Ajit Agarkar’s absence from BCCI meeting raises eyebrows

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:08:00 +0000

BCCI secretary Saikia and president Mithun Manhas arrive for the meeting.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

Ajit Agarkar’s absence from the BCCI performance review meeting on Thursday has intensified speculation over his future as chief selector beyond this month.

Agarkar, who has chaired the National selection committee since July 2023, was the only key stakeholder missing from the high-profile meet convened at the BCCI headquarters to review India’s recent performances and chart a roadmap for the 2027 ODI World Cup.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia sought to downplay his absence, insisting that Agarkar was unavailable because of “personal commitments” and that the meeting had been organised “at short notice”. Yet, with Agarkar’s existing contract set to expire at the end of the month, his non-attendance has fuelled murmurs about a growing distance between him and the Board’s hierarchy.

The Hindu understands that the relationship between the two sides has been strained since July, when Saikia publicly issued a statement backing Rohit Sharma’s continuation in India’s ODI set-up without consulting Agarkar and his fellow selectors. The move came amid internal discussions over Rohit’s future and created unease within the selection panel.

Since then, there has reportedly been no formal communication between the BCCI administration and Agarkar regarding a possible extension. Under the Board’s regulations, the former India pacer is eligible for a contract renewal, which would allow continuity through the ODI World Cup cycle.

“There was no such discussion in today’s meeting,” Saikia said when asked whether Agarkar would get another year at the helm. “There was no discussion on the selection committee. Our whole focus was on the performance in England and Ireland as well as the recent Test series in Sri Lanka and what we are going to do in the upcoming series and the World Cup, which is our ultimate goal.”

Published – September 03, 2026 08:36 pm IST

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Cutting edge projects avoided due to aversion to risk and intolerance of failure: DRDO chief

admin — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 11:52:27 +0000

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Samir V. Kamat with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
| Photo Credit: File photo

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Dr. Samir V Kamat said that there is an aversion to risk and intolerance of failure in India due to which people end up taking less challenging projects.

Dr. Kamat made the comment in Bengaluru on September 21 while delivering the Air Chief Marshal L.M. Katre Memorial Lecture 2024 on Defence R&D The Road Ahead. “If there is a failure, immediately you get a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report saying that you have caused loss to the government. Questions are raised on who is accountable. That makes people take on less challenging projects.”

Need for change

Due to this, many projects keep getting extended instead of them being closed. “This has to change. You learn a lot more from your failures than from your success. If you have to fail, fail fast, so that you learn and move on,” he added.

Dr. Kamat said that this attitude is slowly changing as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently gave leeway for high-risk projects.

“The Defence Minister has given us this leeway where if you say at the beginning of the project that this is a high-risk project, we will make an attempt, but if it doesn’t happen, we will close the project. This leeway has been given and we hope it will bring a transformation in the ability to develop critical cutting edge technology in the country,” said Dr Kamat, who is also secretary, Department of Defence (R&D).

He also said that India should improve its R&D spending with more investment from the private sector.

“If you look at our R&D spend, India is spending only 0.65 % of our GDP on R&D. Whereas USA spends 2.83 %, China spends 2.14 %, Russia spends 0.98 %, France spends 2.19% and South Korea spends 4.8% of their GDP on R&D. The government is aware of this and there is a clear thinking that in the next four to five years we should move to at least 1% of our GDP on R&D. Hopefully, by 2035, we should rise to 2%,” he said.

AMCA project

On the indigenous fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), the DRDO chief said the first prototype will roll out by 2028, and production is expected to begin by 2034.

The AMCA project got sanction from the Cabinet Committee on Security in March.

Published – September 21, 2024 05:22 pm IST

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Chairman – Artifex.News

Ajit Agarkar’s absence from BCCI meeting raises eyebrows

Cutting edge projects avoided due to aversion to risk and intolerance of failure: DRDO chief

Need for change

AMCA project