Cost-Cutting...

The UPA leaders are now obsessed with Economy Class Air Travel. Even cancelled some timepass trips, like the goodwill trip to greece. Also cut down on the the size of teams which accompany ministers in their forgein trips.

I think in addition to this, they should also look for other avenues of earning money, besides the government salary, so that they can pay more taxes and contribute positively. For example, in their spare time, they can each write a book criticizing some historical figure and hurt the sentiments of someone who can make enough noise when he cries. The book will sell like crazy. They can also work in movies, coz all of them are great actors already. There have been politicians who have acted in movies while being in office. So it's very much doable. Travel can be cut down by using technology. Afterall, it was cost-cutting that made private companies use video conferencing etc. So the government can do that as well. It's time our politicians got a bit entrepreneurial, and also made entrepreneurship easier and safe for those willing and daring.

One suggestion I have is to abandon projects like the Moon Mission and ask ISRO to focus on things which can add to our economic and social well-being. For example, an artifical satellite that does weather forecasting, remote sensing, spying, etc. is a useful investment. But a thing that goes away to Moon or Mars, rotates around it, and sends back images and videos of rocks and crap from there is a terrible waste of (taxpayer) money and talent for a poor country like India, and should hence be pursued through private investments.

I can think of some logical reasons for still doing them, however. Like, if we don't, we may miss out in terms of our capabilities and the learning curve in the long run. If we start our space program after becoming prosperous, when we will have nothing to worry about except the possibilities of life on Moon or Mars, we will then not be in a position strong enough to do anything significant, having lagged behind everyone in this race. But I am sure we can have innovative ways right now of continuing our research in the area, through simulation etc., while advancing more widely and more rapidly in other areas which make better sense, and drawing learnings through them and other means to enhance our knowledge about travelling into outer space. It's a matter of having the right will. Anyway we should be ashamed to give this justification for continuing with the space program, coz we never give the same importance and seriousness to education, health care, livelihood, safe drinking water, sanitation, skills, technology, infrastructure, etc., where we are already lagging behind most of the world. These things should be topmost in our priority list, rather than setting foot on moon. Later when we have time and money, we can launch ourselves into the dead parts of the universe, and search for life. Till then, I think we must value our own lives and those of the millions who are not getting enough or anything to eat. It's important to align the enthusiasm of our sceintists, politicians and intelligentia towards what the nation needs at the moment, particularly when it comes to policy decisions and ways of spending the taxpayer money. Anything that does not cause any positive impact on our well-being should not be funded by the taxpayer money. For all such activities, even if they are of high intellectual or scientific worth, seek private funding.