The Hindu Business Line : ISRO chief calls for ‘level playing field’ to stem exits

Bangalore, Sept. 13 Even as the Indian Space Research Organisation unveils its captive talent nursery, the Indian Institute of Space Technology, on September 14 to tackle its retention problem, its Chairman, Mr G. Madhavan Nair, has said the private sector and the Government should do something urgently to bridge the big wage disparity between jobs in the two domains.

The gap between a career in industry and science establishments like ISRO, he said, should be narrowed in the interest of the country’s future human resource. It’s also time for a dialogue with industry on this, he said.

Industry should have some sort of self-regulation, perhaps a ceiling on the maximum salary it pays out; it should also re-invest in education as a pay-back gesture and help replenish the scientific pool for future, Dr Nair said in response to queries from Business Line. It was recently stated in Parliament that the space agency was losing fresh recruits in large numbers to industry, in particular IT companies and MNCs. Each year, nearly half of 300-odd recruits exit in the early months, according to ISRO.

According to Mr Nair, fortunately for ISRO, the projects have not suffered as the newbies leave before making their presence felt. “It is not yet alarming but could snowball into a serious problem down the years,” he feared. The 150 who graduate from the Thiruvananthapuram-based space sciences institute with B.Tech or M.Sc will have to serve ISRO for at least five years. ISRO, like other scientific establishments, has recommended to the Sixth Pay Commission a substantial hike in remuneration and variable performance-based increments, while offering faster promotions and special merit-based schemes. A performance-based service extension plan after superannuation is also in place.

Another tool to fight shortage of hands is to outsource to industry as much as possible.

Currently, the space agency is at a critical stage of marketing its satellite and launch services; a lunar mission in 2008 and a manned outing are in the offing. The turnaround time for a satellite or a launch vehicle is less than a year.

Of a total strength of 16,192 across six centres, 68 per cent of 11,057 are scientific and technical personnel. “Our programmes have increased three-fold in the last five years. A much more serious problem we face is about getting the right kind of people,” Mr Nair said.

“Out of the 70,000 candidates who applied for the first batch, only 1,500 passed the entrance test, with around 50 per cent compared to (the benchmark of) 60 per cent. Of them we took in 150.” The problem of not getting the right people is showing not only in the Department of Space but also for teachers in colleges, at IITs, the Indian Institute of Science and research labs.

“There has been no investment in HR. After five years, the quality of students will be very poor. This is the time for all of us to ensure that we have good teachers and students in the future,” Mr Nair said. The main culprit, according to Mr Nair, was a highly distorted wage structures in India.

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