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Explosive Purported Conversation Between MM Joshi Ex-GM,NCS,SBU and MM Pandey, GM,Vigilance

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An explosive purported conversation between former in-charge of Air Force’s Rs. 7,900 Crore project, MM Joshi and another BEL senior officer MM Pandey recently surfaced and received by the corruptionindrdo.com through anonymous sources. MM Joshi was the officer who signed the IACCS contract on behalf of Bharat Electronics Limited in October 2015 and served as driving force till April 2016 when he was unceremoniously transferred from BEL.

According to sources, Joshi was removed from the position after he refused to endorse large-scale corruption in the project that was being orchestrated through senior officers of defence public sector undertaking.

Another person in purported conversation, MM Pandey (GM), who conducted inquiry in alleged irregularities in IACCS project and exposed the deep-rooted corruption in the project. Pandey has now been suspended by BEL for exposing corruption. The government, which vows to fight corruption has been a mute spectator all along while Pandey is being harassed for doing honest job. MM Joshi who handled the sensitive IACCS project in purported conversation with Pandey has made startling revelation suggesting that alleged loot in contract began immediately after BEL signed the agreement with Indian Air Force and at least two senior officers were instrumental in perpetrating the irregularities. Joshi is also heard in the conversation admitting that it is fit case to be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

This shocking revelation fly in the face of BEL, which has been trying to cover-up the massive scam and punishing honest officers, who expose the rot. It has been learnt from the reliable sources that Department of Defence Production, has recommended a CBI probe but the file for the last one month is still awaiting recommendation of defence minister.

While this case has been caught in bureaucratic quagmire due to influence exercised by the Babus, BEL officers, the inquiry team which exposed corruption has been suspended. This is a sad reality of a vibrant democracy where corrupts are honored and honest officers are hanged.

This whistleblower website which has been on the forefront of anti-corruption movement for more than a decade has decided to publish excerpts of the purported conversation which makes it amply clear on loot right under the nose of government and investigating agencies.

www.corruptionindrdo.com,  however, cannot independently verify the authenticity of audio. Received from anonymous source. www.corruptionindrdo.com has forwarded government agencies for further investigation.

Here are the excerpts of conversation between MM Joshi (NCS SBU head in BEL when the IACCS project was finalized between BEL and Air Force, Retired in March 2019) and MM Pandey (GM-PS/Delhi who was the Vigilance Inquiry Officer who brought out the corruption in IACCS project) on 9th April 2019  or 10th April 2019 after main stream media reports publish on 9th April 2019 “BEL allegedly violated string of norms to award contracts to German, Finnish firms; ex-CMD, two retired defence officials under scanner”

Mr. M.M. Joshi can be heard saying:

_ I was very careful in signing any document order/contract of IACCS without seeing that everyone has signed since I knew that all of these cases would be opened by Vigilance one day  

_This report is beyond the report which was made by M.M. Pandey and contains details of procurement of “A” class items. Mr. Nataraj Krishnappa (who is Director-Oother Units) and Mr. Joydeep Majumdar (who is the present GM-NCS) will finally be caught for what they have being doing (which brings out that he had knowledge of the wrong which was to happen in the project from the time the project was taken up).

_ One of the Directors of BEL is saying that there is some person in DRDO who has leaked the report to press  

_ What has been brought out in the second news article is point to point and ever thing which has been written is the truth and today’s report is very explosive and related to Material Procurement  

– This report will directly indict Mr. Nataraj and Mr. Majumdar. They should get a lesson and they should get the return for whatever wrong they have done. They were the people behind my transfer out of NCS in fact Mr. Majumdar had started manipulations even before he took over as SBU head. Also Mr. Nataraj is the person who manipulated the selection of D (OU) and saw that my application for that post gets rejected so that he could be selected. He was also responsible for my transfer out of NCS SBU and bringing in Mr. Joydeep Majumdar in my place

_ All these should be handed over to CBI/CAG or they should take suo moto cognizance of the corruption done by these people.

_ All the companies to which order has been given are shell companies  

_ I will wait for that day when these two are punished for what they have been doing.  

………………………………………………………………………………

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INS Sagardhwani embarks on mission Sagar Maitri

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DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy flagged off the ship in the presence of Vice Admiral Anil K Chawla, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command.

INS Sagardhwani embarks on mission Sagar Maitri
INS Sagardhwani, an oceanographic research vessel of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, embarked on a two-month-long Sagar Maitri Mission-2 from Southern Naval Command in Kochi on Thursday, officials said.
PTI New Delhi July 19, 2019
INS Sagardhwani, an oceanographic research vessel of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, embarked on a two-month-long Sagar Maitri Mission-2 from Southern Naval Command in Kochi on Thursday, officials said.
Sagar Maitri is a unique initiative of the DRDO which aligns with the broad objective of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy declaration ‘Safety And Growth for All in the Region’ (SAGAR) to promote closer cooperation in socio-economic aspects as well as greater scientific interaction, especially in ocean research among Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) countries, the Navy said in a statement.

