Why Western criticism of Indias Mars mission is blatant racism

Nov 12, 2013 #ISRO #Mars #Mars Mission #Racism #Space #western media Balaji Viswanathan India has now successfull launched its mission to Mars! "he mission was achieved at an e#traordinar low price ta$ of %&' million ( one)tenth of what a similar mission would cost N*S* or +S*! If this successfull reaches Mars, India will ,e the first countr to have the Mars mission succeed on the first tr ! The provocation: -ust as .uic/l as the roc/et sped off, 0estern 1ournalists who marveled the moon wal/ in their childhood are en$a$in$ Indians in an unnecessar provocation! *nd these are not comin$ from cheap ta,loids, ,ut reputed media houses! It is not the criticism that ran/les, ,ut how crudel the are hittin$ ,elow the ,elt!

Surface of Mars! *2 ima$e "his author chose to include povert ri$ht in the headline3 4India Mars Mission to 5aunch *midst Overwhelmin$ 2overt !6 0hat a refreshin$ headline7 Not even povert ! It has to ,e 4overwhelmin$ povert 6! 0ho are we to launch into space8 Should we not as/ our 9ritish colonial masters ,efore doin$ an thin$8

*pparentl the other countries en$a$in$ in scientific research face no povert ! *pparentl , space has somethin$ to do with povert ! *pparentl , it is ,etween fundin$ Isro and solvin$ povert ! :ou cannot do ,oth! No sir, no! Ne#t time, when ou write a,out somethin$ that 9ritain did well, sure to remem,er to randoml incorporate the povert of 9irmin$ham and the riots of 5ondon into the title! 4+n$land wins 10 Ol mpic $olds amidst all the povert 6 4N*S* ,e$ins its moon mission despite failin$ to mana$e hurricane relief6 4+uropean Space *$enc launches a satellite despite the ina,ilit to control reli$ious riots in 2aris and "ottenham, 5ondon6! "his CNN author didn;t even pretend to hide the racist idea3 Is India;s Mars mission the latest escalation in *sia;s space race8 <or a countr li/e *ustralia, the space aspirations are e#tremel pra$maticall driven! On the other hand, a countr li/e Mala sia is intent on puttin$ astronauts in space = that;s ver presti$e)oriented! *pparentl , ,rown people;s am,itions to reach space is not pra$matic enou$h! *pparentl , the %&> million spent on the Mars mission is the onl thin$ that /eeps us from ,uildin$ toilets! "his $entleman at The Guardian ma/es a thinl )veiled threat3 4ISRO to launch India;s first spacecraft to Mars3 ?ritics of 9ritain;s aid pro$ramme in the countr have also ,een an$ered , the mission! "he @A $ives India around B300m each ear!6 9ritain threatens to pull its aid! "his is $hastl ! 0hat would India do without all these do)$ooder 9ritish aid8 "he Indian econom of 1 trillion pounds was ,adl dependin$ on these 300 million pounds that comes with no strin$s attached! 0e are an un$rateful ,unch, aren;t we8 0e are supposed to surrender our national priorities and research wor/ and listen to our e#)colonial masters for a paltr 300 million! "his +conomist article is more su,tle and even more racist3 Cow can poor countries afford space pro$rammes8 0hat if the 1D,000 scientists and en$ineers now wor/in$ on space development were deplo ed instead to fi# rotten sanitation8 Someone from O#ford wants to /now wh don;t we all Indians wor/ on toilets and pott research8 If this author lived at the time of Renaissance, sEhe mi$ht have written3

Newton, Michelan$elo and da Finci are wastin$ time instead of ,uildin$ toilets! 2overt should indeed ,e an e#cuse to postpone $reat achievements! Ri$ht8 "hese achievements are the ones that are /eepin$ our /ids smilin$ and hopeful! "his /id has an e#tra inspiration now! She has e#tra hope! The double standards: "his event is monumental for us Indians! Ima$ine how the *mericans felt when the first landed on moon! "his is a landmar/ wor/ for Indian scientists and I am filled with pride, 1ust as the 1GD0s *mericans were filled with pride as *rmstron$ made his stride! Sure, *merica had plent of issues in 1GDG ( Fietnam war, civil ri$hts, inflation, unemplo ment! 9ut, those ne$ative news could wait another da ! It was time to en1o the moon! *ctuall , these commentators $ive a s.uat a,out India! "he don;t have an histor of commentin$ on India;s social needs! "his is 1ust outri$ht racism clothed in a patroniHin$ tone! "o me the 1ust loo/ li/e sore losers and cr ,a,ies! The cost: Man of these 1ournalists cri,,in$ a,out the cost seem disconnected from India! 0e spent '>0 crores on this mission! 5et me put that in conte#t! One of the local cric/et teams ( Mum,ai Indians ( alone is worth 1000 crores! *m,ani ,uilt a home in Mum,ai for >000 crores! +ver sin$le da , Indians ,u $old 1ewelr worth 1>00 crores! *n upcomin$ 9oll wood movie Imade a,out spaceJ is costin$ over >00 crores! *nd finall , the Indian central $overnment ,ud$et is 1& la/h crores II actuall rounded off this fi$ure and that round)off error alone could fund 130 such missionsJ! India doesn;t have more toilets, not ,ecause we don;t have e#tra '>0 crores, ,ut ,ecause of our poor e#ecution of thin$s! Kon;t heap our ,lame on poor Isro for India;s social conditions Iironicall , a non)trivial portion of this povert L hun$er is due to the coloniHation under a power from where ou are writin$ these articlesJ! Desi wannabes:

