Many of the Jean Dreeze kind of crib about the wasteful mission expenditure, and how that could have come in the way of development, actually seems disjointed to the reality from India. We spent Rs 450 crores on this Mangalyan mission. Let us now try to put that in context : 1)The countries biggest industrialist builds a home in relatively upmarket Mumbai for Rs 5000 crore. timesofindia.indiatimes/business/india-business/Mukesh-Ambanis-Mumbai-residence-most-expensive-billionaire-home-Forbes/articleshow/35103878.cms 2)One of the local IPL cricket teams Chennai Super Kings alone is worth in excess of Rs 1500 crore. (Plans are afoot to move it to a separate subsidiary. thehindu/business/Industry/india-cements-to-demerge-chennai-super-kings-into-a-separate-company/article6438813.ece ) 3)Every single day, Indians buy expensive imported gold jewelry worth Rs 2000 crore. moneycontrol/news/commodities/gold-imports-seen-up-premiums-may-doublefestive-buying_1182406.html 4)An upcoming Bollywood movie Chaand-A science fiction action thriller story will be about The city of Mumbai comes under alien attack. Directed by Anthony DSouza. this is rumored to cost over Rs 500 crore. 5. The Mumbai Metro was conceptualised to reduce the citys dreaded traffic congestion, and supplement the existing, but severely overcrowded Mumbai Suburban Railway network. Now, it’s just adding to the commuters’ woes. The 11.40 km stretch running east-west between Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar alone cost Rs 4,321 crore.That too has been plagued by issues. Remember the monsoon leaks inside coaches? 6.Mumbais star attraction, the Terminal 2 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport -- the four-storey glass marvel whose design is inspired by a dancing peacock -- was built at a cost of a whopping Rs 5,500 crore. The total project cost was Rs 12,500 crore, which includes a three kilometer long art walk titled Jaya He inside the T2 that displays Indian art pieces between the 8th century and 19th century. 7. A Statue that is going to be built shortly to boost tourism and is not neccesarily political is going to cost about 4-5 times the cost of this Mars mission 8. AIR Indias loss on its books for the year 2013-14 ALONE is 4300 crores 9. India’s Government expenditure budget is Rs.17,94,892 crores even by our rather recent stringent accountants standards the round off error acceptable on this budget number can fund a few such ISRO missions. India doesnt have more toilets especially for its Girl Child, not because we don’t have the money for it, but because of our poor execution kills aided by a system that has lived on lack of accountability. It is extremely foolish and highly patronizing if we heap our blame on poor ISRO for India’s social conditions precisely what many of these so called beacon of free press in the intellectual left of the west enjoy doing!Includes the Economist when the Managalyan was launched economist/blogs/economist-explains/2013/11/economist-explains-0 guardianlv/2013/11/india-mars-mission-to-launch-amidst-overwhelming-poverty/ The reasons why this Mars program is necessary and actually a bit late in my opinion are 1. Kids excite Science as much as Science excites Kids. It is exciting for children&teenagers, for many of whom this inspiration can lead them to take up a career in science, technology and research.These kids deserve an inspiration.Across rural Tamilnadu without the fuss involved of a central dikat to watch a broad cast kids in devakottai, pattukottai, illupakudi,aaravayal kids got up and came to their schools at 6:30 AM to watch a special broadcast on YouTube. If we can get a couple of hundred of these kids into sciences, the mission would have paid for itself completely many times over. 2. ISRO is already leveraging the technology it owns to help other countries put their equipment in space for a very handsome fee. If we continue to innovate in cost and speed, we could become a big hub for space research & projects.That would mean employment for thousands of engineers and lot of foreign exchange.The mission could be a turning point as India can now market its status as a low-cost base for sophisticated engineering. (ISRO is already launching commercial satellites for a host of Western countries at competitive costs and has established its biz dev offices in Europe) If we could make a Nano car why not a market for Nano Space crafts- Technology that essentially is born out of Frugal Engineering ? 3. Coming actually to this mission, sent to detect methane this could be the start of a new breathe for Indian science.Probably even help us understand our own climate concerns better,and this time publish papers in honest science journals with even actual real data.(Although it is believed that the average number of readers of any academic paper was less than one) India high time needs its Renaissance.A Renaissance through modern science education.Science that would start breaking the vicious cycle of poverty by adopting disruptive innovation. That would necessarily mean a sense of supreme confidence on one-selves and their skills.The basis of this ISRO Mangalyan mission was driven mainly by the need to demonstrate we can. A projection of Indias technological expertise intended to boost its international prestige and credentials as a world leading soft power.Every Indian irrespective of whether he is a farmer,cleaner,IT professional,tambura player or roadside entrepreneur can and will draw inspiration from these scientists. If we can reach Mars,against many odds! We can do anything – from politics, arts.movies to science & sports(yes even FIFA Football!!). Some might say false sense of confidence! But then is it not better than having been diffident for generations submerged in sense of false self esteem,a necessary by product of the Macaulayian Education system?
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 16:47:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015