The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh gave away DRDO Awards in
New Delhi today. Following is the text of the Prime Minister’s address
on the occasion:
“It gives me immense pleasure to be amidst the scientific fraternity of
the Defence Research and Development Organization once again to honour
distinguished scientists and technologists who have made outstanding
contributions to defence research and development. I extend to the
awardees my heartiest congratulations. The nation is grateful to you
for your dedication and committed service to our national causes.
Ever since its establishment in 1958, DRDO has made significant
contributions in putting India on the path of achieving self-reliance in
critical defence technologies. DRDO scientists have worked tirelessly
in developing military technologies and infrastructure in a wide range
of areas and activities.
The recent successful test firing of the Agni-5 missile is a
particularly significant milestone. It shows the depth of our technical
talent and our capacity to manage large and complex projects when we put
our heart and mind to them. I congratulate Dr Saraswat and his
dedicated team for this spectacular achievement.
The initial operational clearance of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas and
the first flight of a fully modified Aircraft for the Indian Airborne
Early Warning and Control System are also noteworthy and praiseworthy
achievements.
Nevertheless, I am sure you would all agree that we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.
As we look around us, a net deterioration in the international strategic
and security environment becomes so obvious. Political uncertainties in
our immediate and extended neighbourhood, civil strife and turmoil in
the Middle East, terrorism and threats to cyber security present complex
challenges that require both conventional as well as technological
responses.
The Government is fully committed to modernizing India’s Armed Forces
and providing them with the wherewithal they need to secure our
frontiers. The question is how we can procure the requisite cutting edge
technologies and platforms, even while promoting indigenously developed
technologies that meet the required time and quality assurances
standards.
The reality is that the share of indigenous content in defence
procurement continues to be low. We need to take a hard look at the
pipeline of our projects and focus our time and material resources on
selected areas where we have demonstrated capacity to deliver projects
within reasonable time and cost.
In the longer term, we have to build our domestic defence industry, in
the public as well as in the private sectors, to a level where it can
compete with global players not only in terms of developing state of the
art technologies but also on commercial parameters and customer
satisfaction.
Some of our companies already have the capacity to develop large sub
systems. The challenge now is to create greater incentives for domestic
industry to develop capabilities for system integration, which at
present only a few companies have. We need to give the industry a boost
and quicken the pace of development. The role of DRDO in this regard is
truly critical, given that there are 800 enterprises supporting its
projects and programmes.
The Government is currently examining the Naresh Chandra Committee
Report, which has also made a number of important recommendations with
regard to defence procurement. It calls for a long term policy for
increasing indigenization of defence production and high tech industries
in consultation and collaboration with the private sector. A committee
led by Shri Ravindra Gupta is looking into this specific aspect and I
look forward to receiving its findings soon.
I was very happy to learn that DRDO in collaboration with FICCI has
developed a bio-toilet that promises to solve the problem of open
defecation in rural India. If this green, cost effective “flush and
forget” technology is successfully implanted, it will give a big boost
to our Total Sanitation Campaign. Application of technology to social
benefit programmes should be expanded further.
I would like to see a flagship national project on a major system in
which DRDO can use its R&D expertise and synergize it with the
production and project management skills available in our private
industry. Such collaboration will bring greater efficiency to the work
of DRDO and also allow it to focus on its core mandate of research &
development.
The Rama Rao Review Committee Report on Redefining DRDO has made a
number of useful recommendations. One of the recommendations was to
rejuvenate the culture of research in the organization and set apart a
certain percentage of the budget for R&D activities.
The Report also highlighted another issue that could slow down our
ambitious plans for development of our high technology sector, namely,
the growing difficulty in attracting and retaining high quality
scientific manpower. There are no easy solutions to this problem. What
is clear is that we have to change our current bureaucratic system of
administering scientific and technical departments, particularly if we
have to inspire young scientists to participate enthusiastically in the
task of building India into a scientific and technological powerhouse.
Organizationally too, DRDO should aim at becoming leaner and making the
best use of its human, financial and technological resources.
Let me end by saying that I am very confident DRDO will continue to
serve the nation with excellence in year that lies ahead. The presence
of so many distinguished scientists here today is proof of that
assertion. All of you have my best wishes and those of the nation for
your future endeavours.
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