A Horror show called “India”:
Macaulay, after touring India, is said to have remarked that India was remarkably rich country and there were no thieves. Little did he know that, we have an uncanny knack of proving everyone incorrect.
At the last count 30% of the world's poor live in India. More than 70% Indians don’t have access to healthcare, sanitation and clean water. In the last 5 years there has been no major infrastructure projects to better the pathetic state of national highways. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is increasing at a huge pace. Farmers are committing suicides with every passing day, in spite of the much famed “bailout” package. We are staring at a huge resource crunch and the fiscal deficit is burgeoning. When all this is happening, ISRO, India’s main research organization is indulging in an Rs 425 Cr moon-mission. For the uninitiated, the mission is called “Chandrayaan”. But coming back to the crux of the issue, my question is: Is this all needed? (And if so: Why?)
More on the lunar mission:
The objective of the mission, as posted on ISRO website, is to try and discover traces of water on the moon. This is the second in the series of experiments and this experiment will last 2 years. All sounds good. With the risk of being repetitive, I wonder: Is this all needed?
My viewpoint:
Any activity if done with a concrete, well-thought goal yields results. The key operative here is “goal”. The goal should be achievable, should produce tangible results and the results should be visible within a reasonable timeframe. The lunar mission fails on all these counts.
Tangibility: Finding water on Moon. A short, simple, tangible goal. Either you find evidence of water or you don’t. There is no middle ground.
Let me not answer it straightaway. I would like to answer this with a couple of questions of my own .A question which has haunted me for a few weeks “Have we done anything in the last few decades, leave alone a few years, to restore our rivers, lakes and other water-bodies to ensure we have enough water for the ever growing population? ”.
The answer is a resounding “NO”.
“Have we developed the nation to such an extent that we now can think of realms outside our world?”
The answer is again a “NO”.
Since the answers are in the negative, isn’t it against common sense to get our act right here, conserve water in India (Still on Earth) first, find new water bodies and then try to find water on the moon?
I have not seen any initiative of the government to link the rivers in India, clean up the Ganges or even restore our dying lakes. The water table across the country is dropping at an alarming rate and we are nowhere in a position to prevent it let alone reverse it. Cant this 425 crores do a bit of all these instead of trying to find water on the Moon which the Americans, Soviets, Chinese have not been able to do so?
Achievable: What if we find water on the moon? Are we (Indians) ready to set up a factory out there to export water to Earth or are we in a position to setup lunar colonies?
I don’t think so and no sane person worth his/her salt thinks so too.
Reasonable timeframe: One might argue that in the next 50 years India will be developed and will set up lunar colonies. Okay. But is this not optimism bordering on idiocy? Let me explain with some hard facts.
Last week a study predicted that the entire world is staring at a recession, if not a depression. This translates to FII’s, foreign investors not putting any more money in India. What this means is, India which is dependent on other economies-due to lack of internal consumption, will have to bear the brunt of outflow of dollars. This translates to tightening of purse strings at a corporate level as well as at the personal level. The job loss figures could run into a few thousands. Added to these we are staring at a huge energy crunch, which could cripple our basic existence. And did I say Global warming?
Well-developed suburbs, let alone lunar colonies, need a huge commitment of people, money and resources. We have not built suburbs, which boast of all required amenities - which are world-class in all aspects, in the last 6 decades after independence. Will we now leapfrog to build lunar colonies? A tall order, when one comes to think of it.
Also add these facts to the ones at the start of my blog. Don’t these make one realize we are barking up the wrong tree? Should we not use this money on something more beneficial and showing tangible results in real time, than for something, which might take a few decades at the least?
Personally, the juxtaposition of an impending recession & the current economic scenario with a moon-mission is jarring.
Alternate Theories:
These theories, as proposed by a few people I know, try to explain the need for a lunar mission.
Sentimental value aka armchair patriot syndrome:
One of my friends said, “Lunar-mission will enhance our status in global community”. I said, “Humor me”. We don’t have enough food to feed all the hungry mouths, we rank a notorious 72 in the most corrupt countries list, we rank an ignominious first in defecating in public places, our human development index is worse than that of Pakistan and more people die in India due to militancy than those who die in Iraq due to the same reason. Did I miss some development index on which we have not been scaled?
All this pending and a single lunar mission will change the way world looks at us. A laughable thought indeed!
For this miracle has to happen then the lunar mission should:
Elevate the 90 million poor people in India, from BPL, to above poverty line
Ensure that majority of the Indians get 2 square meals a day, every single day
Ensure that our infrastructure is improvised to handle traffic for the next 20 years
Ensure that no Indian gets killed due to anti-national activity for years to come
Oops, I realized the list is too big to fit in here!!! The lunar mission cannot achieve even a part of what I mentioned here. Then what is all this brouhaha about? Is it a whimsical plan of some crackpot scientist to defraud the nation of a few hundred crores?
Leave you brains at home syndrome:
This is related to the syndrome mentioned above, but here the symptoms of idiotic optimism are more pronounced.
a. Soon common man in India will be traveling to and fro to moon. Lunar travel will be as commonplace as air travel
b. India will be a developed country by 2020 and this is a precursor
c. The lunar mission will enthuse Indians to work hard and be model citizens
d. Lunar mission will usher in a revolution, a la IT
I will not debate more on these. I feel these “eye-ball popping” theories do not merit a second look, let alone a response.
To summarize:
My main grouse is about the way in which money is being spent. Can’t we use Rs 425 crores on something more useful? Do we have dearth of developmental projects or have we run out of ideas? .
A simple question would answer: If the people of this country were given a Rs 425 crore bailout package what would they choose: a lunar mission with a possibility of finding water or a food-for-all/water-for-all/sanitation-for-all mission?
The writing is on the wall.
I now rest my case.
P.S:
One might argue that it is just Rs 425 crores. The expenditure is “peanuts” if we were a developed country. But sadly we are not and we are nowhere near reaching it.
I say, that the lunar experiment, can at best make some armchair patriots feel happy. Maybe happy for a few moments, until the news channels move on to a more sensational topic. Maybe an Indian victory in the 2nd test will replace this lunar mission on “Breaking News”. To conclude, I feel this experiment is a joke, and sadly the joke is on us Indians.