Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'India and technology' that was published in Newsband

India and technology

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) made its first successful flight nineteen years ago. In the course of an unbroken chain of 22 successful launches, it has carried 27 Indian spacecraft as well as 35 foreign ones to space. It has taken earth-viewing satellites, which typically orbit the earth from pole to pole, as well as those like the meteorological satellite and the communication satellite. It lofted India’s Chandrayaan-1 on the first leg of its journey to the Moon. The primary payload on this occasion was the Indo-French Satellite which is equipped with an altimeter that allows sea surface height to be measured from space with greater precision than before.

There are some important missions coming up for ISRO this year. The next launch is likely to be that of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) equipped with an indigenous cryogenic stage. The first of seven satellites for the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is scheduled to go up later this year, as also the country’s first mission to Mars. A test of the more powerful GSLV Mark-III, with a dummy cryogenic stage, too is on the cards.

India is one of the leading countries in PSLV technology but lagging behind in GSLV technology. Mastering GSLV technology requires cutting edge research which we usually tend to buy from foreign countries at a high price. Instead of spending people's money for buying satellites, using foreign launch vehicle for GSLV satellites, buying foreign defence technologies, India should develop required technologies by promoting indigenous research.

Achievements of India in technological field certainly deserve applause. But it is high time that even the poor benefited from the technology. It is sad that technological development has not made it possible to provide basic service like food, nutrition, health and education to many. It has not been able to find cure for some ailments.

ISRO is a like a Gold medal on the chest of India. ISRO has achieved what many developed nation are still aspiring to achieve. One feels great to know that Indian scientists are world renowned. It will be wonderful if young powerful minds joined ISRO and took India still more ahead in technological field.

The impressive launch of PSLV 10 with its equally impressive payload of seven satellites, with different functions including those on behalf of other countries, has sent out a clear message to the world that India has come of age in Space Technology. The travel has been long, arduous and no doubt slow but certainly very sure. Next will be other such launches but soon we shall have put our own man on the Moon. We should be proud of our scientists who have proved that India is not lagging behind in technology.