The Starving Team That Made Chandrayaan 3 A Reality!
?On July 14, 2023, India made history once again with her Chandrayaan 3 mission. Another feather in ISRO’s cap and a 'popular' investment of the taxpayer’s money. The lander and probe are slated to land somewhere near the lunar south pole and start poking the moon for secrets. O yes! They are supposed to leave footprints bearing the national emblem and ISRO’s insignia on lunar soil. Ain’t that grand? Well, I’m sorry to be the party popper here. Here’s a look at the shadow beneath the lamp.
When you were busy wetting your undies, reveling at the spectacular lift-off of the gaudily named Bahubali rockets, a whole group was celebrating silently despite their unending tragedy. More than 3000 employees of the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC)—the guys who made ISRO the crucial rocket launchpad, among other things—are without salary for almost a year and a half. For the uninitiated, HEC or HECL is a PSU sitting in Ranchi, founded in 1958 by the Nehru regime. Modi Ji’s arch-nemesis, in his hubris, built another behemoth that would travel six decades through time to reach this exact moment where it can lay claim to a major chunk of ISRO’s glory. But HEC has been sick for a while.
Name a nationalized industrial body that isn’t indebted to HEC. You can’t. SAIL, the Indian Navy, the Department of Atomic Energy, and so on and so forth have used equipment designed and manufactured by the good people at HEC. And yet, all they get in return for their service to our great nation is starvation. While Modi Ji is busy on yet another foreign trip funded by the taxpayer’s money, his minions are fully aware of HEC’s tragedy. Mahendra Nath Pandey, the minister for heavy industries and public enterprises, knows. The HEC officer’s association met and gave him a memorandum on the severity of the situation and plans to revive the illustrious organization this February. And what has Pandey done? Nothing, of course!
2700 workers and 450 executives last received their remuneration 14 months back. The officers received their February 2022 paycheck in April this year. The workers got their May 2022 wages around the same time. That’s how bad it is. There’s a lot of talk on patriotism, love for the country, and more so for Modi Ji these days. What of it? Love or loyalty thrives on reciprocation. I’ll love you only as long as you love me back, and the same rule applies to a country as well. We need to be thankful to the employees of HEC that they didn’t just say, “Well, ISRO, you can go fish ‘cause they aren’t paying us for the work!” The employees held their fort and delivered what made the 6.15-billion-rupee project a reality. How’s that for patriotism?
The Modi regime has been hellbent on sucking the PSUs dry. It’s a three-pronged approach. Force profitable PSUs to pay special dividends to shareholders, the Center being chief among them. Also, make them buy loss-making PSUs—both actions leading to power-house PSUs depleting their cash reserves. And last but not least, brand an ailing PSU as a lost cause and kill it.
So, what will Chandrayaan 3 do? Study ions in the lunar atmosphere, measure moonquakes, and unlock the moon's origin story. All in the face of burgeoning inflation, child malnutrition, rampant illiteracy, and a shocking new wave of religious fundamentalism. So, before you drool all over your living room contemplating the role of our great nation in the space race, remember you are just a pawn in the Modi regime’s bread-and-circus style of governance. And please spare a thought for the starving employees of Heavy Engineering Corporation.