Tag Archives: engineering

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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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SC cancels engineering degrees given by deemed universities through correspondence course

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Amit Anand Choudhary | TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Updated: Nov 3, 2017, 16:26 IST
HIGHLIGHTS
The apex court restrained educational institutions from providing courses in subjects like engineering, in the distance education mode
With its ruling, the SC affirmed the findings of the Punjab and Haryana high court on the issue
Also with its ruling, the SC set aside a verdict by the Odisha high court, which allowed technical education by correspondence
NEW DELHI: Engineering degrees of hundreds of students who pursued education through correspondence course from four deemed Universities — JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Institute of Advanced Studies in Education in Rajasthan, Allahabad Agricultural Institute and Vinayaka Mission Research Foundation in Tamil Nadu from year 2001 on wards have been quashed by the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit, however, allowed students of 2001-05 batch to get their degree by appearing in the examination to be conducted by AICTE but it cancelled the degrees of students of subsequent batches as the deemed university had not got approval from authorities for the course.
“As regards students who were admitted after the academic sessions 2001-2005, their degrees in engineering awarded by the concerned deemed to be universities through distance education mode stand recalled and be treated as cancelled. All benefits secured by such candidates shall stand withdrawn. However, the entire amount paid by such students to the concerned deemed to be universities towards tuition fees and other expenditure shall be returned by the concerned deemed to be universities,” the bench said.
The apex court also restrained deemed universities from offering correspondence courses without getting approval from AICTE. “We restrain all “deemed to be universities” to carry on any courses in distance education mode from the academic session 2018- 2019 onwards unless and until it is permissible to conduct such courses in distance education mode and specific permissions are granted by the concerned statutory/regulatory authorities in respect of each of those courses and unless the off-campus centres/study centres are individually inspected and found adequate by the concerned statutory authorities. The approvals have to be course specific,” the bench said.
The court also directed CBI inquiry to catch the government officials who had allowed deemed universities to offer the distance learning courses which was not allowed. The court asked the government to constitute a high-level committee to examine the functioning of deemed universities.
We direct the CBI to carry out thorough investigation into the conduct of the concerned officials who dealt with the matters and went about the granting permissions against the policy statement, as indicated in Para 49 above and into the conduct of institutions who abused their position to advance their commercial interest illegally.
“The Union of India may constitute a three members Committee comprising of eminent persons who have held high positions in the field of education, investigation, administration or law at national level within one month. The Committee may examine the issues indicated above and suggest a road map for strengthening and setting up of oversight and regulatory mechanism in the relevant field of higher education and allied issues within six months. The Committee may also suggest oversight mechanism to regulate the Deemed to be Universities. The Union of India may examine the said report and take such action as may be considered appropriate within one month thereafter and file an affidavit in this Court of the action taken on or before August 31, 2018” it said.

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Hyderabad: Colonel arrested for sexual assault

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Victim was warned not to inform anyone
DECCAN CHRONICLE.
Published May 17, 2017, 1:54 am IST

Hyderabad: A 44-year-old Army Colonel who sexually assaulted a 19-year-old girl and impregnated her was arrested by Cyberabad Police. Police said Rishi Sharma, serving at Defence Research and Development Organisa-tion (DRDO), assaulted the girl four months back. The issue came to light when her mother found that the girl was pregnant.

According to police, Sharma is deputed as administrative officer at the DRDO Shameerpet unit and residing in the army quarters. The girl’s mother (45) is communication manager in a Central government agency and residing in Upperpally. The woman is separated from her husband and is living with her daughter and son who are studying engineering and intermediate respectively.

Two years back, Rishi met the woman at a function and befriended her. Gradually their friendship grew leading to an illicit relationship. Rishi would come to her home twice a week and would often sleep in the same house. In January, the woman went to visit her ailing mother in Nellore district in AP which Rishi was aware of. After she left, he went to her house and spent some time with the two kids. Later he dropped the son to college on his bike and returned to the flat where the girl was alone.

“He sexually assaulted the girl and warned her not to tell this to anyone, threatening her of dire consequences. Rishi continued to visit the house to meet her mother, but the girl was scared to speak out,” Rajendranagar inspector V. Umender said.

A week back, the girl developed some health complications and was taken to a private hospital. The doctors found that she was pregnant. On questioning by her mother, the girl told her everything. When Rishi came to know that the girl had spoken to her mother, he warned them not to reveal to anybody and threatened to kill them. But the girl’s father came to know about the issue and pressurised the woman to lodge a complaint. Based on her complaint, police registered a case for rape and arrested Sharma on Saturday and sent him to judicial remand. Police have written to the Army authorities about the incident and the arrest.

