India's missile programme for peace: DRDO chief

Defence Research Development and Organisation Director General Avinash Chander on Saturday said that India's missile programme is purely aimed at peace in the country.

Chander, who is also the scientific advisor to Defence Minister, said while addressing the third convocation of IIT-Bhubaneswar: “Our missile programme is for peace in the country. And the message of peace went to the entire world from Odisha where Kalinga war was fought."

Indian Science and Technology is regarded as one of the most powerful instrument of growth and development, Chander said adding, "Today, India has become one of the strongest in the world in terms of scientific manpower in capability and maturity."

"We are in a position not only to understand the technologies that we may have to borrow, but also to create our own technologies with extensive indigenous scientific pursuits. We have come a long way since our independence, from mere buyers of technology to those of who have transformed science and technology for national development," he said.

Claiming that India is a technology leader, the renowned scientist said it is a time when the Nations are measured by their technological prowess. Right from the explorations in Deep Space, down to commercial aviation to communication, nations are assessed by their potential to explore and venture into new areas.

India to its credit stands tall as a power to reckon with, he said and added "We have developed ourselves the Geo-Synchronous Launch Vehicles, Arihant nuclear submarine, our own fighter aircrafts and battle tanks, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile AGNI-5, Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan Mission."

He said India could pool and augment the resources effectively and has been able to network the knowledge base available in the Universities and other academic Institutions.

"We are looking at the new generation to lead with new ideas," he said.

However, Chander pointed out that higher academic institutions in India lack orientation towards research and as a result, their standing amongst the top global institutions is not very high. Research is a neglected domain in our higher education structure, he pointed out.

A developing country like India has to address the grand challenges of renewable energy, climate change, drinking water and sanitation. Research in these areas will have spin-offs, unimaginable in terms of benefits to the common man, he said.

Therefore, he said Universities and Institutes have to be the breeding ground for creative pursuits and source of cutting edge technological developments.

He told the students, "You may not be a born genius, yet you may come up with a brilliant idea that has numerous scientific implications. Go down to rural India and you will find that the people in small villages living in isolation from the big scientific globe have small innovative ideas to get their regular chores done."