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Three years after Modi rattled DRDO, little has changed

In 2014, Modi criticised communication gap between scientists at laboratories & soldiers on borders

arun, jaitley, submarine, USHUS-II, DRDO
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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (right), who also holds the defence portfolio, takes a close look at the USHUS-II submarine sonar during the handing over ceremony of DRDO-developed products to the Indian Navy in New Delhi on Friday

Ajai Shukla
In 2014, when Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi attended the annual awards ceremony of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), he jolted the self-congratulatory annual function by insisting on timely delivery and innovation.

Criticising what he termed the DRDO’s “chalta hai” (lackadaisical) attitude, Modi placed it under a scanner that led, in early 2015, to the exit of Avinash Chander, the then DRDO’s chief. Two and a half years later, that reformist impulse has vanished, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) no longer demanding performance from a DRDO that functions much as it did in 2014. On Friday, Defence Minister