Six years after the government opened the space sector to private companies, nine associations representing thousands of Isro employees have sought official clarification on the proposed transfer of the space agency’s manufacturing and operational functions to private entities.
That will all be done by the private sector or PSU. “These statements have received wide national publicity. “Launch-vehicle design, realisation, integration, testing and launch operations are not merely ‘manufacturing contracts’. The associations asked whether Goenka’s remarks represented government policy, and whether Isro would remain responsible for the design, development, realisation, integration, testing and launch of PSLV, LVM3, SSLV and their successor vehicles.
In a letter dated September 4 to Isro chairman and Department of Space (DoS) secretary V Narayanan, the associations sought clarity on the government’s privatisation policy, Isro’s future role, and the consequences for serving employees and future recruitment.
The associations wrote after Pawan Kumar Goenka, chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), said at a recent event that “eventually, Isro will not make any launch vehicles and will not manufacture any launch vehicles. The transition had already begun with the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), they said, and could extend to the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and LVM3. They have not, however, been accompanied by any corresponding official communication from the Department of Space to its employees explaining the approved policy, its legal and administrative basis, its phasing, or its consequences for the existing workforce and for future public recruitment,” the letter said. The associations said the prospect of Isro withdrawing from launch-vehicle and satellite production had created anxiety among employees and their families. Such a move, they said, could “tamper experiments after research, shrink in-house work, freeze or reduce sanctioned strength, and close promotion and skill-development avenues in technical, scientific, administrative, stores, purchase, quality, safety and industrial cadres”. They are the core competence, institutional memory and strategic capability of the Organisation,” the letter said. The employee bodies said they did not oppose private participation or legitimate commercialisation through NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) within a defined framework. “The concern is the absence of an official DoS policy document that draws a clear line between enabling private participation and dismantling Isro’s own realisation capability,” the letter said.
