ISRO chief reassures staff over privatisation concerns
Days after some Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)employees raised concerns about privatisation, its chairman V Narayanan on Monday said the space agency remains a Government organisation and dismissed apprehensions. He said the ISRO is working with private companies and startups to expand India’s space ecosystem.
His reaction came after nine employee associations at the ISRO wrote to the Chairman on September 4, seeking official clarification on the proposed transfer of its manufacturing and operational functions to private entities.
Speaking to reporters after the inaugural ceremony of the ninth edition of the Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX) here, Narayanan said India’s space programme is about 64-65 years old, and that at present there are 56 space assets in the sky serving the common man of the country, but the need is huge numbers. Recalling that since the space sector reforms were rolled out six years ago, he said, “we are supposed to hand-hold the private sector, startup companies, and grow the space ecosystem.”
“In fact, whenever a PSLV or a GSLV is lifting off, almost 80 per cent budget is invested in Indian industries. A total of 450 industries are working for us,” he said.
On the concerns raised by the employee associations, Narayanan said, “So, surely, my colleagues, whatever they have, is a genuine concern. It is our responsibility to clarify.” He clarified that the ISRO is not privatised and remains a Government organisation.
“We are working — it’s a Government investment, and we are working there. But the only thing is, we now (have) so many activities. The space ecosystem in the country has to grow and the space economy has to grow,” he said.
Responding to a question about different voices within ISRO raising concerns, Narayanan said, “We are 20,000 employees...we will address the employees.” He further added that ISRO has a system and it regularly talks to its employees. When asked about scientists resigning from ISRO, he said the space agency has 20,000 employees with over 8,000 scientists. “In the last five-six years, if you take the statistics, somewhere around 150 people per year have resigned. This is normal in any organisation,” he said.
He also clarified that the space agency had no shortage of budget and said whatever ISRO needs, the Government has been allotting it.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters here, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) Chairman Pawan Goenka said that everything that they are doing is consistent with the space policy.
Referring to the space policy, he said that the role of IN-SPACe and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) is very clearly defined, and there is not even an iota of digression from what is in the Indian space policy. So all the technology transfer that we are doing is as per Indian space policy.
He reiterated the ISRO chief’s assertion that the organisation’s projects were progressing fully as planned, with no disruption, slowdown, budgetary constraints or shortage of manpower.
He clarified that it is not ISRO versus industry. Instead, it is ISRO and industry taking on the world. “Right now, we are an about USD 8 billion space economy. We are targeting $44 billion by 2033. That cannot be done with ISRO alone; it cannot be done with industry alone. It has to be industry and ISRO together. ISRO will be supporting in a very big way, as it has been doing in the last several years, and it will continue to support,” Goenka added.
