice P N Prakash on Thursday.

The two DRDO officers were found guilty of civil contempt under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. They were sentenced to a simple imprisonment for three weeks and directed to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 each.

“We are aware that they are occupying very high positions in the government, but ensconced in a pedestal, their vision became blurred when it came to the travails of an ordinary employee who was suddenly thrown out of employment, for no fault of his. Even during the course of the contempt proceedings, there was no tinge of remorse or an attempt to correct the mistake,” the court said.

On August 13, 1985, Joseph Raj was appointed clerk-cum-store keeper initially on an ad hoc basis in the Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) under the ministry of defence. He acquired his B.Com and master of library and information science degrees later, and when a librarian post fell vacant in the school, he was selected on merits. CVRDE School, started at Avadi here in 1978, was sought to be closed in 2001 and staff members were issued termination notices.

Since then, Joseph Raj won several rounds of litigations in the administrative tribunal, the high court and then in the Supreme Court as well. As he was not reinstated or given job in another unit, he then filed the present contempt of court proceedings, pointing out that the authorities had misled even the apex court.

Narrating the travails of Joseph Raj in detail and convinced that the two officers had done everything to deny him employment for more than a decade, the judges directed the Centre to give a job to Joseph Raj according to the 2004 judgment that favoured him.

It also rapped the two top DRDO officers quoting the Supreme Court’s words: “Non-acceptance of a mistake is not a heroic deed. On the contrary, it reflects flawed devotion to obstinacy. The pink of perfection really blossoms in acceptance.”

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Dire need to speed up DRDO’s output

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Lt Gen Harwant Singh (retd), Hindustan Times  Chandigarh, August 29, 2014

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to speed up projects and advance delivery schedules. He has said that India can be world leader in defence technology and show the way forward to the world.

These are very high expectations and there is nothing in the DRDO’s past performance to generate such great hopes. In fact, the record of this organisation is extremely dismal.

There is no accountability and it has never been put through a science audit, in spite of repeated demands.

On the urging of the parliamentary committee on defence, a revamp of DRDO was carried out. Nothing much happened, except for some cosmetic changes, which are of little consequence.

We continue to import even low-technology equipment where over 70% of weapons and equipment is imported. Think of the outflow of foreign exchange and the jobs lost.

While the Prime Minister is unaware of the DRDO capabilities and potential, but surely, Arun Jaitley, the part-time defence minister, who has been in Parliament for a long time and is expected to have paid attention to debates on defence matters, ought to know better and, therefore, should have briefed the Prime Minister to lower his expectations from this organisation. In the past, these false hopes of delivery by DRDO have kept in limbo the deployment of private industry in this field.

DRDO budget

The DRDO budget has been 5% to 7% of the defence budget with allocations for major projects such as LCA, Arjun tank, etc being over and above this budgeted figure. Much of this amount has gone into civil works. If any proof of this lavish expenditure is required, one need go no further than have a look at the DRDO office complex at the rear of South Block and then of course see Sena Bhavan as well.

Those in the ministry of defence (MoD), who exercise control over DRDO, are blissfully ignorant of what defence equipment is all about. In weapons, they can’t tell a gun from a howitzer, and in engines, a cam shaft from a crank shaft. Projects can hang fire for decades while those responsible for these continue to move up the promotion ladder and so do those of the MoD who control them.

There is little understanding and mutual confidence between the DRDO and the defence services. The Prime Minister is aware of the disconnect, and that is why he impressed upon the DRDO to involve user in the development of military weapons and equipment.

The DRDO never spells out its technological status in relation to the equipment to be developed. With the result, GSQRs are prepared without proper interaction with the DRDO, but keeping in mind what is already in the market.

The DRDO never seeks the scaling down of the GSQRs to a level at which it can handle projects, in the full knowledge and belief that the project can be dragged on endlessly and that no one will be called upon to account. Once a project is taken on, complete secrecy prevails and service officers posted with these establishments are kept out of the loop.

