DRDO to benefit civilian purposes too

The Defence Research and Development Organisation, the premier Defence Research institute of India, is geared up to transfer developing technologies, which would even benefit civilians. DRDO is expanding the horizons of technologies developed for the armed forces by its network of 52 laboratories. It is also keen on transferring these to the civilian sector.

If official sources are to be believed, DRDO shall soon have a section dealing exclusively with a technology shift to the private sector from DRDO. This would earn them revenue and popularize some of their innovations among the general populace, even those in remote and far-flung places.

DRDO and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry are already working to commercialise the project and introduce DRDO’s products into the general market for civilian use after the fulfillment of defence needs.

In fact, as per the Director General of DRDO, Dr V.K. Saraswat, who also happens to be the scientific advisor to Raksha Mantri, these technologies cost a dime when compared to those available already in the market. They are also futuristic outlook wise and much more advanced and efficient in terms of results.

For instance, the ‘next gen’ or next generation toilets and lavatories, or the biodigesters or simply biotoilets developed by the DRDO for the use of armed forces at high altitudes like Ladakh and Siachen where decomposition and disposal becomes a problem in the absence of aerobic bacteria, are now available for civilian use as well.

In addition to the ear- marking of 15,000 such biotoilets for the Lakshdweep island chain, the DRDO has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Rural Development, where one lakh panchayats have expressed an interest in the technology.

The end products in the ‘green’ toilets are just water and methane. Next in the queue for these bio-toilets is the Ministry of Transport and Tourism