NEW DELHI: A powerful group in the DRDO believes that these changes could weaken their hold over the institution.
Hectic parleys and lobbying have begun for the post of the chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), whose existing chairman, Samir V. Kamat will retire on 31 May, unless he is given an extension.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) decides on the appointment of the chief of the DRDO.
With the country going through Lok Sabha elections, the last phase of which is scheduled for 1 June and the results for 4 June, it is to be seen whether a new appointment is made on or before 31 May or Kamat is asked to continue to lead the organisation temporarily till the ACC decides on a new name or gives him a full extension as has happened earlier in the case of Directorate of Enforcement and Research and Analysis Wing among others.
Those in line to succeed him include his colleagues, B.K. Das who is presently the Director General (Electronics & Communication Systems); Dr Suma Varughese, leading the Micro Electronic Devices, Computational Systems and Cyber Systems division; and Dr Ummalaneni Raja Babu who is the head of the Missiles and Strategic Systems division.
Of the three, Das holds the most senior position. The three are scheduled to retire in August, January and April 2026, respectively. Sources say that the possibility of Kamat getting an extension post 31 May is not ruled out.
Various individuals, including former chiefs of DRDO, retired secretaries, individuals who deal in the sale and purchase of arms and advanced weaponry, who claim to have got the eyes and ears of the offices who will decide on who the new DRDO chief will be post 31 May, are pushing for their respective candidates.
However, what is going to make the job of the incoming new chairman more challenging than his predecessors to an organisation that had a budget of Rs 23,000 crore last year—which will rise to Rs 35,000 crore in the coming few years—is that the new chairman is now likely to work under a new system that will be based on what the K. Vijay Raghavan Committee had suggested in its report. The committee submitted its report in January this year, after it was constituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August last year to suggest a way to reform the organisation and handle the decades-long complaints of DRDO was simply not giving outputs that would justify the massive funding that it was getting each year.
CHANGES NEEDED IN DRDO WORKING STYLE
Among the significant changes this nine-member committee, headed by the former principal scientific advisor, suggested was to bring the working of the organisation under the Prime Minister’s Office to ensure accountability and swift action.
Several such committees in the past—A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Committee (1992), P. Rama Rao Committee (2008) and the V. Ramagopal Rao Committee (2020)—have shared recommendations with the single objective of making DRDO accountable when it comes to cost overruns and meeting the deadline that it promises. But all such previous recommendations have been pushed under the carpet because of a strong pushback from within the DRDO, aided by outside entities who gain due to these project delays and cost overruns.
The nine-member committee, apart from Raghavan, that made the report included former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Subrata Saha (retired); former Vice Chief of Navy Staff, Vice Admiral S.N. Ghormade; former Chief of Integrated Staff, Air Marshal B.R. Krishna; Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, Sujan R. Chinoy; Professor Manindra Agarwal of IIT Kanpur; President, Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers, S.P. Shukla; J.D. Patil of Larsen & Toubro Defence; S. Unnikrishnan Nair, Distinguished Scientist; ISRO and Rasika Chaube, Financial Advisor in the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Sources aware of the matter claimed that the current leadership of DRDO had conveyed its protest against the recommendations, and that in March a delegation had met the concerned offices in Delhi to register their protest.
Among the recommendations that are being resisted is the abolition of the posts of director general and director, in place of which there will be “members” and “lab-in charges”.
A recommendation has been made to establish a specialised department dedicated to overseeing government funds, ensuring that they are appropriately utilised for defence projects. This department would also address cost-related issues faced by the organisation, including but not limited to the prevention of embezzlement.
The creation of a separate body—Defence Technology Council (DTC)—which will be headed by the Prime Minister and will have the Defence Minister and the National Security Advisor as members, apart from two members each from academia and industry to bring diverse perspectives, has also met with stiff resistance from some in the organisation who are unwilling to see changes in the functioning of the DRDO despite the need for them in view of challenging new tasks set by the Prime Minister.
Some of DRDO top offices are also against setting up of a separate department under the MoD—the Department of Defence Science, Technology and Innovation (DDSTI) with the aim to promote R&D in academics and encourage start-ups.
More importantly, the committee has called for the bifurcation of the post of Secretary, R&D, in the MoD, which is presently held by the DRDO chairman.
The proposed changes are viewed by a faction within the DRDO as potentially undermining the longstanding autonomy and operational freedom enjoyed by its senior officials. This powerful group in the DRDO believes that such changes could weaken their hold over the institution.
A December 2023 Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) report titled, “A Review of the Working of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)”, which was chaired by Jual Oram, had expressed concerns about 23 out of DRDO’s 55 mission mode projects facing significant delays. A December 2022 CAG report had stated that 67% (119 out of 178) of the DRDO projects that were examined, failed to adhere to proposed timelines.
The oversight on DRDO’s working by the Prime Minister’s Office is being strongly resisted by a group as the organisation has a massive budget which is going to increase in the coming days.Given its long-standing problems and the fact that they have continued to persist despite regular encouragement, it is expected that the PMO is unlikely to back down in front of these demands from a few groups that want the system to run as it has been running. The proposed new system will also mean that the functioning of DRDO officials, when it comes to taking decisions worth crores of rupees, will now be watched closely.