“Oceanographic research vessel of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), INS Sagardhwani, embarked on a two-month-long SAGAR MAITRI (SM) Mission-2 from South Jetty, Southern Naval Command (SNC) in Kochi today,” it said.

DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy flagged off the ship in the presence of Vice Admiral Anil K Chawla, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has extended his warm wishes for the success of the mission.

“Under the aegis of the PM’s policy, specific scientific component of the DRDO is ‘MAITRI (Marine & Allied Interdisciplinary Training and Research Initiative)’,” the Navy statement said.

INS Sagardhwani has been designed and developed by the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi, a premier systems laboratory of the DRDO.

It conducts ocean research experiments in the Indian waters and spearheads NPOL’s at-sea data collection activities, the officials said.

Sagar Maitri Mission-2 commemorates the golden jubilee of India’s lone research ship INS Kistna’s missions as part of the historic International Indian Ocean Expeditions (IIOE), which took place during 1962-65.

“As part of the mission, INS Sagardhwani will revisit the selected tracks of INS Kistna and provide NPOL scientists ample opportunities to collaborate and garner a close working relationship with the oceanographic counterparts of the IOR countries,” the statement said.

The prime objectives of the Sagar Maitri Mission are data collection from the entire North Indian Ocean, focussing on the Andaman Sea and adjoining seas and establishing long-term collaboration with eight IOR countries in the field of ocean research and development, it said.

The other IOR countries include Oman, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Myanmar.

“The programme also aims at establishing long-term scientific collaboration with these countries in the field of ‘Ocean Research & Development’ and data collection with a focus in the Andaman Sea,” the statement said.

Director General (Naval Systems and Materials) Samir V Kamath, Director NPOL, S Vijayan Pillai and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.

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Many BrahMos staffers have official data on personal devices:ATS FIR

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Shisher Arya, TNN: October 12, 2108

Nagpur: Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) investigators grilling Nishant Aggarwal have reported that the BrahMos Aerospace systems engineer confessed to having copied data related to the missiles from his senior colleague Alan Abraham’s computer, when he was still undergoing training in the organization.
The First Information Report (FIR) registered by Uttar Pradesh ATS was accessed by TOI. It says Aggarwal told investigators that he had copied the data from the official computer of his colleague around four years ago, without his permission. The person from whose computer the data was downloaded was posted at the Hyderabad facility of BrahMos Aerospace, where Aggarwal was undergoing training. The person has now quit the job and is pursuing a research project in Canada.
Aggarwal had just joined the organization four years ago, and was posted at the facility in Nagpur before arrested three days ago.
The FIR says Aggarwal confessed that he had copied the data without his colleague’s permission. However, he has also named close to a dozen other colleagues, who, he claims, have even more sensitive data stored on their private computers as wel. the designations of these colleagues include his peers andeven seniors.
However, Agagarwal had no answer to how official data, which was supposed to remain a secret, reached his personal devices pertained to mution of war, supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles.
The FIR further says that apart from storing the details in in personal devices, Aggarwal also had links with two Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIOs).They were in contact with him through fake Facebook (FB).accounts in the name of Neha Sharma and Pooja Ranjan.Aggarwal did not reveal anything on how did he got in touch with the two persons on Facebook.Their e-mail IDs have been traced to Pakistan, said the ATS.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that among the papers seized by ATS from Nishant’s computers is a user manual of the missiles supplied to the Indian Navy. The manual is, however, supposed to be 10 years old,and a routine document each engineer has for his reference.Much changes have been made to the system since then, said sources.
Sources said it was sometime during 2011 that such information was provided in soft copy to a number of BrahMos Aerospace employees for reference.Even this was supposed to remain in official computers only.After that, software that does not allow data to be copied or altered has been put in place.
Sources say the investigations began after an IAF officer was held on similar charges early this year. It was found that Neha Sharma was a Facebook friend of this officer too. An army officer at Jabalpur too was under scanner.
The FIR mentions that the PIO agents using fake names had been extracting information from top officials of important defence establishments of the country. Their tactics included honey trapping and even blackmailing and bribaery.
IN A NUTSHELL
Colleague from whose computer Aggarwal copied data was posted at Hyderabad, Aggarwal was trainee at that time.Colleague has quit job and is now pursuing research at Canada.
Aggarwal named a dozen other colleagues who have official data on their computers.
ATS FIR says two Pak operatives — Neha Sharma and Pooja Ranjan – had befriended many defence officials.
Honey-trapping, bribery and blackmail were tactics to glean information.

