New Delhi:
India's community of scientists is engulfed in controversy. The former chief of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), G Madhavan Nair, has threatened to take the government to court if it bans him from holding government jobs. Here's why.
- Mr Nair reacted to reports that a three-member committee, appointed by the Prime Minister, has recommended punitive action against him and three others for their alleged role in a deal that would have seen ISRO building satellites and giving precious S-band spectrum at a throwaway price to a company named Devas.
- The contract with Devas was signed in 2005 by ISRO's commercial arm, Antrix. Two satellites and a whopping 70 MHz of S-Band spectrum, to be used by Devas for broadband services, were priced at Rs 1,000 crore. The contract was cancelled in February, 2011, after media reports that pointed out the deal was loaded in Devas' favour. The government was embarrassed because ISRO reports directly to the Prime Minister's office.
- The PM set up a three-member committee to determine whether ISRO had misled the cabinet when presenting the facts of the deal. The committee has submitted its report to the government. "Accountability will be fixed," said V Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office. "The government will go by the findings of the report," he said, adding that Mr Nair can appeal against the government's decision.
- Mr Nair, whose tenure at ISRO head also saw the launch of India's maiden moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, blames his successor, K Radhakrishnan, of misleading the government and misrepresenting the facts to implicate him. "Am I worse than a terrorist?" he asked, pointing out that if he has indeed been banned from government jobs, his version of events has not been heard, and that no chargesheet officially declaring his alleged crimes has been shared with him.
- Why S-band is crucial? Spectrum in the S-band, also known as 2.5 Ghz band, is scarce and is extremely valuable for mobile broadband services. It is also considered to be of strategic interest and government agencies have argued in the past that it is needed for radio networking, satellite mobile television transmission, disaster warning systems and dissemination of meteorological data. Mobile phone service providers have, on the other hand, been pressing for this spectrum to be set aside for extension of 3G services.