Last year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) restored India’s faith in the power of possibility. The Mangalyaan made India the first country to enter the orbit of Mars, in its very first attempt. Dr K Radhakrishnan, who was its chairman at the time, speaks to Pallavi Rebbapragada.
What role has the Indian education system played in developing technology?
Everyone is given the same education, but some students excel and others don’t. When ISRO was nucleated five decades ago, Vikram Sarabhai was in his 40’s and his colleagues were in their 30’s, with limited exposure to international developments in these emerging domains. What they did have though were the brightest minds, trained in the best Indian universities. Human capital shouldn’t be underestimated.
How does ISRO nurture the human capital at its disposal?
We believe, ISRO is a family and the elders must see the younger generation bloom. Each one, old or new, should focus on his or her role first. We have structured training programmes for persons at all levels; zero-defect delivery programmes at shop-floor level programmes. These are tested periodically as part of a merit-based promotion scheme.
How can we bridge the gap between textbook learning and real world training?
Education is distinct from training and should encompass actual practice. Instead of measuring knowledge with the term ‘education’ which happens only in formative years, we must emphasise on ‘learnability’ that acknowledges the constant evolution of the mind. The youth should be nurtured with creativity for basic research and industrious urge. We must identify the wealth of skills in our artisans, farmers and tribal groups, who don’t get educated in the formal education system.
At ISRO, and outside of it, how will technology skyrocket India into the future?
At ISRO, the future shines with a well-laid out programmatic direction in space exploration and applications, joint missions with major space-faring nations as equal partners. Space technology will evolve to serve the demands of society. Instead of simply dreaming about fancy and far-fetched breakthroughs, we must keep the focus on the betterment of everyday ground reality. Today, this IT-enabled India needs to be equipped with simple and robust devices. We need to move ahead with not just political and business intelligence, which makes us competent and attentive to the issues of the stakeholders, but also emotional and spiritual intelligence where we are empathetic towards new ideas and feelings of others, wherein we learn to respect our rich value system.