Little achievement

The DRDO in stand-alone mode has achieved little and will not be able to meet the future needs of the armed forces. It has shown little skill and capability in the field of even reverse engineering of comparatively simple equipment. This is legacy of the Nehruvian policies of entrusting all this to the public sector (DRDO in this case). Since then vested interests have opposed any change in this moribund policy.

When the USSR broke up, some governments of east European countries offered to shift state-of-the-art defence industries to other countries. India spurned these offers, while China took two thousand scientists and some of the defence industrial units. In India, there is a politico-bureaucratic nexus which has successfully thwarted such moves, for obvious reasons. There is so much money to be made in imports, the Augusta helicopter being the more recent example.

However, the government did go in for military technology cooperation with the Russian government and later with some others for joint development of cutting-edge defence technologies. So far, this has been a one-sided affair, ending, essentially in transfer of technology and the attendant cost.

Measures to be taken

If the new government is to make a positive impact on the future indigenous development of defence technologies, production of such equipment within the country and its export, it need shed the hope of achieving this with only the DRDO efforts. It needs to consider some of these measures:

Close down those establishments of DRDO which are busy re-inventing the wheel, and those whose tasks can best be done in the private sector. Get it out of the control of the MoD. Equally do away with most of the defence ordnance factories. Pass on production of such equipment to the private sector.

It is DRDO component grouped with the navy that has performed well. This has essentially been due to direct control that the navy has exercised over this component. Of the three establishments, one is always commanded by a naval officer and the other two have a number of naval officers on their establishment. Thus a series of projects have been successfully completed: some on their own and some others as part of collaboration with certain foreign companies. Nuclear submarine is one such example.

Restructure the MoD as an integrated organisation, consisting of bureaucrats, defence services staff, scientists and financial experts. It would ensure better coordination, cutting out duplication and triplication of work, improved efficiency and speedy decision-making. Integrated defence planning and defence technology development have become an inescapable necessity. Such a step will be opposed, tooth and nail, by the bureaucracy but it is the political executive which must take the final call.

Implement the Arun Singh Committee report, as accepted by the cabinet, and adopt the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) system. The DRDO needs to be placed under the CDS, which will result in mutual confidence and better interaction with the services and bring in efficiency and good performance.

Pending adoption of the CDS system, DRDO’s various establishments need to be grouped with the army and IAF on same lines as for the navy.

If we are serious in attracting high-tech equipment manufacturing companies to collaborate with Indian companies, then the FDI limit will have to be increased to 51%. The FDI limit of 49% announced by the finance minister was perhaps on the advice of the babus and urgings by others with vested interests. The Prime Minister during his forthcoming visit to the US must throw open invitation to American defence industry to establish manufacturing facilities in India, in collaboration with Indian companies.

Unless the above listed steps are urgently taken, and the status quo broken, the Prime Minister’s expectations of India developing high-end defence equipment and becoming self-sufficient in this field and being an exporter of such equipment will remain a distant dream.

(The writer, a former deputy chief of army staff, is commentator on security and defence matters. The views expressed are personal)

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PM scraps DRDO’s ‘retirement benefits’ committee

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ABHINANDAN MISHRA New Delhi | 20th Sep 2014 – The Sunday Gaurdian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to scrap the Departmental Peer Review Committee (DPRCs) of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) in an attempt to revamp the outfit. The main job of this committee of DRDO scientists is to grant extensions to fellow scientists. The committee has come under scrutiny after complaints that all that these scientists do is to park retiring and retired colleagues in important posts year after year. “The PM has ordered the scrapping of the committee that reviews cases to grant extension of service to scientists who are superannuating. Giving repeated extensions to scientists, whose capabilities could be questioned, is one of the major problems with the DRDO,” a DRDO official said.sunday gaurdians clip

Sources said that 15 top scientists in DRDO, including Director General (DG) Avinash Chander, are on extension. After getting two extensions, Chander is now on contract. “What should have been an exception, has become a norm here. Every year, six to eight senior people in DRDO get extensions. This has led to an alarming attrition rate in the organisation,” said a scientist who has been working with DRDO for the last 12 years. In the seven years between 2007 and 2013, at least 687 scientists left the organisation, which comes to a rate of 100 scientists leaving the organisation every year.

