India deserves place at top tables where decisions are taken on security, says Jeremy Browne

New Delhi, Feb 16 (ANI): Minister of State at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Jeremy Browne, on Thursday said India deserves place at top tables where decisions are taken on security.

Browne was speaking at the Conference on CBRN Disaster Management and Security. He said that UK was keen to share its expertise in this field with India and there was much to be gained through sharing of experiences. He lauded India's economic rise and its strong industrial base The two-day conference has been jointly organized by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT), UK Government Home Office.

CBRN disaster management refers to the management of disasters from the use of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials.

India and the United Kingdom entered into a letter of arrangement (LoA) on September 16, 2011 to pursue collaborative Defence R and D and facilitate best use of research and technology capabilities through joint programme, including participation of industry and academia.

The present conference is the first milestone towards scientific, academic, and industrial participation in the areas of CBRN Disaster Management and Security Technologies.

Jeremy Browne is leading a delegation of over 20 scientists, policy planners, and academicians to the Conference.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr W Selvamurthy, Distinguished Scientist and Chief Controller R and D (Life Sciences and International Cooperation), DRDO, listed four entities that are required for preparedness to manage CBRN disasters, standard operating procedures, guidelines, equipment and systems and trained manpower.

He expressed confidence that synergy between India and the UK will lead to products that are best in the world. He mentioned that "DRDO has developed more than 60 products and technologies for CBRN, defence and most of them have been productionised by ordnance factories, defence PSUs and private sector industries, and inducted into services".

Dr Selvamurthy has announced that Government has approved establishment of a national centre for CBRN Mitigation and Training by DRDO, initially as an arm of Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS). The mandate of this centre would be to provide quality training for Military, Paramilitary, Police and civilian 'First Responders' in handling CBRN eventuality as well as to function as a CBRN emergency response centre.

Inaugurating the two-day Conference, M. Shashidhar Reddy, Vice Chairman, NDMA, said "CBRN disaster threats are on the rise, especially with the growth of international terrorism. I am a bit concerned about our capability to deal with chemical and biological materials, particularly because of the ease with which these can be disbursed."

Dr. Muzaffar Ahmad, Member, NDMA and Major General (Dr.) J. K. Bansal gave an overview of the medical disaster preparedness and underlined the need for training with the use of equipment. It was suggested that NDMA, DRDO and FICCI could evolve a mechanism for training personnel through the PPP mode along with the provision of equipment.

On the occasion, an exhibition of CBRN technologies and products developed by the UK and India, which have applications in both civil and military response to CBRN incidents, has also been organized. A wide range of products for detection of CBRN threats, as well as those offering individual / collective protection, that have been designed, developed and productionised by DRDO are on display at the exhibition.

Dr RP Tripathy, Director, INMAS Delhi, Dr AK Saxena, Director, DMSRDE Kanpur, Dr MP Kaushik, Director, DRDE Gwalior besides other top DRDO Scientists and a galaxy of scientists from UK were present at the conference. (ANI)