The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Attrition helps infuse new talent’

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Friday, Mar 14, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Attrition helps infuse new talent’

Special Correspondent

Attrition rate in DRDO put at 15 p.c.
Over 3,500 engineers and scientists recruited

BANGALORE: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is facing a 15 per cent attrition rate among its technical and scientific personnel, but efforts are being made to fill vacancies as fast as possible, according to M. Natarajan, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister.

Speaking to the presspersons on Wednesday on the sidelines of the International Women’s Day celebrations at the DRDO complex here on the theme “50 years of DRDO — Women in Science, Engineering and Technology”, Mr. Natarajan said that attrition in human resources was common in the present industrial situation and the DRDO was no exception to it. The lateral movement in the Defence sector was a good trend as it helped broad-base scientific and technical know-how. He said the attrition rate among women scientists and technocrats was only eight per cent.

Attrition did not mean that the organisation had become weak. On the other hand, it was getting stronger with the infusion of new talent into the organisation. He said the DRDO had recruited over 3,500 young engineers and scientists. “DRDO still needs a wide diversity of scientific and technical persons to sustain the workforce.” The DRDO was a conglomerate of 53 defence-related laboratories, he said.

AWACS research

When asked about the integration of new-generation scientific and technical know-how in Defence research, Mr. Natarajan said research on the Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) was being conducted in a Bangalore-based defence laboratory. Research on its avionics had been intensified.

Earlier, speaking after inaugurating the International Women’s Day celebrations, Mr. Natarajan said women should play a greater role in the science and technology wing of the DRDO so that they could give a new direction to projects. He said the DRDO had approximately 950 women scientists and 1,050 women staff as part of the technical workforce.

Director-General of Police (Fire and Emergency Services) Jija Hari Singh, who gave the inaugural address, said that women police personnel in Karnataka accounted for only 15 per cent of the force, while States such as Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh had women police battalions accounting for 30 per cent of the force.

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