The DRDO, best known for missing manufacturing deadlines, is gearing up for a hard time after PM Modi told its scientists and officials that their lackadaisical approach would not be tolerated anymore. Last month, while addressing the annual award function of the organisation in the national capital, the PM expressed his unhappiness over the way things were working in the organisation.

“The Prime Minister is clearly unhappy with the way the DRDO has been functioning, as most of our projects are running years behind schedule, resulting in cost overruns and compromising of national security. During the event, he made sure that that senior officials were made aware of his views on the subject and the fact that such lackadaisical approach would not work anymore. With the government approving 49% FDI in defence, we need to start performing now,” said a senior DRDO official. Modi, while commenting on DRDO said that the organisation “should not say in 2014 that a project conceived in 1992 will take some more time”.

DRDO, founded in 1958, has a network of 54 laboratories, employs close to 35,000 employees including 7,500 scientists. In July this year, the BJP-led NDA government increased DRDO’s budget from Rs 5,985 crore — as provided by the UPA’s interim Budget in February — to Rs 9,298 crore, the largest ever increase in the organisation’s history.

However, despite being treated with extreme care by successive governments, DRDO has still not been able to shake off the negative image associated with it. Most of its projects, ranging from Tejas light combat aircraft and long-range surface-to-air missile systems to NAG missiles are running years behind schedule.

According to officials, at least ten major projects that are being worked on by the DRDO have exceeded their stipulated date. “The major ones among these are the light combat aircraft, naval light combat aircraft, aero engine Kaveri, airborne early warning and control aircraft, long range surface-to-air missile, air-to-air missile Astra, advanced lightweight torpedo, dual colour missile approach warning system for fighter aircraft. If you include the minor ones, like the NAG missile system, then the number of incomplete projects will become even more,” the official stated.

According to a former bureaucrat, who had worked in the Ministry of Defence, the government has been always generous when it came to funding the DRDO. “The DRDO has never suffered from any paucity of funds. The main problem with the organisation is at the top. No accountability is fixed on them. There is no other place where you will find senior officials being given repeated extensions despite doing nothing.”

The former bureaucrat added that he had come across instances where the country’s defence preparedness suffered because the DRDO first made a commitment that it would manufacture the product, but when the deadline arrived, it did not have the product. And in cases where the product was there, the quality was not acceptable. “It is a shame that due to DRDO’s inefficiency the country has to import more than half of its defence requirements,” he said.

Even the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has time and again come down heavily on the DRDO. “Year after year, the CAG has revealed the kind of mismanagement that has been happening in the DRDO. In February this year, CAG audits revealed that the DRDO spent Rs 52 crore to buy a cooling substance, which was to be used in the NAG missile system in 2007. The interesting part is that the NAG was not operational at the time and it is still not operational. Can you expect such kind of mismanagement from any other defence organisation in the world elsewhere?” an official with the DRDO said.

According to him, the onus of revamping the DRDO is with the Defence Minister. “The DRDO officials and the defence ministry bureaucrats will not take the bull by the horn; no one wants to disturb the status quo. It is the Defence Minister who needs to do it. The minister needs to implement the recommendation of the first-ever external review report of the DRDO, which was prepared by an independent committee of experts headed by P. Rama Rao, former secretary, Department of Science & Technology, and former ISRO man Dr Brahm Prakash. It had recommended a massive restructuring of the 50-year-old body to make it more effective,” the official said.

However, Ravi Kumar Gupta, Director, Directorate of Public Interface, DRDO, said that the PM was very appreciative of the work being done by the organisation during his interaction with the officials last month. “He has positive views about the organisation and said that the organisation had a lot of potential and whatever we were doing, we were doing it in a professional way. He also said that just as it holds true for any other organisation, we too should not lose focus and follow the chalta hai attitude,” Gupta said.

