India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

[venkat_r]

Aaah! Thank you to whoever located this thread. I was looking for it yesterday to put down some thoughts.

For my father's generation - (pre-independnce education) the most likely place to find an industry job was in one of the few public sector/government institutions like HAL/ITI/BHEL/ or labs like NCL etc.

....
This is not just about salaries. It is about an entire system run by people with tunnel vision or no vision in which students entering college know that hey have to become engineers and the have to go abroad or get a foreign employer. If they don't do that they will be left to scrape the bottom.It was that way 40 years ago and as far as I can tell, nothing has changed. No student who is topper in India has any reason to think "Ah - I will join a DRDO lab!". You even have kids saying "I want to work for Microsoft!" Even if he turns out to be a fool abroad - his pay and circumstances and freedom are better than the stories one heard about careers in government run institutions. Why else do you think Santanam and R.Chidambaram love each other so much? Speaks volumes about the environment in which they have come up.

Shiv, quoting a piece of your post to refer to it. But I believe you have got the issue in your post. I believe there is more to be said regarding this. I had joined one of the labs after college and realised in about 6 months that i do not belong there. It is a typical Loong tea and lunch breaks and people more interested in collecting and packing sundries given to them by the labs. Some of my "partiotic" friends did linger longer, but eventually quit.

Well Salary is the most improtant thing, no denying that and no getting around that either. Public-Private partnerships are one way to go. But for a public R&D that solution does not cut it, and DRDO has to find more ways to attract and retain talent.

There are few other areas I noticed, but could not put in words at that time. The people entering the Labs are similar to the exact "Coolies" entering the Multinational companies or going abroad. The success of the private sector also owes to the training imparted enmass to its new recruits, from software, communications and sometimes right down to "how to hold the fork" and how to chat up clients. Infact most of these companies had to deal with employee attrition and still grow year on year. The days might come back when students might want to get into DRDO because of lack of jobs outside - But hopefuly DRDO learnt some lessons and integrated them.

[somnath]

The DRDO setup just doesnt cut it in various ways. Structurally, they are a monopoly, and these days they even sit on procurement panels (another huge source of heartburn in the services). Second, given that they are a govt "department", and not a university, they lack the imaginativeness that a well funded uni setup fosters. Third, they are hamstrung by the sort of reward and recognition policies they can engender (though the 6th CPC has really given them a long rope, at least compared to other govt units).

A result of all of this is that wold class Indian talent today is joining the pvt sector.

The solution would be to develop a military industrial ecosystem within India that would entice at least some of the talent to join the Indian defence science industry instead of trading options.

My two bits would be:

1. Allow 100% foreign equity participation in the defence sector. This would encourage a lot more of the BAEs. LMs, Beoings to setup facilities and transfer technology. A 26%, or even a 49% stake does not really encourage deep tech transfer (look at the experience of Hero Honda - Honda set up its own sub in India as it was simply not satisified with transferring tech to Hero Honda where they are only a minority stake holder).

2. Put in a level of customs duty on defence imports (which can be only very selectively waived for super critical stuff). This would mean that any vendor bidding for an Indian contract will find that manufacturing the whole thing in India gives him a straight price advantage over manufacturing it abroad. This is especialyl true for all the "vanilla" stuff (like aircraft, munitions, radars, shipbuilding etc), not so much true for the strategic stuff where there might only be one viable vendor. But then vanilla constitutes bulk of defence capex by value. This policy would be a straight lift out of India's auto policy through the 90s and early 2000s, when we had stiff customs duties on assembled cars and components, and much lower excise duties on the same. This meant that all majors wanting a piece of the Indian pie had to per force set up shop in India, and to cope with competition (especially a behemoth in Maruti), innovate big time..the result is today India exports more autos than China! And the big innovations in the global auto space is coming out of India!!

3. Make equity contribution a more valuable "offset" than straight purchase of components from Indian vendors. In terms of pure tech, we gain a lot more out of Boeing investing 100 dollars in a greefield venture (in say, an avionics development centre) than by them spending the same dollars to purchase doors and windows from HAL. If we are spending 1 billion for the P8Is, and 30% is the offset, 300 million is better spent if Boeing sets up its simulator design division (say) than if Boeing simply sources some doors, windows and airframe parts from HAL, or some minor radar components from Astra Microwave.

