Controversy stuns scientific fraternity

The country’s scientific fraternity has been shocked by the fall-out of the Antrix-Devas deal which has rocked the Isro establishment.

Unprecedented disciplinary action against the distinguished scientist and former Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair and his public outburst against his successor K Radhakrishnan has been described embarrassing by researchers.

“It is very bad for Indian science,” said Dr P M Bharghava, the founder Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).

The distinguished scientist, who had also served as a member of the Knowledge Commission, lamented that there was a “crisis of leadership” in Science all over the country.

“At one point, the Department of Space had enjoyed high public respect for the dedicated work it did under the impeccable leaders like UR Rao and Kasturirangan. Everything was transparent and there were no corruption charges,” Dr Bharghava said.

He demanded that the report of the expert committee, constituted by the Prime Minister’s Office in February last year to examine the Devas deal, be put in the “public domain”. “We must know the complete details of the deal and the way the investigation has been done before coming to conclusions,” the scientist said.