Vajpayee flays ‘selective sanctions’

While lauding the efforts made by the DRDO in developing key weapon systems, the PM said that weapons technology needed to be constantly upgraded. ‘‘Recent military conflicts in our neighbourhood have graphically demonstrated this. They underline the importance of overwhelming technological superiority over adversaries.’’

Referring to the May 1998 Pokhran tests, which was followed by a spate of sanctions imposed on India, Vajpayee called it a ‘‘difficult political decision in response to the harsh realities of our political environment.’’ He lamented the fact that sanctions did not begin with the 1998 tests but had started in 1974 in the aftermath of the first nuclear tests even though New Delhi was a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Similar sanctions were imposed under the Missile Technology Control Regime, he added.

Dr V K Aatre, scientific adviser to the Defence Minister and Secretary, DRDO, appealed to the Government to clear a proposal to dole out incentives to scientists to prevent them from leaving India for assignments abroad. To increase recruitment, DRDO teams had been visiting the IITs, Aatre said. Listing DRDO’s achievements Aatre said India’s nuclear-capable 700 km-range Agni-I ballistic missile was ready for induction into the Army.