SOURCE: AFI
Dr. Samir V Kamat, Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has emphasized the need for a change in India’s risk-averse culture to foster innovation and development in the defense sector. In a recent interview, he highlighted that the prevailing aversion to risk and intolerance of failure often leads to people taking on less challenging projects.
“If there is a failure, immediately you get a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report saying that you have caused loss to the government,” Dr. Kamat said. “Questions are raised on who is accountable. That makes people take on less challenging projects.”
This risk-averse attitude, according to Dr. Kamat, has resulted in many projects being extended indefinitely rather than closed. “This has to change. You learn a lot more from your failures than from your success. If you have to fail, fail fast, so that you learn and move on,” he added.
Dr. Kamat expressed optimism that this attitude is slowly changing, thanks to the recent support from Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. “The Defense Minister has given us this leeway where if you say at the beginning of the project that this is a high-risk project, we will make an attempt, but if it doesn’t happen, we will close the project,” Dr. Kamat said. “This leeway has been given and we hope it will bring a transformation in the ability to develop critical cutting-edge technology in the country.”
The DRDO chief’s call for a more risk-tolerant approach aligns with the government’s broader efforts to promote innovation and self-reliance in the defense sector. By encouraging researchers to take on more challenging projects, India can accelerate its development of cutting-edge technologies and strengthen its national security.