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DRDO chief not appointed even after three months

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Abhinandan Mishra,  Sunday Guardian: August 18, 2018

 

‘Selecting a new DRDO chief has become like walking on a landmine’.

The post of the chief of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has been vacant for nearly three months now, courtesy the apparent pressure tactics being employed by various quarters—both from inside the government and outside it. A few posts had fallen vacant in the last week of May after the incumbent DRDO chief Selvin Christopher retired following a three-year long tenure which included a year long extension. The post of SA to RM (Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri), which was held by G. Satheesh Reddy for three years, including a year-long extension till 4 June 2018, is vacant too. DRDO chairman is also the Secretary of Defence, Research and Development.

Since the retirement of Christopher, Sanjay Mitra, a 1982 batch IAS of West Bengal cadre, is the Defence Secretary, and he is also holding the additional charge of the post of Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development and Chairman, DRDO for a period of three months, beginning 29 May.

Official sources said that this was for the first time that the DRDO was staying headless for this long. They attributed this situation to various stakeholders who are involved in the functioning of the organisation. The DRDO has an annual budget of Rs 20,000 crore; it spends the same on the upkeep of over 50 laboratories across India.

“The post of the DRDO chief is a very coveted one and apart from merit, other factors like political interference, regional interference, import lobby and foreign vendors play a crucial role in the whole exercise. The government is not giving a very good message by displaying indecisiveness. Ideally, the next chief should have been identified and notified even before the term of the incumbent ended,” a former top official who worked with the organisation for more than three decades, said.

According to officials, selecting a new DRDO chief had become like walking on a landmine in recent times. “So many names are floating in the media; many of them are being planted by their adversaries, many by the claimants themselves. There is not a single name whose candidature will not generate controversy unlike at the time of appointment of Abdul Kalam or V.K. Aatre or V.S. Arunachalam, all of whom were well-known scientists. Earlier, the DRDO was headed by scientists who were really reputed, but now the situation has changed,” a scientist, posted with one of the DRDO laboratories, said.

Sources said that the government had come close to appointing a new chief when Selvin Christopher’s term was about to end, but at the very last moment, there was a “negative intelligence report” on the one who had been shortlisted and the whole process was abandoned.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had repeatedly expressed his concerns and apprehensions about the working of the DRDO. However, these concerns cannot be taken care of if the DRDO chief is appointed not because of merit, but due to his proximity to a particular minister or to a region,” the official said. In a not-so-covert hint that the organisation could be externally influenced, V.K. Aatre, who succeeded Kalam as DRDO chief, had once said that there were three non-state actors that influenced the working of DRDO: foreign vendors, mass media and the import lobby.

“If one traces back the history of the DRDO, one would come across names like Dr V.S. Arunachalam who had absolute freedom to walk into the office of successive PMs. He was close to Indira Gandhi and was able to secure a lot of money and autonomy for the organisation. Before him, we had people like Dr Daulat Singh Kothari, Professor S. Bhagavantam, Dr B.D. Nagchaudhuri, Prof M.G.K. Menon and Dr Raja Ramanna, who were scientists of international repute and were known for their work across the globe. Now it is not the same,” a senior official of the organisation said.

According to officials, the 2015 bifurcation of the post of the DRDO Chairman, Secretary of Defence, R&D and the SA to RM, which were earlier headed by the same individual, had led to two competing power centers within the organisation.

“This should not have been done as this has affected the value of the chair of the DRDO chief. Do you expect the SA to RM to give importance to the DRDO chief? Now every proposal that is brought by the DRDO is vetted by the SA to RM. There was a lot of friction between Selvin and Reddy because both of them thought they were more senior to the other,” an official of the organisation explained.

Former officials recalled how someone like Kalam, decorated with the , led the DRDO in the past. “He was the brain behind Pokhran-II; he was someone who stood shoulder to shoulder with the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a stalwart Prime Minister. We are missing a man like him. He needed no recommendation or political approach to become the chief of DRDO. People like Kalam had assumed a huge stature much before they had joined the DRDO,” an officer recalled.

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DRDO whistle-blowers seek Sitharaman’s intervention

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Abhinandan Mishra
May 26, 2018 – Sunday Guardian Live

Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Arun Jaitley had ordered action against two senior scientists in a case in DRDO.

