BY : Ravi Sharma FOR THE HINDU

Even as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) celebrates its Golden Jubilee Year, the Rama Rao Committee that has been tasked by the Government to audit and recommend changes for the improvement of the organisation has begun its final deliberations. The independent and external eight-man Committee headed by P. Rama Rao, a former Secretary at the Science and Technology Department was reconvened in New Delhi for its final confabulations.

The committee will submit its findings and recommendations in February.

This is the first external review of the 50-year- old organisation.

The Committee which was set up last January almost two years after the recommendations of the April 2005 ‘Report of the Committee on Review of Defence Procurement Procedure to integrate Users, Ministry of Defence and the Industry’ (the Kelkar Committee Report), has over the past 11 months conducted a comprehensive review of the 52 DRDO laboratories, visiting some and viewing presentations on the others. In all, the committee held over 20 meetings either in Delhi or Hyderabad.

Official sources told The Hindu that Prof. Rao and each of the Committee’s members – the former director general Artillery Lt. Gen C.S. Cheema, former Air Force vice-chief Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani, the Navy’s former chief of materials Vice-Admiral Parvesh Jaitly, financial advisor at the Defence Ministry A.K. Ghosh, the former Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s chairman Krishnadas Nair, Samtel Group chairman Satish Kaura and T.P. Ghoshal of Jadavpur University – were putting forward in writing their understanding of the situation in the DRDO set up, the Organisation’s failings and difficulties, and the possibilities for upping its efficiency and professionalism.

The members are also penning their thoughts on key areas such as the restructuring of laboratories, human resource development policies, delegation of powers and duties, project participation, private industry partnerships, improving accountability, better co-ordination with the defence forces, possibility of the customer paying for the development of a product or system and steps to keep delays and cost over-runs of weapons programmes in check.

The sources said that after each of the members puts forward his views, a collective view point would be assimilated.

Speaking to The Hindu a member of the Committee said that they would come up with strong recommendations that would provide the DRDO “an opportunity to make an even more meaningful contribution” to the nationQuestions are also bound to be raised on whether the country’s premier defence establishment should be involved in the development of products which can be bought cheaper off the shelf, and also conducting research in areas like food products, textiles and the like.