Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Dec 29, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Dec 29, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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Events `India needs to be self-reliant in technology' Our Bureau
Coimbatore , Dec. 28 A PROPER security document and self-reliant technology is what India needs at present, Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller (R&D), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, has said. Addressing a technical symposium - Infloblaze - for the plus two students, organised by the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetam, Dr Pillai observed the controls and sanctions that exist in India do not allow free access for many countries. There was therefore a need to have a proper security document and self-reliant technology in place, he stressed. The country should have a vision towards becoming self-reliant in defence system, in technology, etc., to safeguard itself from an enemy attack, the defence scientist said. When a student raised a point as to why technology should be used for defence and not peace, Dr Pillai said, "Strength is required for preventing war; for developing technology and for multiple spin-off benefits towards development (as in medical field). Similarly, defence has got high developments that are going back to the society. We need to build our strength." India, he said, managed to achieve core competency in aerospace. "We are cost effective, have no dearth of talented manpower which is coupled with the increasing demand for such persons." However, five areas have been identified as `crucial' for development. They include agriculture and food processing, education and health care, geostrategic initiatives, IT and infrastructure including electric power and in the critical technology areas, he said. Dr Pillai stressed the need for creating technology incubators in universities for development to pick up. Later, in an informal chat with newspersons, the defence scientist said that the Tamil Nadu Government was seriously contemplating a project on desalinating seawater. "The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has the technology. It has proposed an elegant process using the reverse osmosis method to make seawater drinkable. It is a filtering technology, which uses high energy for filtering the saline portion," he explained. Dr Pillai revealed that there was a proposal to set up a Centre of Excellence in Life Sciences at the Bharathiar University. "The DRDO has assigned a project on thin film technology to the University. The progress is encouraging. We are now trying to enter into a MoU with the University for setting up a Centre of Excellence," he said.
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