Use India’s successful Mars mission as a template for economic lift-off

[prasad1]

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When John F Kennedy told US Congress in 1961 that America must go for the moon, it not only led to the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 but also inaugurated decades of American innovation, ingenuity and progress. The moon shot was as much about conquering frontiers of space as about conquering odds on earth. Similarly, India has now created history with its Mangalyaan now having entered into orbit around Mars. India is the third country to achieve this, the first in its maiden attempt, the first in Asia. It also spent the least money to do so — its $72 million budget was less than what it took to produce the Hollywood film Gravity. Now that we have had our Mars shot, we need a Mangalyaan for the economy — like the Americans did with their moon shot.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets ready to unveil his ‘Make in India’ campaign ahead of his wooing of prime-time America, the time has come for him to bite the bullet and take bold steps for India’s economic lift-off too. “We’ve dared to reach out into the unknown,” he told Isro’s scientists, “and achieved the near impossible.” A similar scale of ambition and execution is also needed for the next stage of economic reforms, for clearing up investment bottlenecks for domestic and foreign investors and for sprucing up infrastructure and health delivery systems.
Modi’s ‘Make in India’ pitch which will focus on 25 chosen sectors, 25 government departments and 30 countries is aimed at pushing manufacturing growth to over 10% annually. The hard sell is good. So is the PM’s planned outreach to corporate chieftains in America over the coming weekend. But smart acronyms and good sentiment can only take us so far. More will be needed to unleash the animal spirits of the economy and the PM will eventually have to take some tough calls on deregulating key sectors, creating a robust and independent regulatory infrastructure for liberalised sectors and ending the bureaucratic red tape that continues to bind businessmen in a never-ending maze of permits and permissions.
Mangal may have got its MOM, as the PM put it. Now the economy needs its igniting thrust too. As we toast Isro and its Mangalyaan on its incredible success, here’s wishing it can soon be mangal for the rest of us as well.
Times Of India | Blogs

 

[tks]

Nasa Mars project execution is often used to teach that building lasting quality is about attitude and character (along with the right processes).

I hope that the Magalayaan project becomes a source of inspiration and direction for Indian engineers to dedicate to producing quality output at every step of the way. If such a commitment can be secured even with 30% of the work force nothing can stop India's trajectory to becoming a super economic power in a decade or so.

 

[prasad1]

I have read a lot about the criticism of Mangalyaan and India's space programme.

There's an assumption among many, I guess, that space activity is somehow a plaything best left to wealthy industrial countries; that it can have no value to developing nations. The money would be better spent on healthcare and improved sanitation, so the argument goes.


But what this position often overlooks is that investment in science and technology builds capability and capacity, and develops the sort of people who benefit the economy and society more widely.
Space activity is also a wealth generator. Some of the stuff we do up there pays for stuff down here. The industrialised nations know it; that's one of the reasons they invest so heavily in space activity.

Consider just the UK. It has dramatically increased its spending on space in recent years.
The government has even identified satellites as being one of the "eight great technologies" that can help rebalance the UK economy and drive it forward. India wants a part of this action, too, and in Mangalyaan and its other satellite and rocket programmes, the nation is putting itself into a strong position in international markets for space products and services.

Science and technology builds capability and capacity, and inspires the next generation.

BBC News - Why India's Mars mission is so cheap - and thrilling

 

[prasad1]

No one has ever suggested that US-India match is made in heaven, but all things being mangal, a Martian dalliance is something to write home about.


When Prime Minister Narendra Modi emplanes for the United States for a five-day visit later this week, he will arrive in New York with the tailwind of India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), otherwise known as Mangalyaan, behind him. Besides bragging rights of having beaten China to the Red planet, he will bring with him an extraordinary and oft-repeated story — of a mission that has been accomplished at a lesser cost (about $70 million) than it took Hollywood to make the movie Gravity ($100 million).
Whether the feat will impress American business leaders and lawmakers, who he will meet in groups and individually, both in New York and Washington, is hard to say. Modi's "Make-in-India," message has compelling Martian moorings now, but many Americans, including lawmakers under pressure in an election season from constituents, want an earthy return to "Made-in-America" products, and an end to what is loosely called outsourcing or offshoring. Then there is the dynamics of big business trying to navigate the tricky terrain between globalization and the 24/7 supply chain, and pressure from administration to keep manufacturing at home.


