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‘Army Takes a Day to Reach where PLA Can Rush In’

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By Express News Service Published: 28th April 2015 06:00 AM
NEW DELHI: Commenting on poor border roads connectivity, a Parliamentary panel has said that in the event of a war, the Army will take more than 24 hours to reach a border area where the Chinese PLA can arrive at in two or three hours. The Standing Committee on Defence, expressing serious concerns over connectivity to Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang area, hit out at the Border Roads Organisation and asked it to construct good roads, especially on the eastern front facing China, on a priority basis.

The report said the delay in the procurement process had affected the armed forces’ operational preparedness.

The Committee observed that the naval budget had declined from 18.14 percent in 2006-07 to 16.51 percent in 2015-16.

Raising the issue of repeated naval accidents, the panel said the promulgation of the standard operating procedure to check the spurt in accidents was “ineffective”. The panel observed that allocation for the IAF is approximately 70 percent of the projection.

The report also slammed the ministry over the gap between the sanctioned strength of active fighter aircraft squadrons and their actual number.

The report said that the position of expenditure up to the end of February 2015 for the Army, Navy and the IAF is Rs 14,843,37 crore, Rs 18,438.02 crore and Rs 29,682 crore against their revised estimates of Rs 21,933.54 crore, 18,507.07 core and Rs 33,710.68 crore respectively.

Revamp DRDO

The Parliament Panel on Defence has called for a “complete revamp” and reorientation of the Defence Research Development Organistaion DRDO) to allow active participation of the private sector. It stressed on the need for a “complete revamp and reorientation of how the DRDO functions” with a major suggestion being to encourage the active involvement of the private sector, universities, the IITs and IIS. They could play a major role in the resurgence of the DRDO, it added.

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DRDO revamp still in doldrums

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Rajat Pandit, TNN | Aug 13, 2012, 01.45AM IST

NEW DELHI: Like the unending developmental saga of Tejas light combat aircraft, now 30 years in the making, the much-touted revamp of the Defence Research and Development Organisation also seems to be progressing at a glacial pace.

Over four years after the Rama Rao Committee (RRC) submitted its report in February 2008, none of the major recommendations to make DRDO a better R&D organization capable of developing state-of-the-art weapon systems without time and cost overruns has been implemented.

Another committee led by the defence secretary subsequently watered down several steps suggested by the RRC to arrive at “a set of acceptable recommendations”. But even this “major DRDO restructuring plan”, grandiosely announced by the defence ministry in May 2010, is yet to see the light of day.

PM Manmohan Singh, last month, warned there was an urgent need to “change our current bureaucratic system” of administering scientific and technical departments.

“Organizationally too, DRDO should aim at becoming leaner and making the best use of its human, financial and technological resources,” he said.

With India still importing well over 60% of its military needs, experts feel it’s imperative to drastically overhaul the DRDO-defence PSU set-up as well as strongly push for private sector participation to build a strong domestic defence-industrial base.

But that seems a pipe dream. As part of the revamp of DRDO, which has an over Rs 10,500 crore annual budget, a new Defence Technology Commission (DTC) was to be established with defence minister A K Antony as its chairman. Quizzed about the delay, officials said “a note for the DTC has been initiated for the Union Cabinet’s approval”. DRDO, in turn, is pushing for an “empowered” DTC on the lines of the space and atomic energy commissions.

Writers’ Comments (1)

Rajat Pandit (New Delhi)

13 hrs ago

The recommendation for the creation of seven technology clusters (missile systems, aeronautics, armament & combat engineering, electronics & communication, material sciences, naval systems and life sciences), each headed by a director-general to ensure timely execution of major programmes, is also yet to take shape. Similarly, “notes for approval of the Cabinet” have so far only been “initiated” for the creation of a commercial arm of DRDO, which was to be created as a private limited company with Rs 2 crore as seed capital, and re-designation of the DRDO director-general as chairman

s_swamy (hyd) replies to rajatpandit

12 hrs ago

The IGMP of DRDO is one of the lone (partial)success story. Credit goes to Dr Kalam (for scientific & managerial inputs) and his successor Dr Saraswat et al for shear sweat. Elsewhere nothing much to brag about. LCA, Battle tank, artillery, torpedos… all are high priority where advanced countries may sell a few dozen, but India will end up a buyer for ever and cannot even find spares later. A very familiar story. DRDO’s effort? After 30 years of tardy development and a few thousand crores down the rat hole, wants to “tie-up” with a foreign know-how source. (Eg:GE for aeroengines, NPOE for Brahmos etc.).What next? No one appears to have any vision. Private companies are a huge let down. Some biggies have invested but Defence orders are far and few; they have shut shop or hiked the margins to keep alive. They have mostly tied-up with foreign suppliers and these items will be obsolete by the time they get first set of orders! They have no homegrown R&D back up, because they cannot find local talent or they don’t trust this. The picture is pathetic.

Raghubir Singh (pune) replies to rajatpandit

12 hrs ago

It is only good luck that RRC has been as slow as Tejas otherwise it would have created much chaos. All the successes we have been privy to in recent times from Agni to BMD’s- would perhaps have eluded us otherwise? Restructuring should be suggested by those who understand the basics of defence research & at least know how a gun fires and and what is the battle field environment. Best would be to have an internal review of the DRDO org structure by its senior CCR&D’s with some retired Directors and serving general rank officers & defence technologists and put up for review to the MoD.

