JPR,
It was a bunch of alphabet-soup agencies -- NAL, ADE, ADA, GTRE etc., that claimed to be able to make a "better than Boeing 767" aircraft in the "near future", provided they were sanctioned Rs. 80,000 crores or something like that. The fact that they haven't been able to make a fully indigenous single-seater pesticide-spraying aircraft over the last 5 decades is beside the point! :-)
As for the nuclear tests, it is not exactly a technology of the 90's. More like that of the 50's. Besides, any country that is determined to throw unlimited money can do it, even if it is failing in other fields such as the overall economy, elementary education, health care, and so on.
The communications satellite program has been somewhat (but not entirely) successful. However, the limited success there is not being put to proper use -- like China which now regularly launches satellites for the US. Instead, it is being used as an argument that Government should continue to fund the rest of the extravagant bureaucratic alphabet-soup outfits.
I am not the one to overlook the positives but honestly, there has been very little to cheer about. The only thing that I can think of is India's "PCO/STD/ISD revolution" which has done wonders in the area of communications. It is one of the few areas in India where technology is being used in a manner that is appropriate for the country. The decision to let private operators own and man the phone-booths (rather than making it all automatic and letting another alphabet-soup agency "work on" an automated phone-card reader for the next "n" decades) has been a very wise one indeed.
Dipy. |