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Narendra Modi extremely unhappy with DRDO’s failure to meet deadlines in delivering products

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BHAVNA VIJ AURORA,ET Bureau | Aug 23, 2014, 12.19 PM IST – The Times of India
NEW DELHI: When defence minister Arun Jaitley commissions Indian Naval Ship Kamorta on Saturday in Vizag, it will be bereft of the critical mediumrange surface-to-air missile (SAM) and advanced light towed array sonars (ALTAS) — both of which Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has failed to deliver.
This is not the first failure for DRDO, the only body in the country doing research in the field of defence systems. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had commissioned INS Kolkata on August 16 in Mumbai.

That too was without the crucial long-range SAM systems and ALTAS.drdo award 2014

Extremely unhappy about the state of affairs, Modi has put DRDO on notice. With the government approving 49% FDI in defence, the PM has asked the tardy organisation to shape-up in the face of competition from the private sector. Officials in the security setup of the country told ET that Modi has asked the defence minister to conduct a detailed review of the organisation, and if need be come out with a white paper on it.

Modi personally delivered a stern message to DRDO, asking the officers to give up their “chalta hai” (lackadaisical) attitude, during the annual award ceremony of the organisation on August 20. The PM had started the DRDO clean-up project even before he attended the award function. He ordered scrapping of a committee that was reviewing cases to grant extension of service to scientists, who had superannuated. The committee sent its recommendations to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

As many as 15 top scientists of DRDO, including Director General (DG) Avinash Chander, are on extension. Chander, in fact, is now on contract after two extensions. Incidentally, he holds three posts — Secretary (Defence) R&D, DG (DRDO) and Scientific Advisor to the defence minister. It was the previous ACC, under the UPA government, comprising Manmohan Singh, AK Antony and Sushil Kumar Shinde that had granted him extensions and finally appointed him on contract in November 2013. About six to eight people were believed to be getting extensions each year in DRDO.

“The PM was not happy about it. As per a department of personnel and training (DoPT) ruling, only the best scientists of international stature should be considered for extensions. He asked for all the details. He was told about the high attrition rate among the younger scientists,” disclosed a senior defence ministry official.

The review committee, scrapped by the government, comprised secretaries of Department of Atomic Energy, DRDO and ISRO as members. Modi is believed to have said that the secretaries of the same departments could not review extensions of their own personnel. He has now constituted the committee to include the Cabinet Secretary and secretaries of unrelated departments of science and technology and earth sciences.

“It is to weed out the dead wood that Modi made the announcement about employing only young scientists, not over the age of 35, in five of the 52 DRDO labs. It is a beginning and will send the message to everyone working in DRDO to deliver,” explained the defence ministry official.

DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta could not be contacted for a comment.

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World won’t wait for you, PM Narendra Modi tells laggard DRDO

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Rajat Pandit,TNN | Aug 21, 2014, 05.46 AM IST
NEW DELHI: The “Chalta Hai” attitude will no longer do. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the DRDO to ensure delivery of cutting-edge weapon systems to the armed forces in time to keep India ahead in the national security arena.

Though the stern message was couched in mild language, the intent behind it could not be lost. Most of DRDO projects, ranging from Tejas light combat aircraft to long-range surface-to-air missile systems, after all, are running years behind schedule with huge cost overruns.

The fact that India, which aspires to be a superpower, still embarrassingly imports over 65% of its military requirements is basically due to failure of successive governments to build a strong domestic defence-industrial base (DIB) as well as tardy performance of DRDO and its 50 labs, five defence PSUs, four shipyards and 39 ordnance factories.

India does not lack the requisite scientific talent and capability but this “chalta hai” attitude (lackadaisical) has put paid to all endeavours, said Modi at the annual DRDO awards function on Wednesday.

“The world will not wait for us. We have to run ahead of time. We should not say in 2014 that a project conceived in 1992 will take some more time,” said Modi. With defence technology evolving at a rapid rate around the globe, India cannot afford to conceptualize systems that are two steps behind what will soon hit the MARKET.

