As long as we're talking money and priorities: The budget for the film Gravity was $100 million dollars. Sending this Indian probe to Mars cost $69 million dollars.
A better argument might be that a country needs to develop other industries and gain certain expertises. There's no point in having all the IIT's, if people have to leave the country to use their abilities. Space, rocketry, satellites, etc are upmarket skills.
2) the logic of your argument fails anyways - they proved to the world - that they can send a spaceship to mars - they already launch satellites for other countries - and make a shit ton of money on it - their people are learning to make spaceships that can go into deep space - an industry that if anything is also growing in the private sector - they did the whole thin for the cost of a few hundred javelin missiles that the US army has been using to kill arguably mostly civilians in Afghanistan (and dont tell me the US has money - you know the debt ceiling fight recently? That was the US agreeing to borrow more money). there is almost 0 wrong with this mission.
What?
Indian cinema gross box office for 2011 was $1.1billion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_cinema
> India is the world's largest producer of films.[23][24] In 2009, India produced a total of 2961 films on celluloid, that include 1288 feature films.[25] The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures[26][27] and Warner Bros..[28]
Animation is probably the logical place. It's not the quantity of films, but the quality.
Bollywood does makes some great movies, of course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Idiots
Here's what Hollywood makes:
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2012/how-much-does-hol...
It looks like they get around $10 billion US and $25-$30 billion internationally.
So, in the big scheme of things, a billion dollars is less than the Avengers made at the box office.
Companies and Industries often don't compete with other ones when there's a significant enough barrier to do so (or not to do so). There's a huge and rapidly growing market in India, why would Bollywood look elsewhere without increasing it's take of it's own market?
I posit that Hollywood better look to Bollywood for it's growth potential - the middle-class in India is growing, while the US middle class is in decline.
Anyway, if Bollywood doesn't want to think global, I'm ok with that. Someone else will seize the opportunity.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230421390...
Btw, in other threads people are debating whether it's a good idea to spend money on space research, and here we are telling them to spend money in movies instead? What gives?
Finally, it's entirely possible to create sustainable industries in aerospace. It's just not an immediate turn around.
Bulk of the IITians are busy preparing for interviews(stuffing algorithm books in their brains) at big web companies to ultimately write HTML pages. The ones left are preparing to do their MBA's at IIM's or at some foreign university. IIT's are all about brands stamps, and access to a world wide network of alumni that ensures you get fat paychecks.
Guy's at ISRO. Most of them are from small time colleges, and many with average marks and grades. Many probably don't even have an engineering degree, and probably have a diploma.
IIT's have contributed very little or almost nothing to India. Bulk of their students don't even work here. Modern India is the pretty the result of the sweat and blood of the ordinary college educated student.
>>Space, rocketry, satellites, etc are upmarket skills.
I hope more people realize this hard fact.
> IIT's have contributed very little or almost nothing to India.
I don't even know why I am biting but I guess someone has to point it out. I know it is fancy to sling mud on the IITian but last I checked (maybe a year ago), about 50% of my class went on to do higher studies. Out of that maybe half went on to obtain a PhD. A paltry 10% or so went into management. Others went for jobs...mostly in the product sector. Some did join service jobs but quit soon after and they went for a Masters too I think. About 5% of my class have started companies in India.
> Guy's at ISRO. Most of them are from small time colleges, and many with average marks and grades. Many probably don't even have an engineering degree, and probably have a diploma.
Just stop. Please. There are tiered requirements for Scientist categories. Pretty obvious if you check the newspaper ads.
> IIT's have contributed very little or almost nothing to India. Bulk of their students don't even work here. Modern India is the pretty the result of the sweat and blood of the ordinary college educated student.
Many have come back to join as faculty back in the IITs. You can pull up say IIT Elec department page and confirm yourself. A decade ago, it was our own faculty who encouraged us to step outside. Now, slowly, we are bringing in overseas culture within our own campuses.
* * *
But hey, you have already formed an opinion and composed an elegy. What I wrote above is not for you. It is for others to gather that you are factually incorrect.
Correction. That's happening from decades, not just one decade. But besides that, you do agree most of your folks don't even work or stay here.
The Indian tax payer is subsidizing the IIT's for a reason. We need to pay for the education of people who stay here and contribute(In fact that was the whole point of IIT's).
Coming to IIT's, you guys are going to settle down abroad anyways and you will also get fat paychecks. Why should you need any kind of subsidy. I am sure most banks would be more than willing to lend a education loan.
It's also, coincidentally a Mars reference :-)
For example, ISRO have never had a engine before that could re-ignite after a 300 days period of cryogenic conditions of space. That technology developed in extreme conditions can be reverse engineered to make our cars perform better in winters. Or some other applications. Does that sort of returns even get reported ever?
So it's less than the price of a cup of coffee really.