As we celebrate Chandrayaan’s soft landing on the south pole of moon, and as we are proud of the feat performed by the finest brains of Indian space science, it forces me to do some critical thinking on this very milestone.
Is it fair in questioning the intent of us channelizing our resources and talents towards something that may not benefit the human life on this earth, here and now?
I would like to share some of the questions that are gripping my mind.
Should we be spending our resources towards initiatives that directly help the human life, on earth, the only place in the universe which is a natural habitat for us?
Could we have spent this 1000 plus crores of INR (including all the three missions) in a different way, especially alleviating poverty?
One of the main objectives of Chandrayaan 3 mission is to locate any possible presence of water on moon. Could have we spent that money in making sure millions in India have access to clean water?
Does this mission in any way align with UN’s sustainable development goals, since it is also supposedly designed to understand feasibility of human life on the moon?
Will this success only steer us away from what we must be prioritizing in the decades to come?
Is pride in anyway fuelling our ambitions that aren’t human-centric?
Should we be spending more money and time in conserving our beautiful planet earth – those rivers that are no more fit to provide us drinking water, our hesitation to switch to clean energy ecosystem, our concern towards use of plastics and the threat they pose to our nature, the issue of climate change and more?
You might also think what rights I have in asking these questions. Of course, as a taxpayer in India, I must be vigilant on how my money is spent.
I just want to end by quoting a few lines from Michael Jackson’s song, ‘Heal the world’:
“Heal the world, make it a better place,
for you and for me and the entire human race.
There are people dying, if you care enough for the living,
Make a better place for you and for me”.