M A I N   N E W S

DRDO loses 210 scientists in three yrs, govt says it’s normal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 18
The government today made light of 210 scientists resigning from the country’s premier military research body DRDO in the past three years, saying it was normal for any organisation to lose 1 per cent of its total strength in a given year.

“The data on the resignation of scientists from the DRDO is normal. It is not alarming at all,” Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said answering questions related to the DRDO.

The government admitted that 210 scientists resigned from the Defence Research Development Organisation in the past three years but said these resignations, as in any institution, related to movement of professionals for better job prospects.

“The data is not alarming at all. For instance, in any organisation where senior scientists are working, people may go out for better job prospects. Some people may also go out because of personal reasons. But it is only when the number becomes extremely alarming and the functioning of the organisation suffers that it calls for a stronger reaction,” Jaitley told the House. Resignations have been gradually going down, he added.

Of the total staff strength of 7,702 scientists in the DRDO, 86 resigned in 2011. The next year, 67 out of 7,606 resigned and in 2013, 57 out of 7,574 scientists quit the organisation.

On delay in DRDO projects, Jaitley said most of the projects were underway and were termed delayed because the last consignment had not been delivered.

On questions related to cuts in the DRDO budget over the years (in 2005-06, there was 33.8 per cent increment in the defence budget as compared to the previous year; in 2009-10, it was 30.7 per cent but in 2012-13, it was only 3.7 per cent), Jaitley said: “It will not be fair to say that the functioning of the DRDO has been in any way curtailed on account of paucity of funds.”

The government defended funding for the DRDO saying that last year it got Rs 11,500 crore and this year the government has increased it by Rs 3,000 crore.