The
Defence Minister Shri George Fernandes has called for more thrust
on Defence Exports. Delivering his Presidential address at the
SODET Techno-Vision 2003 seminar here today, the Minister said
that the level of Defence Exports which is presently in the range
of one to two hundred crore rupees should be increased to at least
a thousand crore. Shri Fernandes said that the market for armaments
and defence related equipment is vast. But we do not have even
a small portion of it now. Referring to dependence on defence
imports, the Defence Minister suggested that it should surely
be possible to reduce the dependence with each passing year more
so in the field of critical technology. Shri Fernandes said that
self-sufficiency in defence production should be the goal of scientists,
the public sector and the private sector. Let self-reliance be
not merely a cliché and even if it is so, it is worth repeating,
he added. The Defence Minister said that country’s achievement
in developing the Light Combat Aircraft and Advanced Light Helicopter
has been appreciated by several countries. He said some such countries
want to be partners in this enterprise. Stressing on exchange
of information and pooling of technological resources between
various Defence Public Sector Units and Ordnance Factories, the
Minister said it would ensure better utilization of assets, product
improvement and development of new products.
Earlier inaugurating
the seminar the Minister of State for Defence Production and Supplies
Shri Harin Pathak called for Joint R & D projects and sharing
of expertise, technology and facilities to ensure that the time
required for product development is reduced. He said that our
objective should be to ensure the supply of equipment of high
quality and reliability at lower costs and shorter lead times
to the Armed Forces. Shri Pathak said that there has been a complete
paradigm shift in the role of private sector in the field of indigenisation
i.e. from the role of a supplier of raw materials, components,
sub-systems, to become partners in the manufacture of complete
defence equipment/system.
The Defence Minister
Shri George Fernandes also presented "R&D Innovation
Awards" on this occasion to Shri A Mohan, Shri NC Agarwal,
Shri CV Venugopalan, Shri KS Narayana Rao and Shri PV Mustafa
from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Col HS Shankar, Shri A Mohana
Rao, Shri SL Prasad, Shri R Jagannathan and Shri NK Khurana from
Bharat Electronics Limited, Shri V Palaniswamy, Shri VS Bharadwaj,
Shri D Balakrishna, Shri G Ramaswamy and Shri S Guruprakash from
Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Shri S Siva Shankar, Shri M Vinod
Kumar, Shri SSR Sastry, Shri T Srinvias and Smt V Sridevi from
Bharat Dynamics Limited, Shri AJ Das from Mazagon Dock Limited,
Smt Shibi K Varghese from Goa Shipyard Limited, Shri CR Jain,
Shri P Sahoo, Shri PC Arora, Shri BB Pharas and Shri VK Singh
from Ordnance Factory Board, Shri RC Wahi and Shri C Jayavel from
DGAQA, Shri P Amma Rao, Shri VS Srinivasan and Dr. TVL Narasimha
Rao from Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited. The award carries a citation
and a cash amount of Rs. 20,000/-.
SODET Technovision
2003, Seminar on in-house R&D was jointly organized by SODET
and United Service Institution of India to present the past R&D
achievements & future plans, core competence and vision of
Member Organisations of SODET.
The emerging demand
of new and high technology products and services call for continuous
update of technologies through in-house development and other
methods of acquisition. Each of the defence public sector organisation
and Ordnance Factories are in possession of several technologies.
Exchange of information and pooling of these technological resources
will ensure better utilization of assets, product improvements
and development of new products. It will also avoid duplication
of efforts and generally achieve better value for money. In order
to institutionalize these arrangements, Society of Defence Technologists
(SIDED) was promoted under the aegis of Ministry of Defence, Department
of Defence Production with the Heads of DPSU’s, Ordnance Factory
Board, DGQA, DGAQA, Directorate of Standardization as Members
of SODET’s Governing Council.
The main aims
and objectives of the Society are to tap and share amongst the
Defence Organisations, the unique manufacturing facilities and
process related core competencies in order to have an effective
utilization of technological strengths in each member organisation
and to facilitate improvement in the overall utilization/exploitation
of core competencies and facilities available in member-organisation.