4. Allow VC funding opportunities to DRDO scientists. So if there is a scientist, or a group of them with a really bright idea, they should be allowed to access VC funding to work on that idea full time as a separate enterprise, while still working with DRDO.

I think at least some of the above is already happening. It will take a long time (it took about 10 years of incubation for Indian software, 10 years for autos as well) - it would probably take another 10-15 years before we see an Indian variant of LM or IAI..

the issue is not with brand India, the issue is with brand "Indian defence science" - thankfully, the latter is a lesser challenge.

[Dmurphy]

Indian Home Secretary urges DRDO to Develop New Technologies for Security Forces

[Jamal K. Malik]

DRDO's foucs:Deep penetration radars

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has directed its focus on developing radars useful for fighting low intensity conflicts (LICs). S Varadarajan, director of Electronic and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) - a DRDO affiliate - said they were working on developing radars that would capture images penetrating obstacles such as foliage and concrete walls. “These radars are urgently required by our security forces,” he said.

[wasu]

M&M acquires majority stake in two Australian aerospace companies

http://www.domain-b.com/aero/aero_mfg/2 ... eView.html

Mumbai: Automotive major Mahindra today signed two aerospace deals with the simultaneous acquisition of majority stakes in two Australian companies - high precision components manufacturer and Aerostaff Australia and aircrsft design firm Gippsland Aeronautics, in each of which Mahindra will take a 75.1 per cent stake.

[Jamal K. Malik]

DRDO not focussed on achieving self-reliance in military hardware

[Dmurphy]

Another article on M&M taking over 2 aussie firms

India's Mahindra Acquires 2 Australian Firms

NEW DELHI - Indian automobile producer Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has acquired two Australian companies to position itself in the $10 billion defense offsets market.

The approximately $38 million purchase of Aerostaff Australia and Gippsland Aeronautics will help M&M in the burgeoning defense offset and commercial aviation market, an M&M executive said. Aerostaff Australia is a component manufacturer of high-precision aircraft components and assemblies for large aerospace original equipment manufacturers. Gippsland Aeronautics builds single-engine utility aircraft.

M&M's own defense arm, Mahindra Defence Systems [MDS], is a leading provider of high mobility and light bulletproof vehicles to the armed forces, paramilitary and police forces.

Early this year, MDS forged a joint venture with BAE Systems for land-based weaponry. The partnership has an equity capital of $20 million, with MDS owning a majority stake of 74 percent and BAE owning 26 percent.

MDS is also setting up a special military vehicles facility in Faridabad near New Delhi. MDS has been granted an industrial license to produce light armored multirole vehicle, simulators for weapons, mobile surveillance platforms, sea mines, small arms, and up-armored vehicles.

[sanjaychoudhry]

Indigenous Development of UAV
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be taking up indigenous development of Medium Altitude Long Endurance, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) against confirmed Qualitative Requirements (QRs) to meet Tri-Services requirements. The UAV has been named RUSTOM-H. Indian Industry would be the development-cum-production partner for this programme. The project is proposed to be completed in 78 months after formal sanction.

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55763

[Jamal K. Malik]

HAL's global projects hit air pockets

[Omar]

Report row ousts top Indian scientist

The first appointment in a scheme to recruit expatriate scientists to senior positions in the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) — India's largest science agency — seems to have misfired badly.

A US scientist of Indian origin has been dismissed just five months after he was offered the position of 'outstanding scientist' and tasked with helping to commercialize technologies developed at CSIR institutes.

Shiva Ayyadurai, an entrepreneur inventor and Fulbright Scholar with four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, was the first scientist to be appointed under the CSIR scheme to recruit about 30 scientists and technologists of Indian origin (STIOs) into researcher leadership roles.

"The offer was withdrawn as he did not accept the terms and conditions and demanded unreasonable compensation," Samir Brahmachari, director general of the CSIR, told Nature.

Ayyadurai denies this. In a 30 October letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also president of the CSIR, he claims that he was sacked for sending senior CSIR scientists a report that was critical of the agency's leadership and organization. The report, published on 19 October, was authored by Ayyadurai and colleague Deepak Sardana, who joined the CSIR as a consultant in January. Ayyadurai says that the report — which was not commissioned by the CSIR — was intended to elicit feedback about the institutional barriers to technology commercialization.

