Anyways, I suppose setbacks are a way of life in the RnD field. Especially involving such complicated systems. Congrats to the scientists and wish you better luck next time.
Having said that, I must add that I am rather amused at the holy cow treatment that is given to the various defence and scientific establishments in the country. Be it the DRDO, the ISRO or the HAL and others.
Everytime, everywhere we read only news that praises their achievements but falls well short of asking hard hitting questions. Why ?
What is so sacred about these establishments that raises them above accountability and scrutiny.
Take for example the LCA (Light Combat Aircraft). Where are we on that project ? Very little is revealed except during the Republic Day parade when a model of the aircraft is dragged down Rajpath. I have not seen any movement or demo of the aircraft being reported. No news on user trials. Nothing whatsoever. Has the project been scrapped ?
Close on the heels of the LCA is the ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter). No news. What happened ?
Then we have the Trishul missile (if I am not mistaken) that went through a number of user trials before it was reported that the project was shelved. Quickly the government scrambled its media mandarins to deny this. The mandarins insisted that the project was alive, breathing and healthy.
Some years ago a news item surfaced alleging irregularities in the Nuclear Submarine Project. This was during the sacking of the Navy Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. Apparently his request for a technical audit of the project was rejected by the Defence Ministry. Why ?
And you have others like the Sagarika submarine launched missile and perhaps others that are hush hush.
The Agni III missile that slammed into the sea apparently cost the exchequer Cr 1300Rs. A whopping amount to be left unquestioned. I am sure the GSLV and the satellites that it was to carry, have a heft price tag attached.
My point is not the cost. My point is where is the accountability ? Who is asking the tough questions ? Who is being grilled for the failures ? Why is Parliament sleeping ? Afterall, it was parliament that approved the budgets for these programs, so shouldnt they pull up the directors and question them ?
Bottomline, its the tax payers money that is going into these projects. Yes, they are laudable initiatives that are vital to the security and prestige of the country. But, that does not mean they can claim immunity. The whole idea of an audit is to keep check. And not only that, the audit should be tabled in Parliament and the relevant committees should go into these reports and taken action where necessary.
The media should be asking the tough questions rather than merely printing the press releases as news items. We need to ask hard questions and get open and bold answers.
Is someone listening ?
(pic courtesy Bharat Rakshak)
5 comments:
Nice post!
Only parliament can extract information on this, no one else can!
Poor Salary, bureaucracy, and lack of collaboration with external world can kill the effectiveness of even a low-technology industry like the IT industry. But that is the case in our highly technology dependant industry like the defense, and space sector.
It was once said that we should not make things at home which we can buy cheaper outside. That is the reason why we are not making our own Coconut Oil or Clothes.
India will be better served if it can privatise the defense and space sector, and also windup financially non-viable projects. LCA or Trishul are not complex projects like the Missile Defense Shield. If we are not able to work on those projects, then maybe we should just buy it from outside. I think we anyway buy most of the equipments from outside.
As India is a major defense equipment purchaser, it would make more sense to allow private entities in India like the Tatas to setup defense corporation. If we can trust the private defense companies in other countries to build defense equipment for India, you can trust your local company as well. Atleast it will help create thousands of jobs in India, and you can built it at a lower cost.
Karthik
Karthik,
cant agree more.. nice thought.. opening up is the solution to this problem..
Read this, good counter point.
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/11guest.htm
Yes. ISRO has been more professional than many other sectors in the government. But the 80-20 rule still apply. 20% of the people doing 80% of the world. One of my friend used to mention about how his cousin never had to go to work. He will take off 2-3 days a week. In Satyam or Infosys, they would have fired him. But the same cannot be done in a bureaucratic organization. I have seen even Fortune 500 companies being bureacratic. Not all the employees in ISRO will be scientists. The open culture might be prevalent among the scientific community, but the regular paper pushers or the switch handlers do it the government way.
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