Sir — This refers to the article, “Meaningless posturing must end” (April 30) by Abhijit lyer-Mitra. The author has chosen to call the Defence Research and Development Organisation a “shambolic farce” and has claimed “non-existent indigenisation” in India. Such categorical statements, being far from the truth, have the potential of presenting a demoralising picture about the organisation and the country’s capabilities.
A glance at the data pertaining to defence equipment (capital) approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in recent times, will reveal that the indigenous content has increased from a mere 30 per cent about a decade ago to over 55 per cent. The DRDO has made a major contribution to this achievement. The production value of items based on the DRDO’s technologies, that were approved by the DAC during the last decade alone, is more than `1,55,000 crore.
These examples do not include strategic systems whose indigenous content is more than 80 per cent. Nor do they include revenue items, which are largely indigenous. The DRDO’s pursuit of self-reliance has led to India’s present proud position among the top nations in the world.
Thus, India is today among the four countries in the world to have multi-level strategic deterrence capabilities; among five countries in the world to have its own ballistic missile defence programme; among the six countries in the world to have developed a nuclear-powered submarine; and, among the seven countries in world to have an indigenous fourth generation combat aircraft.