High-powered 9-member committee established by the center to examine DRDO activities; report due in three months

Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh assembled a nine-person group of specialists to restructure the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

Within the next three months, the committee is anticipated to provide a report.

Who exactly is on the committee?
According to media sources, Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, a former chief scientific advisor to the Indian government and a significant figure in the creation of the National Research Foundation (NRF), has been tasked with reviewing and redefining the department’s purpose.

Along with Raghavan, the committee also consists of Lt Gen (Retd) Subrata Saha, a former deputy chief of the army staff, Vice Admiral S N Ghormade, a former vice chief of the navy staff, Air Marshal B R Krishna, a former chief of the integrated staff, Sujan R Chinoy, director general of MP-IDSA, Prof. Manindra Agarwal of IIT Kanpur, S.P. Shukla, president of SIDM,

Committee’s objectives
The key goals of the committee, according to DRDO Chief Samir V Kamat, are reorganizing and redefining the roles of the Department of Defence (R &D) and DRDO, as well as their interactions with academia and industry.

Additionally, the group will focus on the following issues:

maximizing engagement from academics, MSME, and start-ups in the creation of cutting-edge innovations.
Use an appropriate system of incentives and disincentives, together with strong performance accountability, to recruit and retain high-quality personnel, particularly project-based workforce, and to filter out underperformers.
Use NRI/foreign consultant knowledge and international partnerships to build innovative and game-changing defense technology.
Modernize administrative, human resources, and finance processes to hasten project execution.
Rationalization of lab setup and performance assessment procedure.
The decision to oversee DRDO operations was made in an effort to address problems inside the institution, such as a lack of accountability and sluggish research.The DRDO is already known for standing in the way of the Indian Armed Forces’ greatest defense purchases in the guise of building an indigenous defense arsenal.