Whistle-blowers and scientists working with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have written to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, seeking her intervention in an alleged corruption case within the DRDO. Sitharaman’s predecessor Arun Jaitley had ordered disciplinary action against two senior scientists in this case, but no action has been taken yet. This newspaper is in possession of a correspondence that was shared by the whistle-blower with the Defence Minister. As per this correspondence, R.K. Jain (Director, Joint Cipher Bureau of the DRDO) and A.K. Singh (Director, Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences) were allegedly found to have been involved in “wasting” government money by conducting interviews for the promotion of scientists in DRDO, despite statutory rules barring such interviews. The DRDO had later stated that even though Rs 1 crore had been spent on calling 255 scientists for the interview, the results of the interview were not used to decide the promotions.

At the time of the interviews in 2011, R.K. Jain was the director of DRDO’s Recruitment and Assessment Centre (which takes care of recruitment and promotions), while A.K. Singh was the director of Directorate of Human Resource Development.

As per DRDO’s own admission, the amount spent on conducting similar interviews in subsequent years (2012 and 2013) was far less than what had been spent in 2011, though a greater number of scientists were interviewed—333 in 2012 and 376 in 2013. When contacted, Manish Bhardwaj, the spokesperson of DRDO, sought some time to respond and told this newspaper on 17 May: “The matter is being examined by a committee on the direction of Hon’ble Raksha Mantri. The committee shall submit the report in 3-4 days. After submission, DRDO would be in a position to provide the information sought by you.” However, no further information regarding the submission of the said report was shared by the spokesperson with this newspaper.

Official sources within the DRDO stated that no such committee was ever constituted in the matter.

The entire incident had come to light when a whistle-blower from DRDO first wrote to the Defence Minister and the Chief Vigilance Officer in July 2014, detailing how public money was wasted and that the whole process was used by the individuals concerned to indulge in alleged corruption.

“Instead of taking action against the two officials for their deliberate misconduct, DRDO rewarded them by awarding R.K. Jain with ‘Best techno managerial services/popular science communication award for his performance in 2011. A.K. Singh was promoted from the grade of Scientist F to the grade of Scientist G in 2011,” reads the latest communication to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. In June 2017, the then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had ordered disciplinary action against Jain and Singh for causing a loss of Rs 1 crore to Government of India. “DRDO is known for using delaying tactics to shield officers. It deliberately sits on disciplinary orders of defence ministers to make sure that the officials in question retire without facing any punishment. They did this when Jaitley was the Defence Minister and are doing the same under Nirmala Sitharaman,” one of the whistle-blowers said.

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Christopher lost his grip on DRDO top officials

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To                                                                                              5th March 2018
Hon’ble Smt Nirmala Sitharaman,
Defence Minister,
104- South Block
New Delhi-110011

Subject:   Dr Christopher lost his grip on DRDO top officials who leave no opportunity to show their illegal might even at the cost of the image & reputation of DRDO as an organization of MOD, Govt. of India.

Madam,

DRDO secretary Dr Christopher severely failed to manage DRDO HR problems. Everyday DRDO is witnessing the high level drama of unethical transfers and superseding games on the basis of linguistics or corruption equations. Can you believe that a Director General is fighting for his promotion in CAT, several scientists are victimized in the form of unjustified APAR numbers, DPCs for promotions have not been conducted in last two years on flimsy pretexts, Employees of DRDO are compelled to take the recourse of avoidable litigations on similar law points to unnecessary harass them, officials of DRDO are made scapegoats if they request for  redressal of their genuine service matter grievances . if you ask DRDO scientists to write their grievances without any fear  of any one to you then you will get  flood  of complaints regarding deliberately created  HR problems in entire DRDO, MoD

Please ask Dr Christopher, how many cases are pending of sexual harassment in DRDO and for how long; how many cases are pending of SC/ST/ Minority commission harassment in DRDO and for how long. Interestingly the DG, HR in DRDO is a women but she is responsible for the delay in genuine sexual harassment cases like ITM Mussoorie, IRDE, Dehradun & prompt in pursuing the false sexual harassment cases made under conspiracy like sexual harassment case against Shri PARBIR Verma, Sc, F of DMSRDE, Kanpur, unjustified APAR Marks specially in the APARs of women scientists. Women Scientists are harassed on the basis of gender bias taking one or the other pretext like Scientist C’ of SAG, Delhi Sumitra Singh, ‘has been issued charge sheet for Major penalty in Feb. 2018 on trifling issue of proceeding USA  to look after her ailing 05 years son before receipt of the N-O-C although she applied for N-O-C before her onward journey to USA.

