NEW DELHI: It’s akin to contract killing of the country’s defence research establishments. With their easy access to classified and secret information, thousands of people working on contractual or temporary basis in India’s top secret defence projects have turned out to be the biggest threat to national security.
A spate of arrests for spying has alarmed the government. But the country’s premier defence research agency—Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) — has a strength of more than 50,000 temporary or casual employees who have complete access to all of its classified and research activities.
The recent arrest of a photographer employed on contract basis at DRDO’s Integrated Test Range in Chandipur (Odisha) for passing confidential information on various missiles test-fired from Wheeler Island to his ISI conduit in Kolkata has sounded the alarm bells in the corridors of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Soon after, a contractual employee working for the MoD was picked up by the Delhi Police for espionage. The issue put South Block in panic mode and an alert was issued in March, which clearly said, ‘Contractual/casual employees should not be posted in sensitive locations and not allowed access to the classified information’.
A senior Defence Ministry official recalled how a high-level inquiry was ordered during A K Antony’s tenure as defence minister in 2010 into the episode of a top DRDO scientist giving out a critical missile design project to a private contractor. Despite such cases in the past, over 55 laboratories of the DRDO, mandated to develop products and technologies to modernise our armed forces ranging from missiles to combat aircraft, have roped in over 50,000 casual employees to assist scientists. According to an insider, contractual employees are generally hired under two categories — technical and non-technical.
Those hired under technical category have complete access to all information, as they assist project directors and programme leaders of the particular project.
“All these technical and non-technical staffers are normally hired through placement service agencies. And it is the responsibility of the manpower supply agency to check antecedents of these people,” explained a DRDO scientist.
The key wings of the DRDO like Hyderabad-based Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DERL), Research Centre Imarat, Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and Pune-based High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) are the biggest recruiters of contract employees. These contractual employees are not only involved in every step of design and development of projects but also in trials.
According to available records, more than 170 engineers on contract/casual basis are working for the key Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas.