Venkatasubbiah Siddhartha Papers

Venkatasubbiah Siddhartha (born in 1944) graduated in 1965 with a degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Madras, and earned a diploma in advanced engineering in 1966 from the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, UK, and his PhD in 1971 from the Imperial College of Science & Technology, London. He has served in various wings of India's science and technology system, starting in 1972 as Principal Scientific Officer with the National Committee on Science & Technology (NCST), and then the Systems Planning and Analysis Group (SPAG) of ISRO, Bangalore from 1974 to 1982. During his time at ISRO, he was also a consultant for the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (1975 - 1977). He then served between 1982 to 1984 as an Advisor, Technology Utilisation, at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. From 1985 to 2004, he served as an "Advisor and Outstanding Scientist", Secretariat of Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. During this period, he also steered the Home-Grown Technology scheme of the Department of Science and Technology (1993 - 2005), and was briefly the Secretary, Science Advisory Council To the Prime Minister in 1986. After his official retirement, he has served as a consultant to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India (2004 - 2008), during which he specialized on issues relating to arms control and export control, and science and technology issues in international security, and in shaping the Indian Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Act, 2005. He had also served on invitation of the Secretary General of the United Nations as a member of the Experts Group in New York of the Committee on UN Security Council Resolution 1540. He later served as a scientific consultant to the Principal Advisor, Government of India (2009 - 2010), and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi (2010 - 2012).