"he Man$al aan vessel3 2"I Not to ,e outdone , the firan$is Iforei$nersJ, our Indian wanna,es 1oined action3 *midst euphoria, some voices .uestion cost of Mars Mission Social activist Carsh Mander termed the mission as a 4remar/a,le indifference to the di$nit 6 of the poor! Arre7 2oor are so hurt now, ouch ,ecause of some ,i$ words7 Of course, when Mr! Mander teaches from an *? classroom at a ,usiness school or $ives lectures from comf podiums, the di$nit of the poor is not so much hurt! *n e#)ISRO head was .uoted e#tensivel , ever one3 4It is not value for mone M It is more distur,in$ that some,od is ma/in$ a claim that the are $oin$ to find presence of life on Mars! "his is reall moonshine!6 Moonshine8 0ow7 Of course none of this ,itterness and dis$runtlement is due to him ,ein$ an e#)emplo ee who was e#pelled from ISRO after the S),and scam! Ce carries out an open war with the current Isro chief and of course we can e#pect him to ,e un,iased L honest in this issue! Why India needs a Mars pro ram: It is e#citin$ for children and teena$ers, man of whom mi$ht ta/e up a career in science, technolo$ and research! "hese /ids deserve an inspiration in the s/ ! If we can $et a couple of hundred of these /ids into hard sciences, the mission would have paid for itself completel ! Isro is alread usin$ the technolo$ to help other countries put their e.uipment in space Ifor a lucrative fee, of courseJ! If we continue to innovate in cost and speed, we could ,ecome a ,i$

hu, for space pro1ects! "hat would mean emplo ment for 1000s of en$ineers and lot of forei$n mone ! India needs to prove its technolo$ical capa,ilities as it is ,uildin$ up the technolo$ hu, of the future ( not 1ust space, ,ut ever thin$! If ou could launch a Mars mission at the cost of settin$ up +R2 in an enterprise, ou could ,uild an thin$! "here are ,oth direct and intan$i,le effects of this demonstration! "his would reall ,enefit India;s tech companies! "his is actuall roc/et science7 *$ain more mone ! India needs to spend on research to master the science of the future! N*S* had plent of spin) offs resultin$ out of its space pro$ram that advanced other fields such as medicine, apparel, food and navi$ation! 0e could have made the 4Model "6 of spacecrafts ( ine#pensive and .uic/! "he mission was completed in 1ust 1' months and %&> million with little prior e#pertise! More importantl , the mission $ot off the $round on the first tr ! ?hina, -apan and Russia have had to a,ort Mars missions in the past 2 decades due to launch failures! "hat is an outstandin$ en$ineerin$ feat worth of salute! Indians have alwa s ,een fascinated , space since anti.uit ! Our ancient scientists spent all their lives loo/in$ at space! In the recent times, scientists such as Su,ramaniam ?handrashe/ar INo,el laureate in astroph sicsJ, SN 9ose I9oson was named after himJ have electrified the field! "his mission is deepl fascinatin$ even from a cultural perspective! Ima$ine the potential for humanit if we could launch hundreds of ine#pensive missions in our search for alternative life forms and alternative planets! <our ears a$o, India helped confirm that there is water on moon ( the confirmation of which has eluded $lo,al researchers for five decades! "his mission sent to detect methane could ,e the start of a new life for Indian science! Aryabatta and Bhaskaracharya would ,e reall proud of the lads who wor/ed on this mission! 0e need our Renaissance! 0e have to start ,rea/in$ the chain of povert , thin/in$ outside the ,o#! "hat would mean ,oldl assertive! 2eople in other wal/s of life can surel draw inspiration from our scientists! "his da is so refreshin$ althou$h I have Hero connection with an thin$ Isro did! If we can reach Mars, we can do an thin$ ( from politics, arts to science L sports! Outsiders have no idea of what this all means to Indians! +ven a poor, hun$r /id could dream for a Math Ol mpiad, can;t she8 In the same wa , even a poor hun$r nation can participate in a scientific mission, can;t we8 0e launched a peace pro1ect ( not a ,om,! 0e didn;t $o around fi$htin$ a poor countr citin$ the presence of fa/e 0MKs! 0e didn;t ,uild a vessel to con.uer unsuspectin$ third worlders! 0e launched a mission to help humanit and the advancement of science! More importantl , we launched it with our mone ! 0e didn;t as/ for our mone nor help! 0ho are ou to patronise us this wa 8

"hese 1ournalists are li/e the rich ,ullies who enter a poor man;s house and moc/ at the ,oo/s /ept , the poor man ( 4:ou poor people can;t afford to eat rich food and ou can afford to ,u more ,oo/s86 :es, these 1ournalists prett much appear to me li/e those ,ullies! Balaji Viswanathan writes for Quoras finance blog: ingfin!co"! This #ost originally a##eared on Quora!co"! $t has been re#roduced here with #er"ission of the author!