India does not have a national space strategy! That is a fact. It does have a space policy, which is more an economic document detailing what the government hopes to get from it.
“When I talk about a strategic document, I’m talking about national security,” said Dr Chaitanya Giri, space scientist who studies technology and strategy from his perch at the ORF. “National security within the realms of sovereign territory, national security of our supply chains, national security of the well-being of Indians who are residing abroad.”
For whatever reason, India is yet to formulate a national space strategy. The Chinese have it, the Americans most certainly do. That strategy also sets out the role of private space companies, that are duty bound to fulfill domestic demands first before even looking outside their borders.
The strategy is crucial when you consider how complex the world has become in recent years, says Dr Giri, who was a guest on The Gist.
“Today, private companies many of them Chinese and US, are selling imagery of West Asian battle grounds to their governments back home. There is no other imagery available even if India wanted any.
“India has a massive stake in that region because we have a population of around one crore in the GCC region,”Dr Giri noted, “So an alternative, which was supposed to supply us with, you know, steady, you know, stream of geospatial images. The commercial supplier, itself has said that we are not going to provide you any.”
India’s space ambitions have also been hobbled by the fact that many of the space startups, launched with much fanfare some years ago, seem beholden to customers in the West where their bread and butter business comes from.
For whatever reason, space industry does not appear to know of the opportunities in India, and what an be availed of. There is therefore a need for the industry, government and strategic thinkers to get together and figure out the best way forward.
Tune in for more in this chat with Dr Chaitanya Giri.
