Though India has been taken off the entity list, it has merely been taken off the denied list and put in the enabled list. “It does not take away from the government rule or government law as far as dual use is concerned,” Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister V K Saraswat had said here.
The US government recently taking Indian space and defence institutions off the entities list was good. But, a lot depends on the licensing policy adopted by them, as many of the items required by the Indian institutions were for dual use.
The impact of the move would be clear when the laws are stipulated, he said, adding, “We cannot say if it will help us or it will be the same situation.”
Some nine Indian space and defence companies including the ISRO and DRDO were taken off its export control ‘Entity List’ in an attempt to expand high technology trade and strategic cooperation with India.
Saraswat said the purpose of the control regime was to deny the technology to the country’s programmes and projects which were on the anvil at that point of time. “But as a country we gained, because we accelerated our programme of developing those items and products that had been denied to us,” he said.
The removal of these organisations from the entity list, he said the entities like ISRO and DRDO required dual use items — from defence to peaceful use to non-conventional use. “So much depends on how the dual use technology licensing will be done by the US for which the US law says that anything of dual use has to get a licence,” he said.
It was the market forces that had driven the US into removing the control regime as otherwise countries not observing these regimes would benefit and the US economy would not, he said. “The removal is driven by economy, by market forces. No ethics is involved,” he said.
Meanwhile, diversification and spin-offs from the technologies developed at the DRDO labs are now being looked at by the Centre as a means to improve the lives of the general population.
Some 20 products developed by the DRDO have been identified for commercialisation. As of now some nine products have been handed over to private companies for commercialisation. The Centre, in association with FICCI, had initiated a ‘Technology Assessment and Commercialisation (ATAC) Programme’ for the assessment of DRDO developed technologies for commercial markets.
By the end of the year, the rest of the products will be given to the private sector for its commercialisation. As part of this spin-off, these products would help interaction with the market, Saraswat added. DRDO, ISRO and the Department of Atomic Energy are are majorly responsible for a steep increase in the capability of the industry.
Over 1,500 industrial units all over the country are participating in the development of technologies for the defence sector.
Many of them had started off as component manufacturers and they went on to become sub-systems manufacturer. They are now able to manufacture computers and have been able to manufacture transmission systems.
“We want to see them graduate to being lead integrators for the large industry available for multiple projects that are on the anvil from the DRDO. In the process they should be able to take a chunk of the burden off the public sector undertakings’ shoulders,” said Saraswat.