"Our interaction with CSIR scientists revealed that they work in a medieval, feudal environment," says Ayyadurai. "Our report said the system required a major overhaul because innovation cannot take place in this environment."

Ayyadurai says that he came to the CSIR with a "mission" to apply his scientific and entrepreneurial experience to help his homeland, and that Brahmachari had promised him the authority, budget and resources to execute the mission. But Ayyadurai's relationship with Brahmachari soured after the report went public. Ayyadurai claims that on 23 October he was barred by the CSIR from speaking to council scientists or directors, and was denied Internet and e-mail access. His appointment offer was withdrawn on 26 October, and on 7 November he was given three days to vacate his residential accommodation provided by the CSIR. Brahmachari confirms this chain of events.
Sardana shares Ayyadurai's views. Describing their report as an in-depth study of the management of the CSIR, he wrote to science minister Prithviraj Chavan on 19 October saying that "it is not possible for me to continue working without your immediate direct intervention" because of the problems triggered by the report.

Impervious to criticism
"I have seen many cases of vindictiveness in the CSIR, but this is the worst," says Pushpa Bhargava, founder director of the CSIR's Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). Bhargava, who has also written to Singh supporting Ayyadurai, says: "Ayyadurai's report tells the truth about how the CSIR is being run today. The fact that CSIR administration is impervious to healthy and fair criticism is bound to send the wrong message not only to expatriates but also [to scientists] within the country."

"I am more worried that the incident will dampen the enthusiasm of Indian institutions to hire expatriates in the future," says Valangiman Ramamurthy, the former science secretary of the government's Department of Science and Technology, who recommended Ayyadurai's selection.

But others think that Ayyadurai's case will not set a precedent. Gangan Pratap, director of the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, a CSIR institute in New Delhi, says that most returning expatriates will focus on research and teaching, rather than getting involved with policy issues, and are unlikely to face similar conflicts. Rajan Sankaranarayanan, who returned from the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cell Biology in Strasbourg, France, to join the CCMB in 2002, agrees that the episode should not discourage other Indians from returning, as long as they are prepared to work within the existing systems.

Brahmachari is also optimistic. "Serious scientists from top institutions around the world have shown their willingness to join the CSIR's STIO programme, not because of perks or position, but because of the intellectual environment that the CSIR offers," he says. "Right now we have requests from several top people from the United States wanting to work in the CSIR."

[suraj p]

There is already a lot of debate on this in scientific community.

What is so painful for Babus to give money to scientists and give encouragement and nurturing environment?

Damn it, BCCI gives 25lakhs to every player upon getting No1 in test cricket.

Why don't GOI give 25 lakhs take home (no tax bar) for every scientist who gives us best kick-*** RADAR and Jet-engine.


Its the small tokens and feel good factor that scientists want. Best scientists do not want to do politics. They happen to do politics because they are dogged into it.
Separate the performing scientific groups and non-performing 'safe-till-retirement' into two tracks. Give salaries and perks based on performance AND PLEASE provide resources. by doing this you are forcing non-performing scientists to perform good or retire early.

Imagine if Govt. India does this - it is NOT at ALL a difficult tasks for Indian scientists to do miracles. Everyone else other than Indian believes that Indian brains are as good as Jews. I dont want to believe that we cannot do miracles IF IF IF a nice nurturing environment is given.

I dont know if you read a HT editor a month earlier about this news (HT is the one that broke this news BTW).
In that edition Ayyadurai claims that some of the technologies that can be patented if ported to technology India will beat Germany. Indian science and technology has lot to offer to world in terms of technologies. What is said is true and an Indian-American who grew up in US stressed this. not a self-drum-beating Indian.

Imagine if you give a pat-on a shoulder, Indian scientists and engineers can really shake the spine of neighboring adversaries.

The more acclaimed International respect and seat in UNC does not come by polishing shoes of Westerns countries or by spending billions in MRCA deal or Gorshkovs. It comes by having kick-a** science and technology framework. Economy is dependent on this. Rest all ...I leave to others mind to chew on...


I request you to read this piece of news from New York Times:
http://www.vashiva.com/shiva-ayyadurai-nytarticle.html

Now pay attentions to this:
Samir K Brahmachari who is DG of CSIR :


"""""""""""""

To prove his point, Mr. Brahmachari, who was two hours late for an interview scheduled by his office, read from a government guide about decision-making in the organization. Mr. Ayyadurai didn’t follow protocol, he said. “As long as your language is positive for the organization I have no problem,” he added.
As the interview was closing, Mr. Brahmachari questioned why anyone would be interested in the situation, and then said he would complain to a reporter’s bosses in New York if she continued to pursue the story. What other evidence you need to prove that INTIMIDATION is part of work culture in India...

