Streamline private sector contracts

BANGALORE: Stating that the process of handling contracts with private sector needed to be streamlined, M K Bhan, Union Secretary of Biotechnology on Monday said the country’s scientific community must accept the idea of public accountability. He was speaking on the sidelines of the Bangalore India Bio Event about the recent controversies arising out of the ISRO Devas deal which led the government to bar four eminent scientists from holding government posts.Denying that the morale of team ISRO had taken a hit, he said the sensitivity of scientists responsible for major advances in technology must be handled with care. “We must now learn how to handle PPP models henceforth,” he said.The first committee appointed to look into the deal comprised B K Chaturvedi and Prof Roddam Narasimha and called for more transparency in the Department of Space with the space commission and government and stated that discussions on Antrix projects must be more transparent.