The Government will install one lakh bio-toilets in about 300 backward Gram Panchayats in the country in next two years. This will make the villages open defecation free. Announcing this in New Delhi, Rural Development Minister Mr Jairam Ramesh said, the project will entail a cost of 150 crore rupees in the first phase. 

Mr Ramesh was speaking after the signing of an MoU between the Defence Research and Development Organisation , DRDO, and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation for Bio-Digester based Eco-friendly toilets developed by DRDO.

He said, his Ministry has also offered to install with DRDO built bio-toilets in all new railways coaches and to share half the cost of retrofitting all existing 50,000 coaches in the next four to five years. He informed that the whole project will cost about 500 crore rupees and offered to share the burden on a 50 to 50 basis with the Railways.

The Minister said there are three dimensions to sanitation challenge in the country and the solution must be found to tackle the same.

Referring to the fact that 60 percent of all open defecations in the world happen in India, Mr Ramesh promised to make the country open defecation free in the next ten years. He said, 11 million passengers travel every day by train and at present waste is dumped directly onto the tracks because of the existing toilet system in trains.

The Minister said the DRDO technology is an important route and not a magic bullet, but he expressed the hope that in the long run it will bring about a revolution in the rural areas if pursued in a mission mode manner.

Airborne Early Warning and Control System, AWACS being developed within the Country is likely to fly during the Republic Day parade on January 26 next year. AWACS are eye in the sky that can peer deep into enemy territory from higher altitudes. They are extremely useful for India in large conflicts as it surveys a wider expanse of airspace and coastlines, and can monitor large number of aircraft and warship movements from a greater height.

Speaking to reporters after inaugurating the new technical facility in Bangalore on Wednesday, the Director General of DRDO, Dr. V K Saraswat informed that the AWACS aircraft fitted with radar array is being tested in Brazil and will return to India by end of July. Thereafter another array will be fitted and tested for functional efficiency. He disclosed that 28 technologies developed by DRDO labs have been transferred to industries for commercial exploitation. He said a commercial arm of DRDO will be launched early next year to commercialize technologies developed by them.

India today successfully test fired indigenously developed surface-to-air ‘Akash’ missile of Air Force version from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore district off Odisha coast.

This is the fifth successful trial of the anti-aircraft system in the last fortnight. Akash missile, with a strike range of 25 km and capable of carrying warhead of 60 kg, was test fired from a mobile launcher at launch complex-III of the ITR at 7.57 this morning.

The successful test-firing of surface-to-air Akash missile has added one more feather to the Indian missile mission. Defence forces conducted the trial test-firing of Akash with logistic support from ITR to re-validate the technology and operational efficacy of the missile.

During the trial, the sophisticated missile was aimed at intercepting floating object supported by a pilotless target aircraft at a definite altitude over the sea.

Akash, an anti-aircraft defence system, can simultaneously engage several targets with ‘Rajendra’ radar developed by the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment, a DRDO laboratory in Bangalore. ‘Rajendra’ does the surveillance, tracks the target, acquires it and guides the missile towards it.

The development of Akash missile took place during 1990s under the country’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) and after many trials, it was inducted into the armed forces.

The Akash weapon system, which has its Army version too, was inducted into the armed forces in 2008.
The DRDO has developed both the Air Force and Army versions of the Akash missile. Rajendra is a ‘passive phased array radar’. 

It is a multifunction radar, capable of tracking as many as 64 targets and controlling up to 12 missiles simultaneously.

Defence experts have often compared Akash missile system with the American MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system. 

They say that Akash missile, like MIM-104, is capable of neutralising aerial targets such as unmanned aerial vehicles, fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles.

Indigenously-developed surface-to air 'Akash' missile was successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 15 km from Balasore in Odisha coast on Thursday. The user-specific trial, which formed part of the country's routine air defence exercises, was conducted to re-validate the technology and operational efficacy of the missile.


The missile, which has a strike range of 25 km with a warhead of 60 kgs, was test fired from a mobile launcher from launch complex-III of the ITR at about 11.08 Thursday morning. The missile was aimed at intercepting a floating object during the trial and supported by a pilotless target aircraft, flown from launch complex-II, at a definite altitude over the sea. Akash, an anti-aircraft defence system, can simultaneously engage several targets with 'Rajendra' radar developed by the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment a DRDO laboratory in Bangalore.

Rajendra does the surveillance, tracks the target, acquires it and guides the missile towards it. The development of Akash missile took place during 1990s under the country's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme and after many trials, it was inducted into the armed forces. An air-force version of the Akash missile has also been developed by the DRDO.

Indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft, LCA Tejas will be inducted into the Indian Air Force this year. The Defence Research and Development Organisation Chief V K Saraswat has said this after inaugurating a function organised of Aeronautical Society of India in Hyderabad.

He said after completing almost 1,855 flying hours the LCA is ready to enter into the final operational clearance phase. The LCA has been conceived and designed by DRDO's Aeronautical Development Agency and manufactured at Bangalore- based Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, HAL.

he Defence Research and Development Organisation,DRDO, Chief, V K Saraswat has said India has emerged as a major missile power with the successful launch of Agni five ballistic missile. Talking to reporters after the launch of Agni Five in New Delhi, Mr Saraswat said the production of the weapon system will start in a year's time. He said this launch has given a message to the entire world that India has the capability to design, develop, build and manufacture missiles of this class. He also said that the missile launch was a major milestone in the strategic defence preparedness of the country. Mr. Saraswat expected the missile to be inducted into the armed forces in the next two years. He said the successful launch of Agni five was just the beginning of a new series of missiles. The DRDO chief said that his organisation was working on a very tight time schedule when it came to production and deployment of the missile. Giving details of today's launch, Saraswat said that the missile lifted off at 0807 hours today and it is a three-stage missile, the first stage burned out, gave the required velocity and after that it separated. He said that similarly the missile reached it second and third phases and after that it reached the crucial re-entry phase which is the most difficult phase for any ballistic missile of this range.