28th Feb at 5:40, a drama was witnessed by a number of employees of Joint Cipher Bureau, Office gate. Near Metcalfe House, Delhi showing entire DRDO in poor light . whistle blower Sh Prakash Singh,  Senior Admin Officer Grade –I  was  illegally not allowed  to enter the JCB, Main office  campus, Delhi & he was  even man handled by JCB security officers  namely  by  Shri Dinesh Kumr & by  Shri A K Mehta  when he wanted to know the ground of banning his entry in the JCB, Main office Campus situated at Metcalfe House, Delhi. Sh Prakash Singh,Senior Admin Officer Grade –I wanted to go to  attend a retirement party of his colleague Sh R K Sharma, Sc, D but Director  Shri R K Jain  gave oral   Illegal instruction to security  officers for restricting the entry of whistle blower  Sh Prakash Singh in  JCB, Main office, Campus , Delhi to humiliate  him. The said Security Officers have become the conduit for all illegal acts & omissions of  Shri R K Jain, present Director of JCB, Delhi  &  as a quid pro quo they do not  need to do their Security duty  at the mandated place which  had already resulted in a stealing & house breaking incident in the office building of  one of the sensitive Wing of JCB, Delhi  situated in Delhi  in the night of 30-03-2017 which further resulted in no work in the said sensitive wing of JCB, Delhi for last at least 10 months & formal F. I. R. has not  been registered by either by Shri R K Jain ,Director, JCB, Delhi or by Shri A K Mehta, Security officer  in this regard. Many complaints of corruptions against Shri R K Jain are pending in DRDO, Delhi without any action & an order passed by Shri Arun Jaitely, the then RM  in June 2017 to initiate a disciplinary proceeding against Shri   R K Jain  in one another matter is kept dormant for last 09 months  due to  the reasons  best known to the present Secretary himself.

Whistle Blower Shri Prakash Singh , Senior Admin Officer Grade –I, posted in Joint Cipher Bureau, DRDO  has been illegally denied the entry in his duty place at JCB, Main Office, Delhi since 11-12-2017 to till to date  to keep secret & concealed the acts & omissions of corruption deliberately committed by Shri R K Jain & by his coterie  as reported by the Whisle blower twice in 2017 to none other than the Hon’ble RM . The whistle Blower Sr. A. O. Grade -1 has been hoping against hope for last more than 03 months to let the good sense prevail in the mind of  Shri R K Jain ,aristocrat director of JCB, Delhi for his entry in his duty place . He has sought time to meet in this regard twice through his representations dated 19-12-2017 & dated 23-01-2018 submitted to the present RM but of no avail. he even submitted his representation dated 22-12-2017 to Shri Zakwan Ahmed, present DG (R&M) , DRDO HQ, N.Delhi but again of no avail. He even met 2-3 times to Shri Gopal Bhusan, present DOP, DRDO HQ & he also met present secretary, DDR&D on 03-01-2018 to redress his genuine service matter long  Grievances & the Secretary even assured him to redress his Grievance mentioned in his representation dated 16-10-2017 with in next 15 days i. e. by 18-01-2018 but he did nothing to redress the service matter Grievances  & to remove  the deliberate illegality continuously committed in last 03 months in the form of illegally banning the entry of the whisle blower in his place of duty.   The CVC advised the CVO of MOD thrice through its 03 O Ms sent in 2016 to  the CVO, MOD to restore posting of the Whistle blower Shri Prakash Singh  in LASTEC, Delhi against his 03 vindictive transfers issued in 2016 but the present Secretary, present & the then  & present DOPs, DRDO HQ & the then & present  DG (HRs) had not taken any action to protect the service interest of the Whistle Blower & to implement the Advice of the CVC. The Whistle Blower  has been continuously harassed in one or the other form either by not assigning him his charter of duties  or by restricting his entry in his duty place .The then RM considered Shri PRAKASH SINGH as Whistle Blower   on the Advice of CVC & quashed the  Major penalty inflicted upon him vide DRDO HQ Order dated 30-12-2012 on false charges . The then RM even ordered  vide MOD ID No. PCto 470/ /DO(Vig)/2012 dated 19-10-2015  that those who trumped up false charges & committed a number of procedural irregularities with a single minded objective of harassing Shri PRAKASH SINGH , the then SAO-II needs to be identified & taken to the task for their mala-fide action.& action int his regard may be taken immediately & D(Vig) also be informed of the action taken in the matter on fortnightly basis.  Stiil no action has been taken against any of the officials of DRDO, MOD as yet although the Whistle Blower submitted the names of 22 officials of DRDO, MOD vide his through proper channel complaint dated 28-12-2015 submitted to the then RM who illegally harassed him & the present Secretary , present DG (ECS),   the then & present Director (Vigilance & Security) , DRDO HQ ,the then & present  DOPs,& the then & present DG(HR) DRDO HQ, New Delhi during October 2015 to till to date  have tried their best  save the Prime Facie guilty officials of DRDO, MOD who illegally harassed the whistle blower.