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Govt orders review, revamp of DRDO, forms expert panel

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Govt orders review, revamp of DRDO, forms expert panel

Shiv Aroor

Posted: Fri Jan 19 2007, 00:00 hrs

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 18:

Rejecting the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO)’s assertion that its internal workings are adequately monitored, the Government has set up an independent and external committee of experts to conduct a comprehensive review of the DRDO and produce a report by the end of this year to suggest how the organisation be made more efficient and professional.

The dismal track record of the DRDO, highlighted by The Indian Express through a series of investigative reports in November last year, had found an echo in Parliament with Defence Minister A K Antony promising a new system of accountability to keep delays and cost over-runs in check.

The eight-member committee has been asked to conduct a thorough review of DRDO’s administrative, financial and personnel procedures and audits of scientific research work undertaken by the organisation’s laboratories. It will keep tabs on whether the interests of armed forces are being served, monitor time and cost overruns of weapons programmes, draw a roadmap for synergy with private industry and foreign consultants, and recommend strategies on utilising offsets that will now be part of all foreign weapons contracts.

Committee chairperson, Professor P Rama Rao, a former Secretary at the Department of Science & Technology and currently Dr Brahm Prakash distinguished professor at the ISRO, told The Indian Express from Hyderabad: “I will begin applying my mind on the task as soon as the government letter reaches me.”

 

The other committee members are former financial advisor at the Defence Ministry A K Ghosh, former HAL chairman Dr Krishnadas Nair, Samtel Group chairman Satish Kaura and Professor T P Ghoshal from Jadavpur University. The three representatives from the armed forces, all retired, are former DG Artillery Lt Gen C S Cheema, former IAF vice-chief Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani and Vice-Admiral Pravesh Jaitly, formerly the Navy’s chief of materials.

With the creation of this committee, the Defence Ministry has finally acted upon a crucial recommendation made by the Vijay Kelkar committee almost two years ago, that DRDO’s functioning as a research body needed to be under the purview of a panel of independent experts.

The committee’s mandate is significant considering that the DRDO, last year told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on

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Need to revamp, give us roadmap in a fortnight: Govt tells DRDO —-Manu Pubby Posted: Sun Apr 27 2008, 00:36 hrs New Delhi, April 26:

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Need to revamp, give us roadmap in a fortnight: Govt tells DRDO

Manu Pubby  Posted: Sun Apr 27 2008, 00:36 hrs New Delhi, April 26:

Barely a month after receiving the first ever external review report on the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the government has decided to revamp the research body to fix accountability and clear the way for more private sector participation and foreign collaborations.

In fact, the Defence Ministry has decided to move a Cabinet note for the overall restructuring of DRDO as early as next month to ensure that the reorganization starts off by the end of this year. To facilitate this, DRDO has been asked to submit a detailed revamp roadmap to South Block within a fortnight.

The roadmap, which will be examined by the Defence Ministry to make sure that it “reflects the spirit” of the P Rama Rao Committee report, would lay emphasis on the need for using all means possible to incorporate globally available technologies for indigenous development projects.

As first reported in a series in The Indian Express, the 50-year-old organization came under flak for repeated delays and failures by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence in 2006. The government decided to set up a high-powered committee led by P Rama Rao, former secretary, Department of Science & Technology to “examine the effectiveness of R&D support provided vis-à-vis in-house research facilities with DRDO and to ensure effective participation of the private sector in Defence Research”. The committee submitted its report on March 5, exactly one year after it had been commissioned.

The major points recommended by the Rama Rao Committee that are to be incorporated into the road map:

• The 52 DRDO laboratories are to be realigned into five “lab clusters,” each will be headed by a Director General and have its own specialization. The broad clusters: Electronics, Armaments, Avionics, Missile Systems and a dedicated research cluster. Each cluster will have a certain degree of autonomy and will be accountable for failures and delays. The Chief Controllers, who will be re-designated as Director Generals, will move out of New Delhi to take charge of these clusters

• Setting up a tri-services cell within the framework of the organization to overlook all development projects from the conception stage itself. The cell will be headed by a three-star officer — this position will be held by all three forces on a rotational basis. The cell will have three Major General-rank officers who will oversee development projects of their respective services.

To speed up development and meet deadlines, promote joint ventures with global players, involve private sector and foreign collaborations to inculcate globally available technologies into the organization.

• Entire restructuring to be monitored by a special implementation cell that will be headed by a DRDO Chief Controller. The cell will also have a representative from the Rama Rao Committee and will report directly to the Defence Ministry.

DRDO, which has come under increasing flak for repeated delays and failures, will be made more accountable and has been told to put emphasis on private sector partnerships and foreign joint collaborations to ensure time-bound projects. The revamp will also address the long-standing demand of the armed forces for deeper involvement in defence-development projects and will push for a younger age profile of scientists.

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‘DRDO must avoid delays in defence projects’

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TNN Apr 12, 2008, 03.09am IST

NEW DELHI: Indicating that the Defence Research and Development Organization was in for a major revamp, defence minister A K Antony on Friday said cost and time overruns would no longer do in crucial defence projects.

“We are in the process of introducing several innovations to streamline and make more effective the entire defence product development and procurement process,” said Antony, while addressing the 32nd DRDO conference here.

“On the anvil are amendments to our procurement procedures, developing a healthy interface with the public and private industry through offsets and bringing about organizational improvements in DRDO,” he added.

This assumes significance in the backdrop of the recent report by the P Rama Rao committee, which has called for a drastic overhaul of DRDO to ensure it can supply cutting-edge weapon systems to armed forces without the prevailing huge time and cost overruns, as reported by TOI earlier.