Scientific research has turned into a competition in the 21st Century world, especially in the fields of arms production and lunar missions. The lunar missions of the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union became a part of the Cold War in the 20th Century. Since then, science has been serving as a servant of powerful nations.

It was in the first stanza of his famous song Armstrong, John Stewart wrote: “Black boy in Chicago/Playing in the street/Not near enough to wear/Not near enough to eat/Don’t you know he saw it/On a July afternoon/He saw a man named Armstrong/Walk upon the moon.“

As per a report published on October 14, 2022, India fell six positions on the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), ranking 107th out of 121 countries. The third-largest economy in Asia fared worse than neighbouring South Asian countries, such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Like that Black boy in Chicago, millions of children in India came to know on August 25, 2023 that (India’s) lunar lander Vikram and lunar rover Pragyan successfully landed on the Moon as a part of Chandrayaan-3, the third mission of a series of lunar-exploration missions developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

A social media post went viral on that historic day. The post showed the flags of 10 countries, saying that they have a Moon in their flags. It also showed the flags of the US, Russia, China and India, stating that countries that have their flags on the Moon. If one looks at the flags of the top 15 most developed nations on the Human Resource Index, s/he shall find that none of these countries have their flags on the Moon. It is because these countries continue to use their limited resources for the welfare of their people. They usually concentrate on natural resources and communication technology in an attempt to serve their people in a better way.

Indeed, the successful landing of Chandrayan-3 and related events are a great achievement for the Indian space scientists. However, the Government of India needs to take care of other sectors, such as education, health, food security and employment, too, as well. One should not forget the fact that India currently ranks 132nd in the Global Human Resource Development Index. In order to truly enjoy such success in space research and other fields of science and technology, the South Asian nation shall have to improve its socio-economic condition first.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das