“DRDO has to decide whether it will only react to the situation, or become pro-active and set the agenda for the global community. I have hopes from DRDO because I know it has the capability to perform,” said Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the DRDO Awards 2013 function in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Defence minister Arun Jaitley also stressed that defence scientists had the “intellectual talent” to turn DRDO into “a hub for defence manufacturing” if they worked towards it in the right earnest.

But this might take some doing. For one, DRDO wants more FUNDS for R&D. For another, though it has over 7,500 scientists on its rolls, it wants to attract bright youngsters from top-notch institutions like the IITs with better incentives.

“Our intake of young scientists is down to just 70 per year. This is certainly not a good sign for an innovation-centric organization. Sanction of additional manpower at the rate of 300 per year for the next seven-eight years is essential for meeting technology challenges,” said DRDO chief Avinash Chander.

But it’s equally true that DRDO itself needs to be revamped and reformed. As reported by TOI earlier, the Rama Rao Committee (RRC) in 2008 held DRDO should focus only on 8 to 10 “critical technologies” of “strategic importance”, instead of making everything from dental implants and mosquito repellents to nuclear missiles and fighter jets.

Two key RRC recommendations, for instance, to establish a new Defence Technology Commission and a commercial arm for DRDO (as a private limited company with Rs 2 crore as seed capital) are yet to be implemented.DRDO missiles

 

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Hyderabad: Army personnel arrested for espionage

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Hyderabad, Aug 6, 2014, PTI: DECCAN HERALD

A Naik Subedar with Army was today arrested by city police on the charge of sharing information about strategic locations of Army bases and deployment of units with a woman, suspected to be a Pakistani national, through the Internet.

The accused was identified as Patan Kumar Poddar, Naik Subedar of EME Unit at Secunderabad.

Commissioner’s Task Force, in liaison with Army authorities, arrested Poddar acting on a tip-off, Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahender Reddy said in a press release.

According to police, Poddar was also involved in a network MARKETINGbusiness for a company named ‘Secured Life’, and had tried to persuade his colleagues in the Army to join his network.

His posting provided him opportunity to target the defence personnel who came into contact with him mainly for train reservations, police said.

Some time ago a woman, apparently a Pakistani national, befriended him through social media, and got him to give her information about Army’s strategic locations and deployment of some defence units, the Commissioner said.

She had shared with him her nude pictures to entice him, according to the investigation officer. “We will check his emails and his social media accounts to verify this,” said the officer.

Poddar spoke with several Army personnel and gathered information about locations of artillery regiments, commands, corps, division headquarters, etc.

Police have registered a case under Official Secrets Act (for espionage) as well as under Prize Chits Money Circulation Banning Act, 1977 (for getting involved in the network MARKETING business) against him. At present he has been lodged in judicial custody.

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India, US agree on arms deal, but technology transfer remains key

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Rajat Pandit, TNN | Aug 9, 2014, 05.34AM IST

NEW DELHI: India and the US on Friday agreed to go in for co-development and co-production of advanced weapon systems, with Washington pushing New Delhi for early decisions on offers ranging from the next-generation Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).Modi-Chuk

But India will not jump headlong into any venture without first ensuring the US sticks to its promise to provide “ground-breaking technology” on par with its closest allies, even though the Modi government is keen to strengthen the moribund domestic defence production sector.

The decision to revive the floundering Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) between the two countries, as also work towards the extension of the 10-year India-US defence framework, was taken after visiting US defence secretary Chuck Hagel held delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley.
But India is still not fully convinced about the US as a reliable long-term, high-end defence supplier, given its propensity to impose sanctions and stringent export control laws. The US, however, believes it can effectively marry trade and technology, with benefits for both.

Stressing that “security, stability, freedom of sea lanes, economic development and energy” is in the interest of the two countries as well as the Asia-Pacific region, Hagel said the US wants to be a partner in India’s military modernization and recognises its needs to strengthen its defence-industrial base.
The US will be led by its under secretary of defence acquisition, technology and logistics Frank Kendall in the DTTI. The Indian points-man, in turn, will be the defence production secretary, which is a comedown from before since former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon earlier led the initiative. Jaitley, incidentally, accepted Hagel’s invite to visit Pentagon when he goes to Washington to attend the annual meetings of IMF and World Bank.