##########################

[somnath]

^^^CSIR is a soviet style anachronism that was programmed for mediocrity from its design stage. Its not a university with its academic vibrancy, its not a lab attached to a commercial enterprise that fosters rewards-linked innovativeness. It has, not surprisingly become a science bureaucracy that is beyond redemption. The returning crowd of NRI academics and professionals would largely come back either to the elite univs of India or its booming private economy..

In a different vein, another monstrous hilarity of policy - we will pay top dollar to elta and thales to import their radars and seekers, but not allow them to set up shop in India with 100% equity!

http://www.ptinews.com/news/429547_BEL- ... air-pocket

[Sanjay M]

India Companies Rush to Cash in on Defense Sector Boom Thru 'Offset' Clause

[Rishirishi]

^^^ Good examples all around Abhishek, especially the one on Teva..

What is inexplicable in DPP 2006 is the cap on foreign equity at 26% for a pvt sector company in the military space..The reason, ostensible at least, why the L&T-BAE JV has been rejected..So we are ok to buy arty guns from BAE in Sweden, but not from a subsidiary in India where they have (say) 49 or 51% stake? Quite daft, doesnt even have the theoretical objections that can be made for caps in the Insurance sector for example..We should in fact be allowing 100% equity stakes - it is much better if the F16 that we buy (??!) rolls out of a Lockmart plant in Bangalore or Nashik than from Texas..

I would go as far as to even suggest that equity stakes in 100% subs be made part of the offset rules..Once India gets inegrated in the global supply chain for a Boeing and Lockmart, it gets mightily tougher for the US to summarily impose sanctions..It also means that lots of Indians are exposed to these tech, and some of them can be poached by other, Indian pvt sector players for complimentary or even competing technologies...BAsically it builds up the ecosystem quickly..

They usually demand that part of any contract lead to some local production. Hence it is fully possible for BAE to set up shop in Bangalore. However any such delivery will be counted as a foregin purchase.
Local vendors are given preferance. That is why the GOI does not want over 26% foregin ownership for those establishments.

[somnath]

^^^Thats precisely the daftness of the policy..There is no incentive for BAE to shift the "real stuff" to India..It can continue using its European facilities for the main assembly, while they source doors and windows as part of local offsets..It is much better to have them assemble the entire howitzer here, by demanding a higher offste %, say 70-80%, while allowing 100% FDI..

This is precisely what happend in the auto sector thorugh the '90s..Thanks to the Hyundais, GMs et al, not to forget Suzuki, India is a credible manufacturer of all parts of the auto value chain, and arguably THE leader in small cars and small 2-wheelers.

[animesharma]

Will Antony finally revamp DRDO?
..
Antony will later this month get the final roadmap for DRDO’s restructuring as proposed by the P Rama Rao panel and subsequently vetted by a high-level committee led by defence secretary Pradeep Kumar.

“After several meetings, the defence secretary committee, which also had representation from Army, Navy and IAF as well as other stake-holders, will submit its recommendations to Antony before January-end. The aim is to make DRDO, which has a budget of Rs 8,481 crore this year, more effective,” said a top official.

Experts, however, say ‘mere tinkering’ will simply not do any longer. Instead, DRDO and its 51 labs need a drastic overhaul, along with a strong push for joint ventures and private sector participation to ensure India develops a robust industrial-military infrastructure. “For a country like India which has global aspirations and the third-largest standing armed forces in the world, it’s very embarrassing that over 70% of its military requirements have to be imported,” said a senior officer.

The Rama Rao report, on its part, stresses DRDO should concentrate only on 8 to 10 ‘critical technologies’ of ‘strategic importance’ instead of also venturing into making juices, mosquito repellents, titanium dental implants and the like. For this, a dozen or so of DRDO’s 51 labs should be hived off to other ministries and the rest reorganized into five basic clusters — naval systems, aero-systems, combat systems, weapon systems and electronic warfare systems.

Interestingly, another key recommendation is to create a Defence Technology Commission to allow DRDO to have a greater say.

