DRDO GETS A NEW CHIEF

The government ended the three- month- long suspense by appointing G. Satheesh Reddy, scientific adviser to the defence minister, as the secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and chairman of DRDO. Mr Reddy replaces Selvin Christopher who retired in the last week of May. His appointment is for a period of two years.

Though defence secretary Sanjay Mitra, a 1982- batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, held additional charge of the post, the delay in naming Mr Christopher’s successor set off intense lobbying by various claimants of the post. Reportedly, the government was very close to appointing a new chief when Mr Christopher’s term was about to end, but at the very last moment, there was a “negative intelligence report” on the one who had been shortlisted and the whole process was abandoned. Then there were other controversies, including changes of “poisoning” and more allegations!

For a while, it was rumoured that the DG of electronics and communication systems vertical at DRDO, J. Manjula, was the frontrunner for the post of DRDO chief. She was believed to have the backing of defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, though considered junior to several other scientists at DRDO.

Mr Reddy is a noted missile scientist. His appointment continues the tradition of the missile scientist community occupying the top positions at DRDO.