Of all the joint development and production offers, the US is especially keen to push the case for fourth-generation Javelin ATGMs, which even President Barack Obama has personally pushed with Modi. The Indian ATGM project, after all, is going to be worth over $2.5 billion. Javelin is in contention with the Israeli “Spike” tank-killing missiles to bag the project, as was earlier reported by TOI.

With the 1.13-million Indian Army grappling with a huge shortfall of 44,000 ATGMs of different types, the project involves an initial direct acquisition of the man-portable “tank killers”, with a strike range of 2.5km, followed by technology transfer to defence PSU Bharat Dynamics for large-scale indigenous manufacture. The Army is keen to equip all its 382 infantry battalions with third and fourth-generation ATGMs.

Comments

Vladimir Sikorski (Ulyanovsk. Russia) 3 hrs ago
In the 50’s and 60’s the Russians supplied us with their MIG’s, T-72 tanks and other weapons. The technology was transferred at that time. What happened after that. Were you guys able to develop further from that platform and make your own planes. No. The French transferred their Mirage aircraft technology in the 70’s and 80’s. Did you develop your own from that platform. No. It took 30 years to develop a 3rd generation aircraft called the Tejas. The Arjun tank was forced on the Army. So why do you Indians keep harping about technology transfer. Even after we give you all the books and manuals and the design features for a product, your paan chewing babu’s of the DRDO and the Defence Ministry are unable to develop anything over and above that. It is way better and cheaper to employ German and Japanese engineers and scientists, pay them well in India and they will develop your arms industry for you. You don’t have much time. World War III is round the corner.

Himanshu Agarwal (Location) replies to Vladimir Sikorski 54 mins ago Bronze : 189189 PointsWordsmith 1News King 1Frequent Flyer 2
Yeah probably India should focus of Developing worlds class universities and then investing similar amount to restructure and new-hiring in DRDO.

Jagdish Sinha (Patna. Bihar) 1 day ago
The USA now is willing to give all the technology India wants as it knows that the idiots in DRDO cannot duplicate or build on anything. The technology for the MIG and the T-90 tanks was transferred by Russia long time ago but we are still unable to build on it and innovate based on the earlier model. It took 30 years to build the Tejas. What a joke it turned out to be. The tech for the French planes was also provided, but just to upgrade the planes they spent billions and had to send them to France. Poor show India.

Swami Vas (Hong Kong) 103 Followers1 day ago Gold : 19.5K19495 PointsInfluencer 7Wordsmith 7Networker 2
PULSE OF INDIA: The fact that India is unconvinced of the reliability of US as a trustworthy defence supplier is absolutely understandable and perfect, considering the past experiences where the US had utterly failed to keep its promises on some important deals. So, it is only right for India to insist that all major deals should be fair and wherever appropriate include transfer of technology which was rightly pinpointed by the Prime Minister. The US belief that it can “effectively marry trade and technology” benefitting both is simply yet another striking example of marriage of convenience! The defence needs of India are indeed varied and important, some even urgent, but the Indian requirements are also huge and long-standing. Thus, it is important for India to ensure continuity in the supply chain which can only be achieved by establishing manufacturing facilities within the country. The keenness of US to strike deals with India on the latest weapons is also equally understandable, especially considering the money-value of the deal as well as its own role as a leading defence equipment exporter but the US should know that from now on all deals with India will have to be on a win-win situation basis! However important or urgent the defence needs are to modernize its armed forces, India should indeed not hurry or plunge into any deals without knowing the depth! India is the largest democracy in the world followed by the US but whether they have been truly friendly or why the US has failed to extend a hand of friendship befitting that status are debatable issues. But one thing is for certain which the world should know that the 21st Century India presently under Modi leadership is going to be a power to be reckoned with! (cc: BJPCALL-LC / PMO /MOD)

Krishna Jha:22 hours ago US Is the leader in front line technology. Before signing any agreement we must ask for TOT. Why to reinvent the wheel. As our limitations to re engineer MIG has been unsuccessful but translating blue more..

