DRDO wants to give 7,000 defence projects to universities

Visakhapatnam, Jan 4 (UNI) The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) says it wants to give 7,000 projects to talented scientists in universities, but only on the condition that the researchers work at least three years on them.

''We have about 7,000 scientists working for us, which is very less.... We are ready to give projects to similar number of researchers working in universities,'' DRDO Director Genneral M Natarajan told reporters after delivering a lecture on 'Emerging Trends in Defence Technology' at the 95th Indian Science Congress here last evening.

''But there should be a three-year lock-in period,'' he added.

Emphasising that 60 per cent of the DRDO projects were outsourced, he said funds would not be a constraint for the organisation.

''Funding will not be a problem,'' he added.

He rued that despite the DRDO research boards marking out projects, students were not coming forward to take them.

Comparing India and China, Dr Natarajan said China spent 20 per cent of its total defence budget on research and development, whereas India spent only on 6.1 per of the defence budget on R and D.

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