Former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), K Kasturirangan, who was in the city for the birth centenary celebrations of Indian space pioneer Vikram Sarabhai, said the scientist and educationist had given top priority to Research & Development (R&D). However, funding for R&D has not improved in India over the years. In an interview to The Indian Express over telephone, Kasturirangan, who was chairman of the committee that drafted the 2019 New Education Policy (NEP), says R&D funding should be effectively utilised if Sarabhai’s vision is to be fulfilled, and that the NEP had come up with a roadmap for it. Sarabhai believed that “the development of a nation is intimately linked with understanding and application of science and technology by its people.” Funding allocated to R&D has been in dissonance with this credo of Sarabhai. The economic survey of 2017-18 shows that India’s spending on R&D in terms of GDP has been stagnant over two decades. At a time when R&D allocation in India was 0.43 per cent of the Gross National Product in 1969-70, Sarabahi wanted it to be raised to 1 per cent. Kasturirangan believes that had Sarabhai been alive today, “he would have been unhappy with how universities have not worked in (the field) Space (research) in a big way.” Speaking about pure research vis-a-vis applied research, Kastu-rirangan says, “There needs to be an interplay between academia, industry and government and unless we create a nexus among the three, the capacity to absorb the funding will not be utilised.” A similar concern was expressed by Pramod Kale, former director of ISRO Space Applica-tions Centre (SAC) who worked closely with Sarabhai. Kale had said, “There seems to be a lack of sustained involvement in the field. Pure sciences has largely remained restricted to universities or national laboratories.” Kasturirangan believes the education system needs to be strengthened, a reason why the National Education Policy recommends creating the National Research Foundation. “This will sow the seeds of research, create mentors, provide guidance and bring in people who are active otherwise but are not part of the field at present. New programmes (with respect to space science and technology) will be started in various universities.” As the Draft NEP 2019 outlined, “.The new National Research Foundation (NRF). encompassing the four broad areas of sciences, technology, social sciences, and arts & humanities.will also bring in cohesion among the various research endeavours of multidisciplinary character. Besides providing funding, NRF will also.seed and build research capacity in universities and colleges through.mentoring.” The NRF also envisions bringing in synergy between stakeholders and research groups, creating a mechanism for monitoring and mid-course corrections, and building strong linkages between universities and their counterparts on a global level. Kasturirangan, who led India towards planetary exploration with its first deep space mission - Chandrayaan-1, said Sarabhai was interested not just in earth sciences but was also very focused on communication and broadcasting and the use of space science systems for disaster management. Sarabhai emphasised the use of space science for socio-economic development, and by and large this mission has been fulfilled, says Kasturirangan. “Today industry plays a more proactive role by not just making parts of our systems but developing systems (as a whole).. He (Sarabhai) also believed in international cooperation and collaboration, which is very strong today,” he says. Now, “after development over 50 years, we are geared for exploration of other planets such as Mars, Venus and more sophisticated missions to the Moon,” says the former ISRO chairman. Recalling his first encounter with Sarabhai at Physical Research Library (founded by Sarabhai ) in Ahmedabad in July 1963, Kasturirangan says he was an MSc graduate who was looking for research opportunities in the field of astronomy and astrophysics. “After he grilled me and said my research work should be on the experimental side and not theoretical side, he laid down his vision on the work on space science that he was involved in, within 15 minutes. His vision is very relevant even today,” Kasturirangan says. Recollecting how Sarabhai later roped him in to the Indian space programme team, Kasturirangan says, “He invited me to PRL and had said he’ll meet me at 10 am. The moment he entered, he was surrounded by people.Finally at 5 pm when he met me, he put his hands on my shoulder, apologised for keeping me waiting and went on to explain about the programme. He was so persuasive and so full of conviction that there was no other option but to accept his offer.” Kasturirangan, of course, does not regret accepting that offer.