[sanjaychoudhry]

DRDO develops 'wearable computers' for soldiers
http://www.ptinews.com/news/453965_DRDO ... r-soldiers

[chetak]

http://www.dailypioneer.com/227670/DRDO ... vests.html

NATION | Thursday, January 7, 2010 | Email | Print |


DRDO under scanner for supply of faulty bullet-proof vests

PNS | New Delhi

The Centre and its agencies seems not to have learnt any lesson from the death of Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare in the 26/11 attack. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has come under the scanner for the supply of substandard bulletproof vests to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

According to a CNN-IBN report, CRPF Director General AS Gill said he was aware of the allegations that substandard bulletproof jackets had been cleared to be used by his force. He said, “The entire matter is under investigation,” when asked whether rules were bent by DRDO while testing bulletproof jackets for use by CRPF personnel.

Gill said CRPF’s Technical Evaluation Committee had been asked to look into the allegations. Action would be taken against the guilty people after the report is out, he added. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has also ordered an investigation into the alleged clearance of faulty bulletproof jackets.

However, Bureau of Police Research and Development Director General Prasoon Mukharjee, who heads the Technical Evaluation Committee, ducked questions.

“The CRPF jackets matter is under investigation. I am not the competent authority to comment,” he said.

The faulty and substandard bulletproof jackets would have reportedly put thousands of CRPF personnel in danger. The substandard jackets were cleared to be used by the force involved in counter-insurgency and anti-Naxal operations in many parts of the country.

The violations are highlighted from the fact that two different samples of jackets were tested for live firing at the same time — 1305 hrs IST to 1320 hrs IST and 1312 hrs IST to 1318 hrs IST — but the DRDO lab is a single bench test firing range, two samples just cannot be tested at the same time. Therefore, a question arises as to how the second test started before the first one finished.

[chetak]

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/drdo-impact- ... 383-3.html

Parul Malhotra / CNN-IBN


Published on Fri, Jan 08, 2010 at 02:11, Updated on Fri, Jan 08, 2010 at 02:29 in India section



New Delhi: Two days after CNN-IBN exposed faulty trials of bulletproof jackets at a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lab, Joint Director in charge of the trials RK Verma was called from Chandigarh to Delhi and questioned.


The team included officials of the Intelligence Bureau and the CRPF, which was to have used 20,000 of the bulletproof jackets.


According to sources associated with the probe, the DRDO officer is being asked to explain the discrepancies CNN-IBN highlighted in its report.


Verma is also being grilled about an audio CD in which he allegedly accepted that he fudged the trials and attempted to compromise the second and final stage of the Rs 120-crore tender. In the CD, the DRDO official also allegedly claimed to enjoy political patronage.


The tender is currently on hold. A final decision on this matter will be taken by the Home Minister once the technical evaluation committee submits its report to the tender appraisal committee, which is headed by the CRPF's top boss.


Sources say the episode is being seen at the highest level as it has implications for India's national security. Verma is likely to undergo detailed and prolonged questioning and face disciplinary action.


Meanwhile, DRDO has been asked to clean up its act and the tainted ballistic trials could be held again.

[MN Kumar]

So are we going to black list DRDO? My humble question onlee....

[Philip]

Let's see what's on offer/new developments from the DRDO at the Land-Sea Def-Ex in Feb at Delhi.

[Nihat]

So are we going to black list DRDO? My humble question onlee....

had this been a foreign military hardware supplier , it would have been blacklisted eaons ago.

[Avinash R]

^The question of blacklisting doesnt arise since there was no DRDO product that was being tested, only lab facilities of DRDO were being used to test different BPJ's and one official is alleged to have tried to rig the tests, he was also alleged to be under survillance of the vigilance dept for corruption. all this is from only one news channel which is broadcasting this as an exclusive.

[putnanja]

Aren't the trials supposed to be monitored/observed by the paramilitary forces? As far as I know, for the army, till it tests the items itself under expected conditions, it won't approve a purchase. Are the norms different for the paramilitary forces under Home ministry?

[Rahul M]

So are we going to black list DRDO? My humble question onlee....

why onlee ? it was not even a DRDO product ? one official twisted results of tests conducted in a DRDO run facility and that's enough ground to 'ban DRDO' ? what does that even mean ?
what next ? ban the GOI because a minister was corrupt ? oh wait, have we banned the navy yet for the war room leak case ? the army has been banned ? no ??!!
seems the sensationalism of India's media is affecting BR. I've never seen such poorly argued absolutely bereft of logic statements here. even deff and dumb fora will ashamed to make such statements.

