The Modi government has included a revamp of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in its first 100-day agenda after the Lok Sabha elections. The aim of the reforms is to make the DRDO a more efficient organization. The reforms tie in with Prime Minister Modi’s vision of a more self-reliant nation. The reforms are said to be implemented by the 31st of August and will bring major changes to the functioning of the premier agency.
The recommendations for the change were made by a nine-member panel headed by Dr. Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, an esteemed scientist who was a former Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. The reforms are intended to make the DRDO a more output and result-oriented body and also to promote a defence industrial base in the country. The panel submitted its report to the government in January this year.
The panel was tasked to come up with solutions after a report from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence expressed concerns as 23 of 55 mission mode projects faced significant delays. A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report from 2022 also underscored the point by highlighting that over two-thirds of the projects taken over by the DRDO failed to meet prescribed deadlines.
The panel has recommended that a Defence Technology Council (DTC) chaired by the Prime Minister should draw a defence technology roadmap. The report also emphasised that the DRDO should focus on Research and Development (R&D) and not on product management, suggesting that this aspect should be left to the private industry. The VijayRaghavan panel also suggested that a Department of Defence Science, Technology and Innovation should also be created under the ambit of the Defence Ministry.
The report calls for the incorporation of better project management practices from DRDO, better coordination with the armed forces and reorganisation of laboratories to make the DRDO a leaner and more effective organisation. The DRDO has set up panels to implement the recomendations of the VijayRaghavan Committee.
Dhruv Yadav
