Terror strikes: DRDO offers to help NSG

Attrition rate among scientists drops to almost zero

Briefing mediapersons here, Chief Controller R & D (Services Interaction), DRDO, Dr Prahlada said, in the last six months, the Government’s emphasis was on effectively using technology to tackle terror. The need was for deployment of low-cost, readily portable and fast manufacturing solutions across the Country. This was to effectively combat low-intensity conflicts and terror attacks, he explained.
The official said NSG had visited the DRDO labs, and there had been a lot of interaction between paramilitary forces and defence research labs on technologies aiding anti-terror operations.
The NSG officials, he said, were impressed by the DRDO expertise in areas such as lasers, small arms, Improvised Explosive Devices and detection of explosives.
The possibility of working together was being explored, he said.
DRDO jobs attractive
Many B Tech graduates from the elite Indian Institutes of Technologys (IIT) are now opting for jobs in DRDO, an establishment they had shunned earlier.
    This is good news for DRDO, already enthused by the drop in attrition rate among scientists to almost zero, said Dr Prahlada.
He said until last year, DRDO used to attract hardly about two to five IIT graduates. But that is not the case anymore. This year, about 20 B Tech graduates from IITs joined DRDO, he said. The defence organisation takes in about 600 scientists every year.
Elaborating on the reasons for this upsurge, he cited the slowdown in some sectors, good compensation and promotional avenues for young scientists due to implementation of the pay commission report and challenging work opportunities offered by DRDO.
This, he said, was a far cry from the high attrition rate among DRDO scientists in the past.
The rate was as high as 17 per cent even three years ago. Improvement was seen last year, when the rate dropped to 10 per cent before touching virtually zero per cent now.
The official said about 50 middle-level scientists who had quit earlier were expected to come back to the organisation in the current financial year. Besides, many Indians who did MS abroad had shown interest to return to the country and join DRDO, he added.