India’s space programme is an investment in the future

Nov 13, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
I write in response to my good friend Freddie Kissoon’s Sunday column, “Some world leaders are heartless,” (KN 11-10-13), in which he sought to show that the leaders of India were heartless because they were spending money on a mission to Mars instead of spending it to alleviate poverty.
He quoted a BBC journalist as asking, “But when a country is home to millions of people in extreme poverty, why do they feel the need to explore other worlds.” Freddie himself asks, “ Why does India want to spend that humongous amount on space exploration when such knowledge can be obtained from American, Russian and European research?”
Freddie loves to write about “ Freudian slips” and I am wondering if he has unwittingly betrayed an inferiority complex by proposing that India should rely on the White people who not so long ago had conquered, colonized, enslaved, and decimated the peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Surely Freddie is not proposing a new form of colonisation of India.
Freddie , like me and the billion plus Indians including the millions of impoverished , should take pride in the achievements of Indian science and technology. For a lesson in national pride I recommend Freddie look at the short film, “Children of the pyre,” which documents the lives of five boys aged nine to 15 years and who make a living cremating bodies in India.
They are considered the untouchables of the untouchables. They do not attend school but they are very street educated as evidenced by their views of politicians as rogues and scamps, and of the “high caste” as fools because in death “it is we who have to handle them.” Those boys do have respect for their country, national flag and anthem and great pride in India’s space programme and that was before the Mars mission launch.
Perhaps Freddie should have seen the faces of the poor children all over India as they looked skywards at the time of the launch to the see the national joy and pride it brought them.
I know that $75M is a “humongous amount” to the poor. It can indeed buy pizza for the millions of poor kids for a few days. But that $75M is an investment in the future of those kids. Think how many millions of poor children will be inspired to attend school and aspire to be scientists, engineers, and technologists.
And what about the millions of current scientists and students, doesn’t the Indian government have an obligation to their needs for development, advancement, and fulfillment too. It would be ideal to have equal development of all the peoples simultaneously but unfortunately the world does not work like that.
Development has and will always be unequal so governments will spend on poverty reduction and “ the need to explore other worlds.” In fact the Indian Mars mission is an investment in poverty alleviation.
Apart from inspiring millions of kids to get an education, the Indian space programme is an economic investment. In the next 10 years the space exploration industry will be at $350 Billion.
Indian space research costs about one-tenth that of the USA. India’s Mars mission cost $75M as compared to the USA’s next mission that will cost $675M. It means that India can position itself to capture a fair share of the industry by offering less costly services.
It can translate as much as $100 Billion in earnings for India. And that Freddie is one of the main reasons for the Indian Mars probe. Spend $75M today and earn $100 Billion in the next couple of decades. Of course India has to catch up USA, Europe, Russia, and China in space in order to be able to defend itself. That is a harsh reality, too, Freddie.
And as for depending on the White folks for knowledge Freddie might want to find out how many Indian scientists work at the USA’s NASA. They comprise 36 per cent of the staff and in fact the USA’s next Mars mission was designed by Indians. And this just 65 years after white colonialism! I am proud to be of Indian origin and so should you Freddie.
Malcolm Harripaul

Latest News

India’s space programme is an investment in the future

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Seven Regional Champions to vie for direct promotion single spot in...

Kennard Memorial Turf Club expresses sincere...

Canada-based Guyanese Umpire Suresh Budhoo...

Anil Beharry Real Estate and Related Services...

Alarm in West Indies over radical two-division...

After 18 years hiatus, West Indies arrive in...

Features/Columnists

Jagdeo’s policies were a disaster

Forget Begging Rich Nations: Caribbean Countries Should Act to Save Themselves

John Hess speaks, Guyanese should listen

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

India’s space programme is an investment in the future

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]