The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is planning to recruit 500 scientists this year. This move has been taken to be able to meet its workforce requirement for various projects and levels."Our present recruitment is focused on filling vacancies that arise from retirements and resignations. However, considering the kind of projects we have been working on, we have moved a proposal with the Union government for an additional requirement of 500 scientists", said the DRDO's HR chief, Malakondaiah.The DRDO's ongoing projects such as Aakash missile, light combat aircraft 'Tejas' and Brahmos missile collectively cost Rs.1.6 lakh crore. Presently, the organization has around 7,500 scientists as a part of their existing force.He also added that unlike the conventional industries such as Information Technology, DRDO is encountering almost a negligible rate of attrition vis--vis resignation, which lead to a mere one percent of the arising vacancies. He said that the reason behind such a phase is that the Sixth Pay Commission has reduced the gap in the pay scales offered by DRDO and Private corporate bodies, to a large extent. This, in turn, has helped the organization in attracting and retaining young scientific talent emerging from IIT s and IICs.