@Pakistani Exile :
Now let me educate you on why Indians hate it when Brits start cribbing about aid. It is all about the timing. A couple of years back, the Brits were trying to sell us their eurofighter, the costliest non stealth fighter in the world. They even sent their PM down to India to advertise it. But finally we selected the Rafale on cost grounds, and immediately the british press was all screaming that indians are buying expensive fighters while Brit gives India aid. (Note that the aid would only have covered one eurofighter anyway, and we were buying 189.) Guess why that makes us angry?
Now, the European space agency sent a mars probe, and India is sending one at a fraction of the cost, doing it much more cost effectively, and suddenly many Brits are saying Indians should learn their place. Guess why it makes us angry?
Now, let me point out what our space program has always been about, in the words of its founder - we have stuck to these golden words throughout:
"There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight."
"But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society."
So you see, we have grappled with these questions and satisfied ourselves with the answers 50 years before the british public began asking them. And now we are a mature space power, whether anybody likes it or not. The communication and weather and military and remote sensing satellites we have sent up have revolutionised our agriculture and communications and military and Indians are monetarily and spiritually richer for it. And that is why it irks us when clueless Brits ask the same questions we pondered and answered half a century ago, as if these are some burning new questions that occured to them. As if we weren;t clever enough or mature enough to ask ourselves.
1) You did say something about poverty eradication and about priorities in spending money, which clearly sounds like questioning the need for a space program. If not you, many commentators in the west have asked why we are not spending on toilets and poverty instead. Yes, that reeks of ignorance and bigotry. For one thing, the amount we spend on poverty eradication is the biggest in the world, and would dwarf the amount spent on ISRO by several orders of magnitude.
2) British aid is distributed thorugh british approved NGOs, some of which are missionaries. It is not govt to govt.
3) The anger is justified, but the object of the anger is misplaced. You should be angry at your govt, not at Indians who have officially requested scrapping the puny aid. You should understand the average Indian's anger when we request scrapping the aid, Britain refuses, and then talks us down when we accomplish something.
The comparison to drone strikes is ridiculous, as if we ought to use force to stop British aid. If you dont want to send aid, tell your govt to stop it. We have already done so. We are not going to use our military to stop Britain sending unwanted aid. The comparison to drones is flawed because drones hurt pakistanis. Aid may not help india much, but it doesnt hurt either. In any case, stop your aid, the sole purpose of which seems to be to retain the right to talk down to us and telling us how we should spend our money.
Be angry all you want, but direct that anger at your govt, not at us. We will explore space and break atoms and learn the mysteries of the universe to the best of our abilities, whether you send aid or not. And not that it is anybody else's concern, but we will also spend several times more in eradicating poverty, and the scientific benefits accrued from research will also make India richer in future, just like it did in the past.
@Pakistani Exile - post edited to add a bit more info.
Now let me educate you on why Indians hate it when Brits start cribbing about aid. It is all about the timing. A couple of years back, the Brits were trying to sell us their eurofighter, the costliest non stealth fighter in the world. They even sent their PM down to India to advertise it. But finally we selected the Rafale on cost grounds, and immediately the british press was all screaming that indians are buying expensive fighters while Brit gives India aid. (Note that the aid would only have covered one eurofighter anyway, and we were buying 189.) Guess why that makes us angry?
Now, the European space agency sent a mars probe, and India is sending one at a fraction of the cost, doing it much more cost effectively, and suddenly many Brits are saying Indians should learn their place. Guess why it makes us angry?
Now, let me point out what our space program has always been about, in the words of its founder - we have stuck to these golden words throughout:
"There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight."
"But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society."
So you see, we have grappled with these questions and satisfied ourselves with the answers 50 years before the british public began asking them. And now we are a mature space power, whether anybody likes it or not. The communication and weather and military and remote sensing satellites we have sent up have revolutionised our agriculture and communications and military and Indians are monetarily and spiritually richer for it. And that is why it irks us when clueless Brits ask the same questions we pondered and answered half a century ago, as if these are some burning new questions that occured to them. As if we weren;t clever enough or mature enough to ask ourselves.
1) You did say something about poverty eradication and about priorities in spending money, which clearly sounds like questioning the need for a space program. If not you, many commentators in the west have asked why we are not spending on toilets and poverty instead. Yes, that reeks of ignorance and bigotry. For one thing, the amount we spend on poverty eradication is the biggest in the world, and would dwarf the amount spent on ISRO by several orders of magnitude.
2) British aid is distributed thorugh british approved NGOs, some of which are missionaries. It is not govt to govt.
3) The anger is justified, but the object of the anger is misplaced. You should be angry at your govt, not at Indians who have officially requested scrapping the puny aid. You should understand the average Indian's anger when we request scrapping the aid, Britain refuses, and then talks us down when we accomplish something.
The comparison to drone strikes is ridiculous, as if we ought to use force to stop British aid. If you dont want to send aid, tell your govt to stop it. We have already done so. We are not going to use our military to stop Britain sending unwanted aid. The comparison to drones is flawed because drones hurt pakistanis. Aid may not help india much, but it doesnt hurt either. In any case, stop your aid, the sole purpose of which seems to be to retain the right to talk down to us and telling us how we should spend our money.
Be angry all you want, but direct that anger at your govt, not at us. We will explore space and break atoms and learn the mysteries of the universe to the best of our abilities, whether you send aid or not. And not that it is anybody else's concern, but we will also spend several times more in eradicating poverty, and the scientific benefits accrued from research will also make India richer in future, just like it did in the past.
@Pakistani Exile - post edited to add a bit more info.
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