 

Drdo

RTI- MOD – DRDO is weakest link for Spying.

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To                                                                                            30th July 2014
Sh A. M. Manichan,
Under Secretary (IC-IV), CPIO,
Ministry of Defence,
Department of Defence,
Sena Bhavan, New Delhi

Hello,

Kindly provide me with the following information requested under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 in respect of my letter to Sh A K Antony, Defence Minister dated 11th February 2014 subjected- DRDO is weakest link for Spying.

  1. Date of receipt of above referred letter to Defence Minister office.
  2. Copy of remark on above referred letter by Defence Minister or official of Defence Ministry.
  3. Copy of reply received from DRDO in respect of above referred letter, if not then copy of any action taken so far by Raksha Mantri office on above referred letter.
Regards
Prabhu  Dandriyal
21-Sunderwala, Raipur, Dehradun-248008
Phone – 0135- 2787750, Mobile- 9411114879,
e-mail id prabhudoon@gmail.com  website – www.corruptionindrdo.com

Enclosed :

  1. Copy of my letter dated 11th February 2014 subjected- DRDO is weakest link for Spying, address to honorable defence minister
  2. Copy of education certificate submitted by Mrs Rita
  3. Copy of Performa application submitted by DEAL, DRDO, Dehradun in respect of compensatory appointment of Mrs Rita

Online RTI Registration Number      MODEF/R/2014/61359

Drdo

Kargil Vijay Diwas: What DRDO have learnt 15 years after the Kargil war?

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What about SDR after DEAL’s Director Sh RC Agarwal’s second extension , Aditya after second PDC extension, not even static target fire achieved, in last 15 years corruption in DRDO increased 15 fold ?????????

Couldn’t get key radars before Kargil due to DRDO, says Malik

New Delhi, September 6 The Tribune, Chandigarh
Former Army chief VP Malik, who led the army during the 1999 Kargil war, has said casualties in the conflict could have been reduced had DRDO “not come in the way” in the acquisition of weapon-locating radars.

“We had one or two incidents particularly on the weapon-locating radar. If the DRDO had not come in the way we would have got them before the Kargil war and that would have definitely reduced our casualties,” he told Karan Thapar on Devil’s Advocate programme on CNN-IBN.

Asked whether DRDO was “slight boastful” in claims over developing weapons, Malik said, “Well that has been our (armed forces’) experience over the development of weapons and equipment the DRDO has delivered or not delivered.”

On whether APJ Abdul Kalam, during his stint as the Director-General of the DRDO, overestimated the country’s capacity and ability, Malik merely said. “I do not want to go more into that.”

Amid claims by some scientists that Pokhran-II in 1998 was not a complete success, Malik says armed forces were “affected” by doubts over its efficacy and need to be “reassured” by the nuclear establishment on the exact yield of the atomic tests. Malik also said the statement by former president APJ Abdul Kalam, the DRDO chief when India exploded the bombs in 1998, rubbishing the claims of his colleague and defence scientist Dr K Santhanam, was “unconvincing.”

Santhanam said the tests were a fizzle, which were rejected by Kalam, who said Pokhran-II was a complete success. “They (armed forces) need to be reassured about the weapon system they use and about the planning of what kind of the yield they have when they hit the target,” said Malik. He dubbed as shocking the recent comments of Santhanam, questioning the yield of the thermonuclear device tested on May 11, 1998. “Yes, it affects the armed forces. Particularly, because, when they plan the task given to them then they have to know what kind of yield that each nuclear weapon has,” he said, stressing that it was important to remove doubts.

“Let us not forget that Dr Santhanam was part of his (Kalam’s) team. And it came as quite a shock with Dr Santhanam himself mentioning that it was a fizzle. Of course, again he was referring to the thermonuclear weapon. So, Dr Kalam’s statement was not quite convincing,” he said. Malik said the team of scientists led by then chairman of the Atomic Energy commission R Chidambaram should reassure the armed forces on the yield of the weapons. — PTI