The Defence Research and Development Organisation says it needs Rs 1.75 lakh crore in the 12th Plan period. It wants to diversify projects to increase contribution to the defence research of the country.
For the short term, the premier defence research body has identified five major focus areas – aeronautics, missiles, electronics, computer sciences and naval systems. It has prepared a ‘blueprint’ for its growth plans for 2012-17.
For 2012-13 the organisation, with a string of around 50 national laboratories, received an allocation of Rs 10,600 crore. This amounts to just around 5.5 per cent of the defence budget.
According to officials in the Defence Ministry, the research organisation had sought at least Rs 14,000 crore, which would be around 6-7 per cent of the defence budget. In comparison, Israel and the US spend around 16 per cent of their defence budget on research and development. Though the allocation for the current budget is a slight increase over last year’s allocation, in absolute terms it will be less, because the defence budget was bolstered substantially later in 2011-12. Ideally defence research should be getting 7-8 per cent of the defence budget.
There is need to invest more funds in basic research infrastructure and cutting edge technology development. At present major portions of the apex body’s budget goes towards salaries, strategic projects etc, leaving little for fundamental research and infrastructure.
The ‘blueprint’ has addressed these issues and identified the new areas of focus that will push up the efficiency of national labs. The DRDO says it needs at least 3,000 scientists in the next five years. However, given the economic conditions, the Government has given the go ahead for about 425 vacancies.
With attrition down in the last few years, the attractive pay structure and challenging projects are drawing bright youngsters to the laboratories. The challenge for the organisation would be to retain these qualified scientists in the long term and create the right environment for them to work, the officials said.