The space war may have just got a bit hotter; on the ground that is. A year after the government annulled the controversial Antrix-Devas agreement for S-band transponders to introduce mobile satellite services and gave the issue a silent burial, it looks like some of the unfinished business is now playing out.
Last week, as he heard the news of a government order barring him and four other former Isro scientists from future government assignments, an angry and hurt G Madhavan Nair lashed out at his successor at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for ?misleading the government? on the deal. He also saw ?something not really open and straightforward? in the government?s unprecedented action.
People who have served the country were ?thrown out like garbage?, said CNR Rao, one of India?s best known scientists and head of the scientific advisory council to the Prime Minister. Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar too saw the move as one that would stifle science, reasoning that new technologies needed bold steps.
Rao was further incensed when minister of state in the Prime Minister?s Office, V Narayanasamy, stepped in to say that the action would be a warning to scientists. On his part, Madhavan Nair saw the statement as coming straight out of the ?medieval? age.
Pretty soon, Narayanasamy did a U-turn and said that the views of the four space scientists will be considered. Still, for an organisation that has built its reputation on solid work over decades and whose scientists are seen as a closely-knit group, the developments have come as a blow.
In its order, the government said the action was taken after considering the two enquiries into the deal, conducted by high level teams. The controversial deal had been inked between Antrix and Devas when Nair was chairman of Isro.
To be sure, the real issues of why the deal was not right have never been explained, except for the argument that satellite bandwidth was seen to be sold cheap when compared with the huge valuations yielded by the auction of spectrum used for telecom services. The space scientists, on their part, have long argued that space spectrum isn?t the same as terrestrial spectrum and that it isn?t a fair comparison.
Now, as Nair has demanded to know the findings of the reports and what ?anomaly? led the government to take such a punitive step, it looks like Isro will finally oblige him. The current chairman K Radhakrishnan, whom Nair accused of having a ?personal agenda?, has said that the department of space is taking steps to make the reports of the enquiry committee public.
Looks like we haven?t seen the end of it yet.
ajay.sukumaran@expressindia.com