Questionnaire From a Foreign Journalist

Q&A 
1. You come from quite a humble background.. how did you get into where you are today?

Ans: My parents were living in a joint family environment in the village town of Rameshwaram. When I was growing up I had witnessed a harmonious environment at home created by my Father and Mother. My father had few thick friends. One of the friends Reverent Father Bodel had built the first church in Rameshwaram Island and he had become part of the Rameshwaram people. Another friend was Shri Pakshi Lakshmana Sasthirigal, a purohit holding a very important position in the Rameshwaram Temple. My father himself was a Imam like personality in the temple town. Similarly, my mother had many family friends belonging to Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities. This type of atmosphere transformed our house into a spiritual home. Nobility, simplicity and tradition of my home always made me to think high. Wealth was not the crucial requirement for such an atmosphere.

My cousin brother was a sub-agent for a Tamil Newspaper. I used to read the newspaper and came to know what was happening around the world during World war-II. This also provided me connectivity in India and abroad during 1940's. Later my cousin brother went to Ceylon in search of a green pasture. I had to look after the newspaper distribution. I had a very heavy schedule as a young boy: tuition, distribution of news paper, going to Arabic school, regular school in the morning, after school in the evening, I used to go for the collection of money for the newspapers delivered in the morning etc., This newspaper reading habit helped me to know about the various types of aircrafts used by Germany and Britain in the world war-II. In that young age, I had developed an interest in Aircraft flying. Also my teacher Shri Sivasubramani Iyer had taught me how a bird flies, by taking our class to the sea shore and showing the practical example of bird's flight. This reinforced my desire to fly.

I took physics in my college, and did Aeronautics in Engineering education. Even though, I couldn't get into Air force as a pilot, I started my carrier as a technical assistant. During my carrier in ISRO and DRDO, I worked on rocket engineering, target aircrafts, hover craft, rockets and missiles and also participated in fighter aircraft design and development. I worked with a visionary Prof. Vikram Sarabhai in space programme. He put me always ahead, when I was in the drawing board for sounding rocket and its payload, he gave us a study project on SLV. Also I had a great teacher Prof. Satish Dhawan. Prof. Satish Dhawan appointed me as a Project Director in 1973. Still I remember the scene, how he took the responsibility when the first SLV3 couldn't succeed, instead of putting the satellite into the orbit, it went into Bay of Bengal. And also, I gratefully remember the second scene, when I and my team succeeded in launching the Second SLV3; he gave the whole credit to me and my team. Through this experience, I learnt how to defeat the problems and also the leadership quality to manage the failures. I would say, two professors Prof. Vikram Sarabhai and Dr. Satish Dhawan, were responsible for shaping my life. These are the events and other such events were responsible for my present position.

2. Science has played an important part in your life?. how important is it to economic growth of India?

Ans:When science transforms into technology, it results into economic development. Like the nuclear science leads to the development of nuclear material and also how the nuclear material is being used for electricity generation, the technologies are emanating from science. Similarly, the basic aerodynamics, mathematics, science of structural materials, theory of control and guidance etc., are the basic sciences when they are explored properly and its possible applications results into Rocket technology and space technology. Similarly evolution of scientific research leading to technology in the university environment may flourish through the joint developmental programmes with industry and R&D Organizations. Mostly, I was responsible for transforming science into technology particularly in the space and defence technology in the form of rocket and missiles and its connected payloads. I had initiated the SLV programme and this lead to the transformation of Aerospace science into Aerospace technology which resulted into the development of Satellite Launch Vehicle. The technology has now evolved and it can be used to put communication satellite in the geo-synchronous orbit through GSLV. ISRO has also developed PSLV; which can put the remote sensing satellite into the Polar orbit. The remote sensing satellite is used to discover the new water resources and the other underground natural wealth. The communication satellite provides national and international connectivities. Now, India has many communication satellites. Definitely these technologies have a direct impact on economic development.

3. The Space programme has been helping agriculture and fishing for a few years... what other areas domestically can be helped by this technology?

Ans: As I have mentioned earlier, space technology has variety of application areas. Apart from the remote sensing and communication satellites, it can play a major role in the interlinking of rivers project in the form of identifying the optimum route through the digital contour maps which can be drawn from the satellite pictures. Precision meteorology for weather and monsoon forecasting are the other application areas.

4. Did you think all those years ago when you started, that India's space programme would be as successful as it has been?

Ans: In 1970's itself, the great vision statement given by Prof. Vikram Sarabhai says that "India should design its own Satellite launch Vehicle and Polar Satellite launch Vehicle. Also India should have the capability to build the communication and remote sensing satellite. India also should have the capability to launch GSLV and PSLV from its own soil. These visionary statements, was the catalyst to the space programme and was actuating the ISRO establishments and expanding now. When the first successful SLV3 injected the Rohini satellite into the orbit, I realized that Indian space programme will succeed and India will become one of the space powers in the future. This is happening, because of the great leadership which has continuously created.

5. Your father was a fisherman himself? Do you think the technology would have helped him greatly?

Ans: My father built boats for passengers and also built boats for fishing. Naturally my father and brother had intimate knowledge of the people who were doing fishing and the fishing industry. I realize, definitely remote sensing satellite can establish the location of the school of fishes. Meteorological payloads in the satellites definitely can predict the various weather conditions, sea conditions and predict the cyclone. I am sure, it would have definitely helped my father, brother and those who were in the fishing business.

6. You have written that you think the information and communications technology is important for India's economic growth. But what else is important to make India a world class economy?

Ans:For economic development of India, five key areas have been identified for an integrated action. Of course one is the Information and Communication Technology which is one of our core competencies, promoting education in remote areas and creating massive employment and national wealth through export earning. The other areas are:

(1) Agriculture and food processing - with a target of 360 million tons per annum of food and agricultural products. Other areas of agriculture and agro food processing would bring food security and prosperity to rural people and speed up the economic growth.

(2) Education and Healthcare - aiming to increase the employment potential leading to social security and population control.

(3) Infrastructure development - including reliable and quality electric power for all parts of the country, which is vital for all the core sectors. As part of one of the main programme, study has commenced for interlinking the rivers of the nation which can connect the surplus basins to deficient areas.

(4) Critical technologies and strategic industries - the progress in nuclear, space and defence technologies will provide sustained growth and self-reliance for the nation.

All these areas are closely inter-related and lead to national, food and economic security.