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DRDO working on health monitor for soldiers

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TNN | Sep 17, 2016,
drdo_logo_new-copyTrichy: The Defence Research and Development Organisation is working on a wearable health monitoring system for soldiers, said P S Pandian, director-technology, DRDO, Bengaluru, explaining the varied scope of bio medical research for students.
Speaking at the inauguration of the instrumentation and control engineering department at the National Institute of Technology here on Friday, Pandian said that as long as we perform normal activities without much strain, we may not be able to identify or detect any serious health problem.
Gone are the days when we think about ailments affecting people in their 40s or 50s; even 20-year-olds with no such family medical history get diabetes and high blood pressure. A device that will keep track of a person’s health condition and send alerts much before an ailment becomes serious will help avoid crises. Such gadgets gain significance as they can save the lives of soldiers, he said.
Medical devices technologies have the potential to transform the world of healthcare as the internet did to the world of commerce. In future, people will be able to turn on tele-health products in their homes with a healthcare provider, acquire medical data and information and manage their wellness programme, said Pandian.
However, regular calibration, maintenance, testing and certification of the medical devices were needed on a regular basis to obtain the correct prognosis and treatment. He urged students to come forward and work on interdisciplinary areas to develop prototypes.
Pandian said the bio medical industry had grown in a big way and instrumentation and control engineering had become an integral part of our life. Citing the example of automated flight operations which mostly work on instrumentation, Pandian said the progress of control and instrumentation engineering was rapid and had vast scope in the future.
N Sivakumaran, head, ICE department, said students of the department need to work more on prototype developments in healthcare technology. The growth of electronics, electrical, mechanical, materials, computers, information technology and communications had led to a large number of medical devices being employed for health care purposes.
Advancements in computing and communications allowed for practices such as “telemedicine,” a system utilising the internet by which patients could be diagnosed and often treated by physicians from far away.

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CBI arrests Army officer for accepting bribe

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Kautilya Singh | TNN | Jul 9, 2016

CBI arrests Army officer for accepting bribe - Times of India

DEHRADUN: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested an Army officer, Lt Colonel Bharat Joshi, posted in Instruments Research and Development Establishment’s (IRDE) military engineering services unit in Dehradun for accepting bribe of Rs 10,000 to issue a completion certificate. After being produced in the court of a duty magistrate on Saturday, the officer was sent to Dehradun jail till Monday.
According to the complaint, contractor Harendra Singh was given a contract for constructing two-storey residential buildings in the IRDE campus at Raipur’s Udhyan Vihar area. Singh was to collect Rs 16 lakh after completion of the work and he needed a completion certificate for the same, which had to be issued by Joshi.
Singh said that the officer demanded Rs 38,000 to issue the certificate. On July 4, Singh reportedly handed over Rs 10,000 as initial amount to Joshi. However, within a few days Joshi asked for another Rs 10,000 which was to be paid in his office. The remaining amount was to be given after Singh received his payment.
However, rather than handing over the amount, this time Singh approached CBI with his complaint. “After verifying the allegations we laid a trap to arrest the accused,” said a CBI official. As Singh was handing over the amount to Joshi, the CBI team arrested the officer.
Soon after this, senior CBI officers, including SP Sujit Kumar and deputy SP Akhil Kaushik, arrived at IRDE and questioned the accused. The team also conducted a search at Joshi’s office and his residence. The team also collected some documents and are scrutinizing them. A case under the relevant section of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused.
Meanwhile, sources said that another officer of the IRDE is also under CBI scanner as the agency has found some initial clues which linked him to the incident.

sunday times 10 July 2016

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DNA: Parliamentary committee pulls up DRDO

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http://indiareckoner.net/2014/12/dna-parliamentary-committee-pulls-up-drdo/

India’s premier defence research organisation, Defence Research and Development Organisation’s inordinate delays, corruption and its fancy for reverse engineering has resulted in Parliamentary standing committee on defence raising the red flag on DRDO budget for 2014-15.

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Incurring the DRDO’s rath

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It should disturb us all gravely that a motorised battery-powered chariot is the level of “technology” the DRDO feels proud to pass on.
25-11-2014
SHIV AROOR @shivaroor

I love this story. Everything about it numbs the brain. What I love best about it is that nobody could have made this up: An Indian military laboratory tucked away in a leafy Pune neighbourhood, tasked with building combat support vehicles, has built and supplied a gleaming battery-powered rath to the grateful Alandi Temple nearby. Correct. A chariot. For a temple. You see what I mean? Can’t make this stuff up.

Details sometimes kill a great story. In this case, they really crank up the W-T-F value.

