Dr BD Nagchaudhuri

Dr Basanti Dulal Nagchaudhuri was one of the top scientists and Member (Science) Planning Commission, when he took over SA to RM. He obtained his doctorate from University of California, under the Nobel Laureate Professor Ernest O Lawrence, the inventor of cyclotron. During his tenure, he set the DRDO for the new direction of contemporary system development for the Services. He created the Department of Personnel to look into the problems of recruitment, promotions and career prospects of the personnel and initiated a sequence of actions, which ultimately took DRDO out of the purview of UPSC. He also decentralised the decision-making process by initiating the delegation of powers of the Scientific Adviser to the Directors of the laboratories.