Chandrayaan-1, now successfully orbiting the moon, cost less than one-tenth of the Indian Premier League rights bagged by Sony Entertainment. Rocket science may be no match for cricket on the Indian popularity scale, but the economics of the Indian space odyssey could well be a lesson for everyone. While ISRO spent a little more than Rs 380 crores (about half the price of a jumbo jet) on Chandrayaan-1, a similar effort by NASA or any other space agency would have cost five times more. ISRO chairman said that the agency did not cut any corners. The key was optimisation -- tests that the Americans would have done six times, ISRO did just three times. It was a calculated risk but has been successful so far. Do you think that Isro's example proves we can successfully execute ambitious projects on a shoe-string budget? Or does cost-cutting mean compromising on quality?
We, Indians, can surely excel in anything we put our minds to. We have proved time and again that we can spring a surprise on the world, whether facing the US led sanctions during testing of the A-bomb, bringing FDI into India, achieving 8-9% growth and now Chandrayan-I.
The key here is, all things run parallel. Industry Growth, Economic Development, Eradication of Poverty and the Mission to Moon. Its not like we can do 1 thing and not do another at the same time. Its the will to succeed and aspiration to do something which makes the world stand up and take notice. If only our narrow minded politicians had the same dedication and aspiration of making India proud. Now, thanks to ISRO, we have a fledging satellite launch business, which will surely help us reap benefits, if not now, 5-10 years down the line and has put on the global map being only the 6th country in the world to have an unmanned mission to the moon.
One lamentable fact is that though we make giant strides in some areas, we fall woefully short in some. There is no uniform growth in all sectors. Borrowing a line from a popular Rajni movie - The rich get richer, the poor get poorer!!
1 comment:
Dear Sir
Good analysis and observations.
Yes Indians with hardwork and unity can achieve anything only sky is the limit...
But to do that we need to be above politics,regionalism,casteism etc..
let us all redidacte ourselves to nation.let Abdul Kalam be our role model.
let us atleast sacrifice ourselves on a scale of 1/10th what our forefathers dreamed about india and got us independence from the British.
If all work as a team ,we can make India like a Germany or a Japan for sure ..
Let us not worry too much about superpower and stuff like that .. we are not in race with anyone ..
Our moral responsibility is to get all our fellow Indians who are in poverty out from its clutches.
I strobgly believe technology will play a pivotal role ...
ISRO is a good example that has proven time and again .. we need good educational institutions,we need our youth to have patrotism coupled with practicality .. we need to reatin our traditions ..but yet cultivate scientific temperment from a young age..
Dr Kalam has and is doing a wonderful job in encouraging youth to dream and dream higher which can make india stronger and achieve its goals...
we have a long way to go but let us take ISRO achievements as an inspiration and continue our journey to make india stronger and eradicate all its problems..
jai hind
Rama Mohan ANNE
Sydney Australia
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