Senior Indian Scientist on Chandrayaan-1: Meh!

ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter

Why fundamental scientific research has not caught on in India (Comment)
Thaindian News

Even as the nation continues to celebrate the success of Chandrayaan, the country’s first space mission to moon, this is not something one of the seniormost scientists in India, Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, is particularly thrilled about….

Rao, the head of the Prime Minister’s Scientific Advisory Council, observes there is no reason for India to celebrate the moon mission success. In fact, he says, India is just doing a follow-up on the moon mission of the US undertaken more than three decades ago.

The senior scientist wants the nation to focus on fundamental scientific research. He does not find much value in public funds being invested in technology development or application research.

Rao is not just another scientist. For the last six years, he has been heading the prime minister’s council, making him the country’s highest ranked adviser on science policy. The council’s science and technology policy is implemented by another committee headed by former nuclear scientist R. Chidambaram that also advises the cabinet.

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