07 confidential complaints submitted by the Whistle Blower  in November 2017 to the present RM have been kept unactioned in DRDO HQ   for last more than 03 months  to demoralize the Whistle Blower. These facts speak volume about the state of affairs going on in DRDO, MOD particularly with regard to the HR matters.

The poor tax payer’s lakhs & lakhs of money is being wasted by this Director and Dr Christopher has no time to solve the issues.

Madam, as citizen of India it is not understandable why the HR practices of this premier organization are the way they are. Although  our honorable prime minister already sensed in a first look that this organization Motto is “Chalta Hai” and the hundreds of court cases, neck deep corruption(specially please ask construction expenses year wise), highly prevailing nepotism (anyone can see the incompetent frog jumps) itself is self explanatory.

It is therefore requested, to honorable defence minister madam, since you also find some issues on your table,  to kindly  make a serious effort to improve the HR conditions in DRDO lest it goes to complete collapse.

With great hope, Jaihind

Regards

Regards

Prabhu Dandriyal,

21-Sunderwala, Raipur,

Dehradun-248008

Phone – 0135-2787750 | Mobile – 9411114879

Email – prabhudoon@gmail.com | website – www.corruptionindrdo.com

Another officials fight at DMSRDE, Kanpur.

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DRDO successfully carries out test flight of Rustom-2 drone

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PTI | Updated: Feb 25, 2018 , Times of India
                                                                                          HIGHLIGHTS
* Rustom 2 is being developed on the lines of predator drones of the US to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles for the armed forces with an endurance of 24 hours
*Rustom 2 is capable of carrying different combinations of payloads like synthetic aperture radar, electronic intelligence systems and situational awareness payloads

NEW DELHI: India’s premier defence research institute DRDO today carried out “successful” test flight of its Rustom 2 drone, a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), at Chalakere in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district.
Rustom 2 is being developed on the lines of predator drones of the US to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles for the armed forces with an endurance of 24 hours, officials said.
“DRDO successfully flew its Rustom 2 today at its Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) at Chalakere at Chitradurga. This flight assumes significance due to the fact that this is the first flight in user configuration with higher power engine,” a statement read.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said the test flight was “successful” and all its parameters were “normal”.
Rustom 2 is capable of carrying different combinations of payloads like synthetic aperture radar, electronic intelligence systems and situational awareness payloads, officials said.
DRDO chairman S Christopher, its Director General of Aeronautical System CP Ramanarayanan, DG Electronics and Communication Systems J Manjula and other senior scientists witnessed the test flight.
The around Rs 1,500-crore UAV project was initiated considering requirement of the the Army, Navy and Air Force.
The UAV has been designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the DRDO, and aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics Ltd are its production partners.

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

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Srinand Jha, November 23, 2017 IndiaSpend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new kind of toilet using bacteria to break down human excreta has been deployed in Indian trains over four years to 2017, at a cost of Rs 1,305 crore, but this toilet is no better than a septic tank, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, has concluded after a two-year long study.

As many as 93,537 “bio-digesters”–as the toilets are called–have been installed in mainline express and mail trains by the Indian Railways. These are small-scale sewage-treatment systems beneath the toilet seat: Bacteria in a compost chamber digest human excreta, leaving behind water and methane. Only the water, disinfected later, is let out on the tracks.

That is how it is supposed to work.

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

“Our tests have found that the organic matter (human waste) collecting in the bio-digesters do not undergo any kind of treatment,” IIT professor Ligy Philip, who headed the latest study, told IndiaSpend. “Like in the septic tanks, these bio-digesters accumulate slush (human excreta mixed with water).”

The IIT study on bio-toilets, shared exclusively with IndiaSpend, was sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and submitted last week to the union ministry of urban affairs.

Despite the criticism, an additional 120,000 coaches are to be fitted with these bio-toilets, jointly developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Railways, by December 2018. This is likely to cost Rs 1,200 crore, the railways revealed on November 2, 2017, in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request.

The bio-digester project in the Indian Railways began during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. But the project has been speeded up under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign. The idea is to meet this target in time for the celebration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary in 2019, said railway ministry spokesperson Anil Kumar Saxena. The Swachh Bharat campaign has been dedicated by PM Modi to Gandhi.

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

The network has 9,000 passenger trains with 52,000 coaches with toilets that discharge human waste on to rail tracks. Covering 65,500 km across the country, these trains transport 24 million passengers every day, the equivalent of the population of Australia.

