This kind of comment is the first one to show up like clockwork whenever a HN story comes up which doesn’t mention India and poor/corruption/hungry/religion in the same sentence.

It's baffling to me how westerners don't realize that you could solve two different problems in parallel.

When America started its space program, were all of its problems solved?

In fact, are all of America's problems solved now?

This comment comes off like this cartoon: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/media/images/78030000/jpg...

There is no reason India can't do both.

Having a space program and specifically a launch vehicle that puts satellites in orbit for other countries brings in foreign exchange revenue. Having a reusable launch vehicle is an improvement on capabilities for competitive pricing. What's not to like here?

Jul 2022: "ISRO earns US$ 279 mn in foreign exchange"

https://indbiz.gov.in/isro-earns-us-279-mn-in-foreign-exchan...

India is a vast country with the soon to be largest population in the world. There are quite enough people to be doing both.