The story emerged on the front pages of the New Indian Express which reported that the rath was built at a cost of Rs five crore and “donated” to the temple. The laboratory reportedly explained that the work was done as “seva” and that a scientist who apparently blew the whistle on what he felt was a totally improper use of public money and laboratory resources, was shunted and buried in a lower profile role in Nashik. The clincher now, the NIE report says, is that the Bombay High Court has stepped in and ordered the DRDO and MoD to explain what this rath business is all about. I know nothing beyond what’s been reported, so I decided to poke around. When I called a DRDO spokesperson asking him what the fuss was about, he fobbed me off. “It was done as seva. What is wrong if some military research helps some civilian cause also?” he asked. Well, plenty, I thought, but decided to sit on it. Let’s see just how farcical this can get. Other than a little hilarity and outrage on Twitter, the story hasn’t turned too many people on. That may change if the DRDO decides to officially comment.

First off, only an idiot would hope to find any justification at all for a public-funded combat vehicle research lab spending any resources (money, man-hours that could be better spent, materials, electricity) on a rath. Second, excuses like “seva” etc don’t hold. If the rath project eats into laboratory time or resources even slightly, it’s unacceptable. Period. Three, inappropriate diversions of this kind are an insult to the hundreds of DRDO scientists actually doing stellar, quality military research, even at the same laboratory. Indulgences of this kind hurt the reputations of scientists who have to work harder just to make up for the incompetence, laziness and vacuous sahib culture of their colleagues. Finally (and this is my favourite reason) it should disturb us all gravely that a motorised battery-powered chariot is the level of “technology” the DRDO is dabbling with and feels proud to pass on. As someone on Twitter pointed out to me, a small group of engineering kids could have built the thing in two months or less. (Less. Definitely less. Have you seen the stuff engineering students make these days?)

The Bombay High Court has better things to do than intervene in preposterous issues of this kind, but I for one would love to know how this one plays out, especially since the DRDO chief himself has been asked to explain. The DRDO chief is a good man, a strong missile scientist, who I hope will send out the right message. Because for far too long, the DRDO has gotten away never having to explain itself, always shielding itself with a pretend-patriotic forcefield, crying foul at the slightest criticism and accusing its detractors of being anti-nationals.

“Not just high-altitude chikki”. That was the title of the final column I wrote for the Indian Express before I left in 2007. The column welcomed a rare formal awakening within the government about the need to completely overhaul and reinvent India’s doddering, plagued and villified Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). The government’s decision to find ways to kick the DRDO into a shape was, if not directly a result of, at least catalysed by a relentless eight-part series that the Express had frontpaged just days earlier, carefully picking apart the breathtaking incompetence and sense of entitlement that had allowed the DRDO to balloon into a nightmarishly out-of-control and wasteful organisation. The title of my parting column was a reference to the mind-boggling products the DRDO found (sigh, and still finds) the need to expend its energies on, instead of focusing on giving India its basic weapons. (The DRDO’s Defence Food Research Laboratory in Mysore actually researches, among other things, stabilised chikki and cashewnut burfi for troops at high altitude). DRDO chief at the time M Natarajan had written an letter to all employees asking them not to be affected by the “malicious news columns” that seek “distract us from our goal of self-reliance”.

Comment Writing about DRDO for almost exactly ten years now, the one thing I’ve noticed is that hilarity about its misadventures always diffuses into anger. The truth is, the organisation has nobody but itself to blame. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Modi chastised the DRDO at a public event, informing it that the world wouldn’t wait for it, and that delays in crucial weapons projects was unacceptable. The DRDO has enjoyed “friendly” defence ministries in the past, notably under AK Antony. Modi has signalled that the time for fun and games is over. The message is simple: That’s public money you’re using. Soldiers need the stuff you make. You don’t have a moment or a rupee to waste. Get your shit together. Now.

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Why do people want to go private organizations? Is it because they do good work and they are rewarded? Do you have any method of incentives for good work done by scientists? Please elaborate – (CC R&D HR)

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As per the reply in Parliament ( LOK SABHA) against UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 596, ANSWERED ON 09.12.2013, the total 487 scientists left from DRDO from 2008 to 30th November 2013. Scientist B- 289, Scientist C- 152, Scientist D – 26, Scientist E-  13, Scientist F – 7.

Why they left – Financial reasons – very few, most young scientists join this great premier scientific organization with great enthusiasm that they will contribute their best to serve the nation, but unfortunately they encounter incompetent, greedy, bosses who got these higher posts on the basis of flattering/corruption /nepotism.

Examples are numerous but this is one real reason “I grew up in a small town called ———— and my father works for ——. All my childhood I spent in scientific community and I dreamt of becoming a scientist one day. I did that and I ignored offers from private sector and Joined DRDO.

The establishment that I joined promised me excellent work in my field of analysis and designing. At 21, I joined and things of course were very indifferent to what I dreamt of.

