Its a bird, its a plane..no WAIT...!!

It is a satellite launch that went awry!!! The last 10 days have been one of the worst for the Indian space and defence establishments. Agni III and GSLV were two successive blows to our plans and left the entire nation rather embarassed leaving a smirking Pakistan and a gloating China to enjoy the spectacle. That sight of the satellite veering off its course towards self destruction left a lump in my throat. I cannot recollect any such country gaining a dubious distinction of 2 successive failures in 2 extremely critical and publicised launches.

India has an impressive track record when it comes to ballistic missiles and space missions. However, in recent times, we have seen and heard many critical comments about the quality and merit of the scientists in ISRO and DRDO. In fact, I do not take these comments with a pinch of salt because the 3 months I spent at LRDE demonstrated the ridiculous policies and pathetic quality of work being done there. Any ambitious and resltess youngster, no matter how idealistic, would surely be disillusioned in no time! It would take us a day to order a capacitor, a week to get it and then getting the apparatus to test the circuit-forget it, consider yourself lucky if you get your hands on it within the month! There are 2 types of people in these institutions: Those who swipe in, "work" between breaks and the others are those who are preparing for UPSC or GATE exams while earning some pocket money here. If anybody thinks that the future of Indian space and defence research is going places, well, they are not mistaken, it is going places, only this time it is headed right to the bottom! A fact that seems to be strengthened by comments from retd senior army officials: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HG12Df02.html

I also know that I do not hold a right to criticise or condemn these organisations, because I realise that I have the necessary skills to join these places and make an effective contribution. But then, I too am driven by ambition, position and well, simply put : "ka-ching"! We really need to "shake and stir" things in this system if we aspire to be self sufficient in all our research and defence needs. We need to come up with a strategy to entice youngsters and make working in these organisations fashionable. Budgetory restrictions cannot be an argument because money given, should be money well spent. So if you are going to spend it on the youth while increasing head count, and encouraging research/tie ups with other reputed institutes, then it is definitely money well spent. Surprisingly though, I read this morning that HAL has moved up to the 45th spot amongst all the defence R&D organisations. Makes me wonder....what am I missing here that seems to be working right for HAL....