Slashdot Mirror
Indian Rocket Blasts into Space
Quacking Duck writes "Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched it's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) rocket from the Srikharikota launch-pad. The rocket carried 4 satellites into space, 2 Indian and one each from Argentina and Indonesia. Interestingly, one of ISRO's payloads, Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1), expected to return to Earth 13 days after launch, will be the first test of its re-entry mechanism. This is a step towards ISRO's ambitious goal of designing and building a cheap reusable launch vehicle. ISRO is also planning a manned mission to the moon, Chandrayan-1, which is expected to use a modified PSLV rocket which was used for this launch. This successful launch comes close on the heels of the failed July 2006 GSLV lauch which had ended in an expensive fireworks display over the Bay of Bengal. Another GSLV launch is planned for later this year."
I'm sorry, I have to take issue with some of this. Firstly, India did not start everything from scratch after the British left. Anyone who has attempted to negotiate the beaurocracy (for example negotiating the release of a container from customs or getting a telephone line installed) can see the shadows of the British establishment that were left behind. The entire Indian system of Government is a very close mirror of the British system - the dual house system for starters.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mean to belittle the accomplishments of the Indian people since Independence, far from it, but to impy that they threw everything away and started again from scratch is just nonsense, and devalues the efforts of all the political leaders who worked so hard to make sure a country so large and chaotic CAN be effectively governed.
And as for "Others are not going to be as arrogant and barbarous as USA were" are you intending to gloss over the recent period of BJP-dominated politics which was, in my opinion, one of the darkest moments of Indian political history and saw aggression against Pakistan increase SIGNIFICANTLY? Fortunately, unlike the USA, the voting public in your country realised their mistake and voted them the hell out. By the way, that very creative piece of political manouvering by Congress/Sonia Gandhi and associates was quite a joy to watch.
"The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
"Firstly, India did not start everything from scratch after the British left. Anyone who has attempted to negotiate the beaurocracy (for example negotiating the release of a container from customs or getting a telephone line installed) can see the shadows of the British establishment that were left behind."
Yes, but bureaucracy is not exactly progress, is it? The real and meaningful progress that India has made has been in the last 10 odd years, after the economy was opened up and a lot of government controlled industries were privatized. Since then, India's economy has been growing by 8-10%. Before this, India was placidly chugging along at a 3-4% growth rate (and they called it the Hindu growth rate) which was taking the country nowhere. The only reason why China is way ahead of India today is that they had the foresight to liberalize and open up their economy a few decades before India has done.
"are you intending to gloss over the recent period of BJP-dominated politics which was, in my opinion, one of the darkest moments of Indian political history and saw aggression against Pakistan increase SIGNIFICANTLY?"
You're correct in the fact that the Gujrat riots were a blot on the country and more so on the party. However, "aggression against Pakistan" should be reworded "firm against Pakistan". Pakistan sends and funds hardcore terrorists, and their intelligence wing, the dreaded ISI (along with their armed forces) completely work hand in hand with the Al Qaeda. They train thousands of terrorists along the border areas and these terrorists camps are well documented and imaged. Most of these terrorists land up in India, and these terrorists kill more people in India every year than the 9/11 attacks.
Unfortunately, the leadership in India has been too weak to take a firm stand on this issue and the USA turns a blind eye on this issue, as these terrorists do not kill americans (yet) and because they need Pakistan to gain access to neighbouring Afghanistan. Note that these terrorists almost fomented an India-Pakistan war a few years ago and when the Indian army retaliated, the terrorists captured or killed were roughly 50% Pakistani soldiers and 50% terrorists.
Oh, by the way, what I've said is not a biased point of view, and can very easily be verified on the internet, if you dig around for facts and impartial writings on the India-Pakistan situation.
So, the BJP was not exactly aggressive against Pakistan but was simply being firm. In fact, BJP went out of its way to mend relationships with Pakistan and introduced bus services between the two countries. Some of the good things about the BJP are their firm leadership, liberal and capitalistic economic policies, and good external affairs. The only reason why they lost the previous election was because their campaign (so-called India Shining campaign) did not connect with the poor Indian at all. Their campaign ended up alienating the poor farmer and poor labourer, who are the ones that actually vote in India, and instead focused on the middle and rich class who like to crib more and rarely vote. Their election loss had no other reason. So many people die in India every year that the average Indian stopped giving a shit about the Gujrat riots after a year or so, even though a few thousands died. Heck, more farmers commit suicide every year because of chronic indebtedness and because of hunger. And see, religion (and casteism and what not) IS the opiate of the masses, especially when the masses are chronically hungry and stare at despair every night.