News Excerpt:

The nine-member Vijay Raghavan panel was set up by the Government last year to review the functioning of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and is learned to have submitted its report this month.

Reasons for constituting the committee: 

• The government’s decision to review the functioning of DRDO comes against the backdrop of several of its projects suffering from huge delays. 
• Last year, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence Report had expressed concerns that 23 of its 55 mission mode projects could not be completed in time.
• A year before, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report tabled in Parliament, had flagged that 119 (or 67%) of the 178 projects scrutinised by it had failed to adhere to their initially proposed timelines. CAG also commented that “The practice of seeking multiple extensions defeats the very purpose of projects taken under Mission Mode category.”                                                                           
  

Major recommendations of the committee:

• A top body chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Defence Minister and the National Security Advisor as its Vice Presidents, should determine the country’s defence technology roadmap and decide on major projects and their execution.
  • This top body, called the Defence Technology Council (DTC), is proposed to have an executive committee chaired by the Chief of Defence Staff. The Principal Scientific Advisor, along with the three service chiefs and their vice chiefs, will also be its members.
  • The DTC headed by the Prime Minister would play a pivotal role in identifying the right players for specific defence technologies.
  • Furthermore, it will include representation from academia and industry, with two members from each sector.
• The panel has also suggested the creation of a separate Department of Defence Science, Technology, and Innovation under the Defence Ministry. 
  • This department, proposed to be headed by a technocrat, will not only promote defence research and development in the academic and start-up ecosystem but also serve as the secretariat for the DTC.
  • As the DTC secretariat, this department will draw scientists from DRDO and academia, building a repository of knowledge on production expertise and conducting background research for the DTC, hence aiding its decisions on technology production. Moreover, the department will operate labs for testing and certification. 

• DRDO should focus on its original goal of research and development for defence and refrain from involving itself in productization, production cycles, and product management, tasks that are more suitable for the private sector. 

• At present, DRDO remains engaged in all aspects, from research to development to production, in its projects.

Way Forward:

The Defence Technology Council and the Department of Defence Science, Technology, and Innovation should be operationalized swiftly to ensure effective collaboration between academia and industry for optimizing defence research and development, addressing project delays, and thus enhancing national security capabilities.