Launching such missions does not mean that other areas are being ignored. Stop comparing two completely different things.

I am still skeptical about a successful Mars mission, but it will be good if we all be more positive about it.

Where do you choose to draw the line in such cases? Every country makes this choice. Every country does some expensive things instead of spending that money on the poorest members of its society. If one advocates anything other than complete equality of living standards, sending a mission to mars whilst the poor go hungry is just a question of degree.

And then you have a problem with unemployed aerospace engineers instead. Building a scientific and technological base in order to develop the country by necessity involves spending money on scientific and technological projects.

They're not mutually exclusive

Discussion done here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4372563

Yeah. The US sorted out all THEIR problems, like poverty and civil rights before they started building all those spaceshi...uhmm, wait...

There will always be some excuse to avoid exploring, avoid scientific research, avoid creating art. There will always be a hungry mouth to feed, a diseased body to cure, a cold and lonely person with no home. And it makes sense to put a lot of resources toward such things. But it doesn't make sense to be consumed by them. To stop advancing, stop exploring, stop learning, stop growing, stop having fun, etc. India will only be spending something like 0.04% of its annual national budget on this Mars mission. That seems like a small price to pay for the benefits to national morale and inspiration it's likely to bring.