Ensure full use of funds: Parl panel to Defence Ministry

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has taken a positive view of the deep-technology research being carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and asked the Ministry of Defence to ensure full utilisation of budgetary allocations.

The committee, chaired by BJP MP Radha Mohan Singh, noted DRDO’s work in advanced materials, hypersonic technologies, UAVs, drones, directed energy weapons, lasers and artificial intelligence.

The DRDO has identified several deep-technology focus areas, including artificial intelligence, cognitive technologies, quantum technologies, neuromorphic computing, military cyber technologies and compound semiconductors.

The ministry has assured the committee that adequate budgetary support will be provided to the armed forces and the DRDO. In an earlier report, the committee had recommended that requisite funds be provided to the DRDO at all stages of the budgetary process and allocation. The committee last week submitted an ‘action taken report’ in Parliament.

The DRDO has been allocated Rs 26,816 crore in the current financial year’s budget. An additional grant of Rs 500 crore has been approved by the Defence Minister to support deep-tech and cutting-edge projects as separate verticals under the Technology Development Fund (TDF). The funding cap under the TDF scheme has been raised from Rs 10 crore to Rs 50 crore per project.

Over the past three years, 12 projects worth Rs 23.61 crore have been sanctioned under the TDF scheme in emerging technology areas such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence and robotics.

The DRDO has also established 15 DRDO Industry Academia Centres of Excellence (DIA-CoEs) at IITs, IISc and Central and state universities to promote directed research across 82 identified research verticals aligned with future requirements.

While these academia-driven projects may not immediately feed into current warfare technologies, their outcomes are expected to be utilised in future DRDO research programmes. So far, 285 projects worth Rs 1,037.48 crore have been sanctioned as grants-in-aid to institutions across the country through the DIA-CoEs.

During the current financial year, the TDF Directorate plans to spend around Rs 60 crore on deep-technology and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance projects awarded to Indian industries.