Mars, India and the Poor
Spaced Out
MANGALYAAN, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission will if successful be the fourth space agency in the world to have visited the red planet. The project, highly coveted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is in itself a marked achievement, realized in a very short time frame and at relatively low cost. As Asian space research programs intensify, investments in projects like Mangalyaan are being questioned. Should a developing country, like India, in which sizable portions of the populace still suffer poor standards of living, really be indulging in a race to space?
Whilst Dr. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of ISRO, has clearly stated that the mission to Mars is non-competitive, the premise indicates that the stakes are high. The Japanese and Chinese missions to Mars, Nozomi and Yinghuo-1, have both failed. India is currently mired in blanket corruption scams, slowing economic growth, increasingly hostile neighbors and faltering foreign investment. Morales are low. A reputable project of international, scientific significance, may help wind find India’s sails.
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ISRO’s mission to Mars is estimated to have cost the Indian government $73 million, or 0.000039% of its GDP in 2012. Drawing a parallel between this cost and the improvements that it could bring about if invested in areas that would more directly impact the living standards of the average Indian, is by no means straightforward. Studies indicate that 32.7% of the Indian population live below the poverty line. When ranked by the Human Development Index, India features at 136 out of 187 countries measured.
It is a compelling to argue investments in space are extravagant when data clearly indicates that there are key issues on ground, that need to be dealt with. In context however, this argument is not as convincing. In 2012-13 India’s major subsidy bill was approximately 2.4% of it’s GDP. Expenditure on education, 3% of it’s 2010 GDP. For most of this past decade the rate of poverty decline rose to 2.18% annually, an increase from the 0.74% that the 90s offered. The improvement whilst significant, is overshadowed by the magnitude by which the economy grew by, over the same period (perspective).
The impact that an additional 0.000039% of GDP would impart on living standards can be deemed very modest, when compared to current expenditure and poverty decline rates. The main concern then, lies with the framework in place for addressing these issues — not the lack of funding. Red tape and corruption have propagated an inherently inefficient system that absorbs resources disproportionately. A $31 billion food and grain scam recently shook Indian bureaucracy.
Today India ranks 66th in the world on the Global Innovation Index. The number of resident patents filed per billion dollars of GDP between 2004 and 2005 (more recent data could not be found) reduced by 15.7%. Even if one could identify India as an export driven, production powerhouse these numbers are low. But one can’t. The Indian economy is relatively unique in that it poises itself largely on services, circumventing the traditional building block of industrialization: manufacturing. Despite its large labour force, India’s manufacturing sector is sluggish, with poor infrastructure and copious amounts of red-tape, making for a very challenging business environment.
Service led growth thrives on innovation. Projects like Mangalyaan, are of great significance to India. Not only can they tangibly affect lives in the short term, but they also lend credibility to a growing economy. They herald a spirit of innovation, progress and development, key for sustaining long term growth across all strata of the economy. Advances in technology offer a credible means of sustaining upliftment of the poor, bringing new jobs, industries and hopes. Mangalyaan is a unicorn amongst normal race horses, definitely worth betting on.