Since 1993, the Indian Railways have been experimenting with a host of technologies used worldwide to replace the open discharge system. This included vacuum toilets based on suction, commonly seen in aircraft; “controlled-discharge” toilet systems (CDTS) which allow waste to be dropped only after a train acquires a speed of 30 kmph, thus keeping stations clean; and “zero-discharge” toilets, in which solid waste is stored, evacuated and then dumped in pits for composting and the liquid filtered for recycling.

In 2008, the railways decided to install the bio-digester model developed by the Gwalior-based Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE).

Responding to the criticism of the bio-toilet, government officials said that the flaws are being fixed. “The issues regarding the bio-digesters are of a minor nature and are being effectively addressed. Some changes (in design or execution strategies) are inevitable, as this is a continuous process,” said Saxena, the railway ministry spokesman.

Currently, there are nine units manufacturing these bio-toilets.

Questions raised about bacteria used in green toilets

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

“Because of the presence of a compound of bacteria, the bio-degradation process is set off in the toilet chambers–the bacteria eat up the organic matter (human excreta) and produce methane gas and water as byproducts,” Singh said.

The Indian Railways have also been toying with the idea of setting up two factories to mass produce this bacterium.

But Singh’s claims of a scientific breakthrough using the bacteria from Antarctica have been questioned on the following grounds:

The bacterium, Singh admitted, has not obtained an independent or a third-party certification from an organisation such as the UIC (Federation of European Railways);
The DRDO does not have a patent for the design or manufacture of these bio-toilets. A patent is necessary to market a commercial product. DRDO only has a patent for the design of “railway toilet tank”, as the organisation’s website reveals;
The railways do not maintain centralised data on the functioning of bio-digesters on parameters of effluent analysis, their charging or emptying locations;
These bio-toilets do not eliminate the problem entirely: Once the tank is filled, human excreta is allowed to drop down onto the tracks.
Three experts had flagged problems with bio-toilets

This is not the first time the railways’ bio toilet project has been criticised. A 2009 study jointly conducted by the Lucknow-based Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and IIT Kanpur concluded that no treatment of human excreta was happening in the bio-digesters installed in railway toilets.

“We had found the discharge from these toilets as being no different from raw sewage,” said IIT professor Vinod Tare, who had headed the study, which the railway ministry has not made public.

On September 14, 2004, DRDO scientist Y Ashok Babu sent a letter to the then chief vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar, terming the bio toilets “farce (sic) technology”.

Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak–who had earlier been named the brand ambassador of the railways’ cleanliness mission–has also expressed serious reservations about the effectiveness of the “Antarctica bacteria” at a meeting with railway board officials in January 2016.

“I had recommended the use of removable steel tanks in train toilets and the installation of biogas digesters at the junctions,” Pathak said.

The bio-toilets had “more than 100% chance of getting choked”, said M Raghaviah, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Railways, in an August 2015 letter sent to the Railway Board. “The carriage and wagons staff is routinely facing the inconvenience of cleaning up the choked tanks,” he said.

The DRDO bio-digesters were first installed at Siachen glacier in 2000 and subsequently at the 2013 Kumbh Mela, the massive Hindu festival that marks a solar eclipse, in Allahabad. Recent news reports (such as this report in the New Indian Express) have pointed out that bio-toilets are malfunctioning in trains.

Singh rejected these allegations. “Frustrated scientists who have never worked on the project are raising such issues,” he said. “Of course, there are some problems but these are being addressed by the railways. Bio-digester manufacturers do not have previous experience. So, some problems are emerging but issues will shortly get sorted out.”

Singh, who has assumed charge as the chairman of the Digesters and Bio-Toilet Manufacturers Association (DBMA) after his retirement from DRDE this year, said questions of “conflict of interest” did not apply in his case, as he held only an “honorary position with the DBMA”.

Incumbent DRDE director DK Dubey refused to comment in the matter and a questionnaire emailed to him remained unanswered until the time of writing. DV Kamboj, project in-charge at DRDE, said he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Bio-toilets are often choked, broken or malfunctioning

Documents available with IndiaSpend suggest that there are serious issues with the bio-toilet venture. At a high-level meeting convened by the railway board on October 26, 2017, with functionaries from 17 zones, the following concerns were emphasised:

Bio-digester toilets were giving off an overpowering stench on account of the improper functioning of mechanical peripherals fitted in them;
Toilets were getting jammed often, not only because passengers were tossing bottles, cigarette butts, gutka (chewable tobacco mix) packets and soiled sanitary napkins into them but also because mechanical fixtures such as valves were non-functional;
Water pressure available for flushing in these toilets was inadequate (bio-digesters need 5 litres of water per flush);
Mounting and securing apparatus of the toilet tanks were faulty, leading to regular breakage of rubber connector and safety wires.
An internal review of bio digesters conducted for September 2017 on five divisions of the Northern Railway Zone indicated 10% failures on account of internal choking in the Delhi division of Northern Railways; 15.7% cases of clutch wire failures and 19.4% failures of lab samples testing.