Of the more than a dozen American CEOs the Prime Minister is scheduled to meet, a majority of them have significant India operations and extensions. They include General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt, Boeing's James McNerney Jr, IBM's Ginni Rometty. Caterpillar's Dough Oberhelman, MasterCard's Ajay Banga, and Pepsico's Indra Nooyi. Then there are CEOs whose views strike at the very heart of the PM's "Make-in-India" message, notably Big Pharma honchos (he is meeting the CEO of Merck, Kenneth Frazier).


Ironically, it is the US space administration itself that is fully aware of the cost differential and price dynamic of the space mission. Mangalyaan's MoM-ent in space came at about a tenth of the cost of NASA's $671 million Maven that locked into Mars a few days ahead of the Indian effort.


The irony was even more striking, if unintended, in the context of the message that US space mavens sent to their ISRO counterparts as the Mangalyaan countdown began.
Narendra Modi, riding on Mangalyaan tailwind, can take 'peanuts' message to US - The Times of India

 

[krish44]

When John F Kennedy told US Congress in 1961 that America must go for the moon, it not only led to the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 but also inaugurated decades of American innovation, ingenuity and progress. The moon shot was as much about conquering frontiers of space as about conquering odds on earth. Similarly, India has now created history with its Mangalyaan now having entered into orbit around Mars. India is the third country to achieve this, the first in its maiden attempt, the first in Asia. It also spent the least money to do so — its $72 million budget was less than what it took to produce the Hollywood film Gravity. Now that we have had our Mars shot, we need a Mangalyaan for the economy — like the Americans did with their moon shot.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets ready to unveil his ‘Make in India’ campaign ahead of his wooing of prime-time America, the time has come for him to bite the bullet and take bold steps for India’s economic lift-off too. “We’ve dared to reach out into the unknown,” he told Isro’s scientists, “and achieved the near impossible.” A similar scale of ambition and execution is also needed for the next stage of economic reforms, for clearing up investment bottlenecks for domestic and foreign investors and for sprucing up infrastructure and health delivery systems.
Modi’s ‘Make in India’ pitch which will focus on 25 chosen sectors, 25 government departments and 30 countries is aimed at pushing manufacturing growth to over 10% annually. The hard sell is good. So is the PM’s planned outreach to corporate chieftains in America over the coming weekend. But smart acronyms and good sentiment can only take us so far. More will be needed to unleash the animal spirits of the economy and the PM will eventually have to take some tough calls on deregulating key sectors, creating a robust and independent regulatory infrastructure for liberalised sectors and ending the bureaucratic red tape that continues to bind businessmen in a never-ending maze of permits and permissions.
Mangal may have got its MOM, as the PM put it. Now the economy needs its igniting thrust too. As we toast Isro and its Mangalyaan on its incredible success, here’s wishing it can soon be mangal for the rest of us as well.
Times Of India | Blogs

If Indians get one thing right we go overboard .

in india we have a few islands of excellence.

we may not neecessarily do well in economic lift off . certain areas of economic activity might over perform , thats all .

any overselling mangalyan success to get returns in other fields will lead to disappointment.

it may lead only to hype and no consistent returns to justify the hype

it would be like the climbing indian stock market with no basic fundamentals and on foreign money crutches'

modi selling dreams to US

I do not know how much he will be taken seriously by corporates or the govt there.

time will show if we are wise in indiscriminately reaching out.

it requires a crash to get our heads in right thinking mode and retrurn to realities with a thud.

we require a lot of luck other than hard work to succeed.

we need to be with the right country at the appropriate time for windfall profit .

is america the right country for closer relations?

 

[tbs]

hi

this is looklike our cricket team...once we win....we celebrate a lot....then follow many failures....we have to mature enough

for our success...