Is India judicious to spend on defense and space research?

After witnessing India's rise into the "elite" space club and subsequent test firing of DRDO's 'Nirbhay' cruise missile, my body could no longer resist the 'YOU MUST NOW WRITE A POST' hormone. So, here I am, yet again, to give you all a piece of my tarnished mind and appeal to all of you to think more rationally.

Let me come to the more argumentative part of the argument. Is India judicious enough to spend gigantic amounts on defense and space research while we are having some preposterous problems in the mainland? Well, let me take the most recent developments of ISRO and DRDO and argue in a more deductive fashion.

1)MOM- Mars Orbiter Mission

 

One of the reasons why being an Indian releases a 'feel good hormone' in my body is because we know how to be frugal! Following this trend, ISRO, the space research organization started in an abandoned church by Vikram Sarabhai, had reduced the cost of MOM to such an extent that if one were to divide the total cost of the mission by the total population of the country, the answer would be dazzling enough to prompt him/her to recheck the calculations for errors. As it turns out, the cost of the mission is $74 million(as opposed to $671 million of NASA's Maven). This implies that an average Indian has paid a total sum of 3.75 rupees for the mission! Moreover, India has become the first nation to place a satellite into the Mars' orbit successfully in it's very first attempt and that too at an alarmingly low cost. A reason to worry sets in when we start thinking about it more rationally- Good! India can do the satellite stuff, but why be a hypocrite? Why brag about being a space superpower when there is a sky rocketing infant mortality rate? Why project yourself as a nascent satellite manufacturing hub when you have a serious dearth of human resources to carry out more such programmes in the future?

MOM being integrated into PSLV C-25

Well, what others might see as a precarious experiment with the future of India, I see as a perfect opportunity to set things going! It is a well known fact in the discipline of economics that the standard of living of a country depends directly on the production that is going on in the country. This means, that if all other things are neutral, a high production(and productivity) would mean a better standard of living for the people, because apparently, more production means more income. Also, it is quite apparent from the hype and promises of certain companies that excursions to other planets(and space is general) will soon be a feasible concept and hence the production relating to space craft manufacturing is soon to see an exponential boom. Now, let me connect the dots-India needs better standard of living(better education,healthcare,housing etc) and many countries and private companies need launch vehicles and satellites to 'START' R&D activities in space and to make their space odysseys possible. From where else, but India, will they find a cost-effective model of launching vehicles ready at their service?! It would therefore be idiotic to doubt the veracity and long term aspirations of ISRO to execute MOM!

Our neighbor Mars, as viewed from ISRO's satellite. A proud moment for all Indians!

Let the reader also note, that it would be fatal if India fails to prepare human resource essential for executing bigger projects that are yet to arrive! Also, I must not forget to mention the possibility of a "Space War" among the countries- A hunt for more territory, even in space, which is known to be infinite! In conclusion, all the expenditure that has been done so far on our Indian Space Programme does not seem to be loathsome but has long term implications instead.

2)NIRBHAY- India's second cruise missile.

Now, let me keep this simple- Spending on defense is NOT FRILLY! Get over it Indian government! And honestly, I have to retard my mental functioning when I hear these Luddites calling it a 'CONTINGENT EXPENDITURE'! Let the reader note that its just a cunning play of words. It is not, in the least, a contingent/defense expenditure but a 'SUPERFLUOUS WASTEFUL EXPENDITURE'. India spends USD 44.88 billion (INR 4488 crores) on 'DEFENSE' when we are losing 23 million infants each year due to malnutrition. I shall leave it to the discretion of the reader to decide if this expenditure is contingent. It seems as if we are moving towards a more "North-Korean" fashion of governance where expenditure on defense is a priority. Let me ask a simple question to the supporters of DRDO- How do you expect more of such super ballistic,hypersonic,intercontinental or cruise missiles in future when the primary dropout rate in one of the Indian states is as high as 94.3%? How on earth are we supposed to get the human resource required to execute such projects? It is silly to argue that we need these missiles to deter Pakistan or China!

BRAHMOS- the fastest supersonic missile of the world, on display

The Pakistani military,as is well known, is a corrupt institution remotely controlled by the central government and is even alleged to have close associations with TTP(Tehrik-e-Talibaan, Pakistan). Moreover, many defense analysts have argued, with sufficient amount of evidences, that the military power of India is more than that of it's counterpart. Why then, do we need another '1-up'? In fact, why did we need another cruise missile when we already have the fastest intercontinental cruise missile "BRAH-MOS"?

As far as the Chinese military is concerned, it can be said without an inkling of a doubt that their military is stronger and their defense expenditure larger than ours! But at the same point in time, our GDP is $1.877 trillion and theirs, $14 trillion!Moreover, India spends 2.4% of it's GDP on military whereas China spends 2.1%. Once India surpasses China's GDP, I shall retract my present opinions and rejoice in a conviction of my error. But till then, let us accept that given all the three countries are nuclear powers, its dilatory to spend anything on defense! (deterrence plays it's part).

NIRBHAY, the newly developed cruise missile was successfully test fired in Orissa.

Another fact, due to which my pride of Being Indian is blemished, is that India is the ONLY country in the world which carries out rallies to celebrate it's progress in the defense sector! Be it the development of the Nukes or test firing of BRAH-MOS, we always have a reason to celebrate. (Pakistan and North Korea have likewise followed this vogue of celebrating.) Also, let the reader note that if manufacturing of these notorious weapons and missiles is what drives our GDP up in the next fiscal year, please do not be fooled to take it as an indicator of an increment in the overall well being of the country because what is being increased is not the infrastructure/health care/education, but redundant production of weapons of mass destruction!



So, to conclude this little drudgery of mine, filled with unnecessary verbosity, I would like to make an appeal to the very sensible government(sarcasm intended) of my country to reduce the defense expenditure, take robust initiatives to boost production in India and think more than one zillion times before going on war with any country(something that I have an intuition it would, given it's aggressive foreign policies).

As long as Indians with such thought process exist, I will continue to hold my country in highest respect.

Please comment so that I can show my mom that people read what I write. :')