Cost of manufacture, fitment has climbed from Rs 52,000 to over Rs 75,000

During the last three years of the second UPA government (2011-14), 9,350 bio-toilets were fitted in trains but the figure rose by 539%, to 59,735, in the first three years of the NDA government (2014-17).

In the current financial year (2017-18), 24,215 bio-toilets had been fitted until August 30, bringing the cumulative figure to 93,537, the railways said in the RTI reply of November 2, 2017.

In this period, the cost of manufacture and fitment of bio-toilets climbed from an average of Rs 52,000 per unit to over Rs 75,000 per unit. After the imposition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), this cost burden has spiked further, with the railways having to absorb the 18% levy.

“Cost escalation is inevitable, as manufacturing costs have been rising,” said Manoj Jha of Faridabad-based Arkin Technologies that manufactures and supplies bio-digesters to the railways.

In response to an RTI appeal from Dehradun-based activist Prabhu Dandriyal, the railways stated that the Hubli workshop of South Western Railways had been supplied 2,152 toilets at a cost of over Rs 22 crore during the financial year 2016-17. Based on this calculation, the current cost being borne by the railways works out to more than Rs 100,000 per unit.

By the time the task is completed, the railways are likely to exceed their budget of Rs 1,200 crore for additional bio-toilets. Arvind Dethe, a bio-toilet manufacturer based in Akola in Maharashtra, has been selling a similar toilet at Rs 6,000.

“Everybody engaged with the plan is aware that the current bio-digester plan is unlikely to achieve the goal of providing an environment-friendly and sustainable solution,” a railway official said, requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. “But officials are keeping quiet on account of pressure from the political leadership to fulfill the targets.”

As many as 95% of the bio-toilets fitted so far were faulty, claimed another official posted in the carriage and wagon department who did not wish to be named. His department is responsible for the maintenance of toilets.

DRDO scientist Ashok Babu, in his email of May 21, 2016, to then defence minister Manohar Parrikar, rubbished official claims about the bio-toilets, alleging that these were nothing but “gobar gas plants”.

“With basic training, a village mason can build such toilets,” he alleged. “The plan is being pushed by a nexus of officials and vendors.”

The railways have spent Rs 22 lakh on the repair of “faulty” bio-toilets in the Southern Railway zone alone, according to an October 10, 2017, RTI reply to Dandriyal, the Dehradun-based activist.

“Funds are not so much a constraint; but a bigger problem is that–on account of the business interests of the railways to run more and more trains–it becomes difficult to spare coaches for repair work,” said a railway ministry official who did not wish to be named. “Coaches with faulty toilets need to be marked ‘sick’ and moved to the nearest of the 29 workshops of the Indian Railways for repair. But the time and luxury for such things is not easily available with the Indian Railways.”

Railways now looking at vacuum toilets

Confronting “irresolvable issues” on the non-functioning of the DRDO toilets, the Indian Railways have begun exploring other options including the procurement of the vacuum toilets commonly used in aircraft or trains in western countries.

The Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has already floated a global tender to acquire vacuum toilets. “To begin with, these will be fitted in premier trains including the Rajdhani, Shatabdi and the Durontos,” a ministry official said.

Singh said that the idea was to develop “hybrid toilets” by fitting vacuum toilets atop the bio-digesters already installed. “Subsequently, lavatories will mainly have vacuum toilets, with just one big bio-digester installed in half portion of the guard’s cabin at the end of the train,” the official said.

This policy U-turn means not only that has time and money invested in the bio-digesters has been wasted but also that the railways will now need to pump in more funds to execute its green toilets plan

 

Drdo

ToT holders of controversial DRDO bio toilet forms nexus in the name of Association

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ToT holders of controversial DRDO bio toilet forms nexus in the name of Association. Till date these toilets are purchased by either central government or state governments at a huge cost. Dr Lokendra Singh who was once director of DRDE and so called inventor of bio digester technology after shifted alliance to  Bio Toilets ToT holders association as its chairman. Interesting point to be noted here is these toilets being installed by these ToT holders needs inspection and certification by DRDE Gwalior of which Dr Loknedra Singh was director and his earlier team members currently working at senior levels in DRDE are the certifying officials. As chairman of such association whose sole buyer is Govt. and  his earlier team members worked under him at DRDE  as certifying officials even layman can understand who are the people being benefited from such criminal nexus at the expense of tax payer money.

Drdo

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.