We had bureaucracy and people were not happy. The organization was something like a hierarchy controlled rather than intellectual oriented. I had an excellent team and my STA’s are one of the best. People never cared to harness their potential. Have no idea why.

Most of the works that we were supposed to do were outsourced; this is one thing that I fought with everybody. I did not want to work for my salary; I wanted to work for pleasure.

Finally, my team was able to deliver some engineering marvels that my superiors said it was impossible to do. My growing frustration with outsourcing was a big issue for me. A single step ahead in the project is like fighting with in.

After 5 years of service, I came to US to pursue my further studies.”

The absolute power to Lab Directors is also a big reason to derail the organizations.

The training of young scientist started with collecting quotations, making specifications, filing indents of not required instruments & items on direction of their bosses to get good APAR and promotions. If the scientist not compromise with his integrity for helping out the corruption of his bosses and Director, then immediately his harassment started by all means including transfers.

One scientist from GTRE, Bangalore genuinely approached the Director for his transfer but the egoist Director after receiving transfer order from DRDO Hqrs told him “ I will see who is going to relieve you if you pressurized me. Your dead body only can only be relieved” It is not a joke and this is the real scenario of DRDO.

The individual  ask transfer without having GOD father in DRDO always get same treatment, his carrier start spoiling by Lab Directors, if Lab Directors is annoyed with any individual of lab means he will going to face social boycott by  whole lab because one try to help him means he will also come under threat zone. Targeted individual start facing each and every step of his day to day work like NO TD, No support for project work, no recommendation for good work, APAR/ACR dropped to average and many more obstacles are common.

If Lab Director sniff that the individual is watching corruption or raising voice for that, it means that that individual is now going to get a kick without following the rules to remotest area with instruction that make sure that this man does not get peace at all.

DRDO has an unwritten thumb rule that when any Lab Director is not happy with any individual it means that he must be transferred to other destination without justifying the reason and the best part of this is that entire DRDO HQRS backsthat egoist corrupt director. This has resulted in the DRDO we know today.

All 25 questions raised by the Cabinet/PMO / Parliament Committee are really the honest approach to make DRDO a productive organization. DRDO is wasting more than two lakh crores worth of infrastructure without any mentionable output. DRDO should accept Genral Mallik’s comment after KARGIL WAR “casualties in the conflict could have been reduced had the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) not come in the way.”

Unfortunately, DRDO still does not understand the importance of the country’s needs. It still wastes money on SDR type of technologies, which already exist, and DRDO is ready to give second extension for PDC, like Sh R C Agarwal, who got a second extension without output.

It is requested DRDO Hqrs now Modi Ji giving full opportunity to save and grow DRDO in real means, अब तो जागो औरभ्रष्टाचार, भाई भतीजावाद, अयोग्य लोगो को आगे बढ़ाने का कार्य बंद करो।  देश के विकास की और देखो।  जय हिन्द 

DR Gausal Khan’s, DIPAS representation also throws light of DRDO culture please go through the following pages.

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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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13 years on, jail term to 4 for corruption

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Smriti Singh,TNN | Apr 28, 2014, 05.04 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Four people, including an 82-year-old, have been sentenced to four years in jail by a special CBI court in connection with a 2001 corruption case.

Observing that “corruption hinders the economic growth of the nation”, special CBI judge Kanwaljeet Arora also imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 crore on the convicts. The court convicted the then officials of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant —Bhima Razu Prasad and Ashwani Kumar Gupta— and officials of a private company —Anil Verma and A C Chanana— under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act. In 2001, CBI had registered a case against them for entering into a criminal conspiracy to cheat Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. The prosecution stated that Prasad and Gupta obtained pecuniary advantage for Verma and Chanana by increasing the contractual rates of handling and transportation from Rs 36 per metric tonne to Rs 140 per metric tonne. Their act caused a wrongful loss of Rs 2.01 crore to the plant.

Even as 82-year-old Chanana pleaded leniency on the quantum of sentence citing his old age and a protracted trial, the court rejected his plea saying, “it has to be borne in mind that punishment prescribed by law is to protect society by deterring the potential offenders on one hand and by preventing the offender from repeating the offence on the other hand”.

While the court imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh each on Prasad and Gupta and Rs 10 lakh on Chanana, it imposed a fine of Rs 1.05 crore on Verma saying he was the principal beneficiary and gained more than Rs1 crore at the expense of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. “The conduct of the convicts not only led to pecuniary loss to public exchequer but raised the basic cost of the product manufactured by their organization, which is being used in manufacturing automobile, general engineering and fabrication sectors. The increase in this cost ultimately affected the consumers who were required to shell out more,” it said.