E-Paper
‘500 Phd students will be working on defence- related subjects across the country’
PUNE Dr G Satheesh Reddy, secretary, Department of Defense R&D and chairman Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, Government of India, spoke to Dheeraj Bengrut about various initiatives taken by the DRDO in the field of academics to encourage youngsters to look at the field of defence as a career
PUNE Dr G Satheesh Reddy, secretary, Department of Defense R&D and chairman Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, Government of India, spoke to Dheeraj Bengrut about various initiatives taken by the DRDO in the field of academics to encourage youngsters to look at the field of defence as a career.
What can you tell about the new MTech course in Defence technology starting from this academic year?
“We are starting the MTech programme with AICTE who have worked out this programme. We have experimented first at the Gujarat university wherein IDST has prepared a complete syllabus. AICTE readily agreed to start the course in Defence technology and more than 40 institutes have already applied to take the course. Defence technology was not taught anywhere till now. Even BTech courses now have electives. As this subject is taught and students come out with the knowledge and technology, whether he/she works in R &D, design or works in industry the student gets a necessary background. So skill set development is done and we are creating an ecosystem for the defence sector.”
Do you see any change in the mindset of parents who want to send their children to pursue a course in defence technology?
Absolutely, our prime minister is pushing skill sets and ‘Make in India’, so what is happening is there are defence technologies and industries to develop. And so naturally parents also come forward to send their child to study and pursue a career in this field. Within a short time we can see more than 40 institutions in the country have come forward for this MTech course in Defence technology.
For the first time DRDO is working along with ministry of higher education for research and development in defence. Can you elaborate?
There are 500 PhD students approved by the ministry of higher education, and already 37 students have joined various institutions. They specially work on defence-related subjects and in future it will certainly benefit our country in defence security. The joining process is going on and it will continue from now till the 500 approved PhD students join their respective universities.
