The rot in India's scientific establishment

In a recently concluded and published report from the expert panel setup by the PM Manmohan Singh, former Isro chief Madhavan Nair was suspended from holding any critical posts in the scientific establishment, primarily due to alleged favouritism in the Antrix-Devas deal...

In the wake of such a scandal, Parsa Venkateshwar Rao analyses the entire scientific scenario of this country...

"The Antrix-Devas deal is not about corruption alone. The loss due to the favouritism shown to Devas, a company floated by a former Isro scientist to use the S-band spectrum and the commitment by Isro to build two satellites for dedicated use by Devas, is estimated at Rs2lakh crore, higher than the estimated Rs1.76 lakh crore in the 2G spectrum allocation."

The rot in India's scientific establishment

Delhi, we have a problem

"Did the Antrix-Devas agreement on S-band spectrum go as far as it did because many individuals in the know chose not to intervene?"

The fashion in which valuable S-band spectrum was allocated to a single private company for an extended period of time, and the way in which it was sought to be implemented were highly questionable. Whether, and to what extent, higher authorities such as the Space Commission and even the Union Cabinet were informed of the deal and its implications is murky and unclear.  The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Delhi, we have a problem

A preliminary estimate prepared by the CAG last year had suggested that the spectrum allotted to Devas could have been worth as much as Rs.2 lakh crore. According to ISRO, the amount payable by Devas over a 12-year period was just $300 million (~ Rs.1,500 crore).

It is difficult to see how the Space Commission could have been entirely in the dark about the deal with Devas. While individual accountability can and should be fixed, it is obvious that there was a system-wide malfunction.

The question is how many individuals up and down the government and Space hierarchy knew what was happening but chose not to intervene.

Watch this space

The saga of the scandalous deal that would have given a private company, Devas Multimedia, control over a large chunk of valuable S-band spectrum has not ended. If the agreement signed with Antrix Corporation in 2005, the marketing wing of the ISRO, had been allowed to stand, Devas could have made a killing.

Four former officials, including G. Madhavan Nair who was ISRO chairman when the deal was signed, were barred from holding any government position. The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Watch this space: Is it the government's considered view that these four officials were solely responsible for the deal? What about the Space Commission, which has a key oversight role over the space programme? Were the members of the Commission as blissfully unaware of the deal as is made out?

"The Antrix-Devas deal has raised fundamental questions about decision-making and oversight processes in the space programme. The government must come clean on what actually transpired by placing in the public domain the reports prepared by Dr. Suresh, the Chaturvedi-Narasimha committee and the high-level team."