[sum]

seems the sensationalism of India's media is affecting BR. I've never seen such poorly argued absolutely bereft of logic statements here. even deff and dumb fora will ashamed to make such statements.

Rahul-ji, IIRC Kumar was being sarcastic onlee...

[A Sharma]

DRDO Newsletter JAN 2010

Some of the Goals for 2010

Flight test with active seeker for Astra in Ground-to-Air mode
Control and navigation flight test of LRSAM
Flight test of PDV Interceptor
Flight tests of A2, A3 and A5 and Shourya Missiles
Induction of modern sub machine carbine

[nrshah]

If they can actually translate this into reality, it will be great achievement.

Besides, MCA/NGFA has been renamed as Advanced Medium Combat aircraft (AMCA) and will be launched this year. Thus we are involved in two 5th gen program simultaneously.

[Jamal K. Malik]

Rechargeable cell useful in defence sector developed

[Jamal K. Malik]

Antony conveys India''s concern over listing of defence firms by US

[Kakarat]

Successful flight trials of laser-guided bombs
Two flight trials were conducted today at Integrated Test Range, Chandipur to test the effectiveness of the guidance and control systems of laser-guided bombs. On-board systems in both the trials worked satisfactorily and the mission objectives have been met. Aeronautics Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore has developed the guidance kit for 1000 lb, laser guided bombs. These are designed to improve accuracy of air-to-ground bombing by Indian Air Force. A number of tests have been performed both through simulation and flight tests over the last few years to reach the required performance levels. The bomb, once released, by the mother aircraft at appropriate range, will seek the target and home on to it very accurately and with high reliability. All the necessary on-board components are sourced from Indian industry. Another DRDO Lab, Instruments Research and Development Establishment, Dehradun has partnered ADE in this project.

Indian Air Force officers flew the aircraft and released the bombs as per prescribed standard operating procedures.

[Aditya G]

This is good news. Now we must produce these LGBs en masse!

[suraj p]

I heard that during Kargil, Israel helped us in providing laser pods for LGBs. With this new test and exercise, does that mean every component of the LGB system is Indian version.
Also we dont have to pay to Israel for LBG use in future?
How will this affect/impact IAF or IArmy?
Is that technology very critical that very few countries have it. I am confused.


Does this piece of technology in any way related for LCA induction?????????????

[SaiK]

I read it as only guidance kit developed by ADE that was highlighted in the reports being indigenous.

[Kakarat]

I think this was the one which was tested

[Rahul M]

I read it as only guidance kit developed by ADE that was highlighted in the reports being indigenous.

so what is left to indigenise in the LGB ?

[SaiK]

Battery cell

The centre had already come out with an energy-efficient battery cell that could be used by military personnel on duty in high altitudes or in remote places for communication purposes.

The technology for the cell would be transferred to the DRDO which would put it to use accordingly.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/22/stories ... 190200.htm

[suraj p]

Bio-nano-technology.

our scientists (biology scientists) cannot control to urge to absorb fancy terminology. They read Scientific American, Nature Biotech or Science issue and many other journals and stick to terminologies.
Bharatiar university - folks there are obsessed with Plants, evolution and ecology, microoranisms and structural biology.
These folks cannot resist to do Systems Biology too. Now bio-nano-technology.

Bio-nano-technology - we hardly have biotech and nanotechnology presence and we are merging both....

DRDO must focus its energy and money to develop cutting edge electronic warfare and arms, then come to saving lives

Leave biotechnology and nanotechnology to IISc and IITs for the moment.

[VinodTK]

India targets China's satellites

[Virupaksha]

DRDO must focus its energy and money to develop cutting edge electronic warfare and arms, then come to saving lives

Leave biotechnology and nanotechnology to IISc and IITs for the moment.

War has always been at the cutting edge of medicine. One would be foolish to deny it.

Food processing: the non-freezed indian curries available in supermarkets was developed so that soldiers could eat them in Siachen.
The concept of nurses and first aid was developed during war.

Electronic warfare is not the be all of warfare. Many of the biotechnology and nano techs being developed in US/India were funded at their crucial non-remunarative stage by DARPA/defence forces.