BANGALORE: Hiring of about 350 scientists and
engineers by state-run Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) has been delayed
by the austerity measures of the Union finance
ministry, a senior official said.
"Though the (350) posts have been cleared by the
prime minister's office (PMO), recruitment has been
put on hold due to a cut in budgetary allocation for
us this fiscal year (2013-14 ) by the finance
ministry," DRDO recruitment and assessment centre
chairman DN Reddy said on the sidelines of a
conference here.
Admitting that the research body has a shortage of
400 scientists and engineers, Reddy said fresh hiring
may not take place till the general election, which
will be held next year. "We got clearance from the
PMO but not from the finance ministry due to
austerity drive. We hope to get the ministry's
approval after the elections.
This is the first time we are affected by the austerity
drive," Reddy said at the two-day National
Conference on Condition Monitoring, organised by
DRDO's Bangalore-based Gas Turbine Research
Establishment (GTRE) and the Condition Monitoring
Society of India (CMSI). Union Finance Minister P
Chidambaram had recently directed all Central
ministries to prune their plan expenditure for fiscal
year 2014 to ensure that the budgeted fiscal deficit
does not cross the targeted 4.8% of the GDP. About
70-90 senior scientists retire every year from the
organisation's R&D centres.
"The freeze on hiring will delay current and new
projects in missile technology, aerospace ,
electronics warfare like radars, armaments and
protective and life-supporting equipment for the
armed forces," said Reddy. DRDO visits 18 institutes,
including 16 IITs, IISc in Bangalore and Defence
Institute of Advance Technology in Pune, for campus
hiring of about 100 students in December every
year.
0 comments:
Post a Comment