The following is the text of the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s speech at DRDO Awards function here today.

~It is always a pleasure to applaud extraordinary achievement in any field of human endeavour. But, it is a very special pleasure to recognise scientific and technological excellence directly benefiting the defence and security of our country. It is entirely appropriate that DRDO has chosen today – National Technology Day – to honour its distinguished achievers.

We celebrate here the important contribution of DRDO laboratories, their scientists and engineers, and their associated industrial units to critical areas of strategic importance for our country. The nation acknowledges their dedication and takes pride in their work.

They have often had to face a difficult work and research environment, shackled by technology-denial regimes and sanctions. In many areas, they had to reinvent the wheel – to develop afresh technologies available elsewhere. As a matter of principle, our nation has preferred this honourable option to that of stealing technologies.

Our scientists have emerged from these trials with great distinction. We remember how years ago, the denial of a supercomputer to India inspired our engineers to develop parallel computers more sophisticated than those we had wanted to import. More recently, the successful tests of the Agni II missile were the result of the same determination. The development of flight control systems for our Light Combat Aircraft and of the remotely piloted vehicle Nishant were also a triumph of national determination over external hurdles.

There remain further tests of the technological innovation and scientific temper of DRDO. Our armed forces are being modernised with more efficient weapon systems. The national goal is to progressively increase the indigenous content of our weapon systems, so that we restrict our external dependence for systems or spares in times of conflict. We have had bitter experiences of such dependence in the past. My government is committed to provide the resources needed to support a well-equipped defence machine with a self-reliant military-industrial complex.

We should also remain conscious of the fact that in the modern era, military doctrines and strategies change at a bewildering pace. Technologies have to respond imaginatively to these changes to remain relevant. Implementation delays can seriously undermine the effectiveness of weapon system, rendering them obsolete even at induction. I know that infrastructural bottlenecks, a narrow component base and import problems have sometimes cause inevitable delays in some of our projects. It is crucial that our laboratories maintain close touch with the user departments in the armed forces, so that designs and specifications can be constantly upgraded even during development.

A closer understanding between DRDO and the armed forces would result in better planning of defence management and in weapons systems most relevant to military needs. Public sector and private sector industry, national scientific institutions, academia and think tanks could also be suitably involved in the development process. The ultimate objective is to minimise the gap between concept and induction, so that cutting edge technologies can be delivered to our armed forces cost-effectively and in the desired time-frame.

Friends, today is the third anniversary of that momentous day when we conducted our nuclear tests in Pokharan. The world has a much better appreciation now of our perceptions on our security environment which guided that decision. Political and economic pressures are now gradually giving way to a more pragmatic understanding of ground realities. We have also demonstrated that we are a responsible nuclear power, which is neither a proliferation threat nor an exporter of sensitive nuclear or missile technology. But we do believe that a credible minimum nuclear deterrent is a basic security umbrella, which we owe to our people.

At the same time, we retain our firm commitment to universal and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament. We have never subscribed to concepts of military dominance or doctrines of mutually assured destruction. We welcome every move towards lightening the shadow of the nuclear terror under which we live today. It is in this context that we have welcomed US President Bush’s suggestions for steep reductions in nuclear arsenals and a move away from further development of offensive nuclear technologies. We have also welcomed his offer of consultations with allies and major powers on a new framework of security. We believe that a genuine process of consultations, including nuclear and non-nuclear countries and taking into account existing arrangements in the security architecture, can promote the search for a stable new global security framework.

DRDO has to remain abreast of these winds of possible change and to comprehend the technological implications. An alteration of the global security architecture may entail an entire new range of verification and defensive technologies. Our scientists and engineers, in close co-ordination with our armed forces, need to create a strong perspective planning base, which can envisage and prepare for a wide range of alternative future security scenarios. I am confident that the organisation will respond as effectively to this challenge as it has done to others facing our defence preparedness in the past.

In conclusion, I would like to extend my warm congratulations to the recipients of the DRDO Awards this year and wish them and DRDO even greater success in their endeavours in the future.

Jai Hind~.