Star Wars: Isro’s Phantom Menace

Former Chairman Madhavan Nair and incumbent K Radhakrishnan have been duelling each other fiercely even as they share office space on the same floor of Isro’s headquarters

BANGALORE ~ The lightsabers are finally out in public. For months, Indian Space Research Organisation’s corridors of power had been rife with tension as Isro’s former Chairman Madhavan Nair and his successor K Radhakrishnan engaged in a battle to scorch each other. While one was allegedly working to save his skin, the other was trying to move out of the saber’s scorching sweep—roles hardly befitting eminent men of science.

Insiders are agog with the growing acrimony between Radhakrishnan, an accomplished Carnatic vocalist and kathakali performer, and Nair. The two men now do not see eye-to-eye on any issue. “They are not even on talking terms,” says an insider who does not want to be named. Till a few months ago, they would enjoy each other’s company. Now, after the alleged Devas scam, Nair feels that he is being made the fall guy. “It’s nothing but a witch hunt,” says another member who has been barred from holding any government position. Along with Nair, the three others so barred are: KR Sridhara Murthy, former Antrix director; A Bhaskaranarayana, former scientific secretary of Isro; and K Shankara, former director of Isro Satellite Centre.

As for the ban itself, this is the first time that Isro scientists have been called to account, as the organisation has always enjoyed autonomy, with the chairman’s being the last word on most issues. The chairman of Isro is also chairman of India’s Space Commission and also secretary of the Department of Space, Government of India. What this means is that there are no bureaucrats in the Government who are authorised to ask inconvenient questions, of which there is no shortage today: why stationery costs have shot up or why a new mission to place a geo-stationary satellite in orbit costs so much more than the previous one.

Because of this ‘one man in several hats’ syndrome, the usual checks and balances that exist for other ministries are missing. “Isro heads enjoy superpower status as they report only to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and PM directly. The clout and power they enjoy is enormous, and they are their own masters as far as budgeting and approvals go,” say officials familiar with its working. The only other department that enjoys so much autonomy is the Department of Atomic Energy.

Interestingly, it is now being revealed through selective leaks that Nair had promoted Radhakrishnan —an electrical engineer and an IIM-Bangalore graduate— by a grade to make him eligible for chairmanship. “Isro has this great unwritten tradition that the current chairman will always handpick the next to ensure continuity. Professor UR Rao (1984– 94) picked K Kasturirangan (1994– 2003), who in turn picked Madhavan Nair (2003–09), who selected Radhakrishnan. This is the first time such a sacred chain of trust has been broken,” says the insider. Normally, the Government of the day went along with top scientists as far as senior Isro appointments were concerned. These men of space were held in high esteem, as there were little or no commercial interests in such national projects. This was so till the S band spectrum deal came into view.

It is in such circumstances that the Devas deal—to commercially market and offer satellite-based connectivity (similar to 2G and 3G services of regular telecom companies) on Isro platforms —was approved. It was couched in such a way as to make each layer opaque and immune to accountability. An insider claims it is difficult to draw lines short of the PM himself taking the rap for the mess. It is to avoid this, the insider says, that “the best way out is to look for scapegoats. Radhakrishnan very cleverly put the onus on the then chairman and his close circle”.

The Devas agreement has been haunting Isro. Even as Nair explains naively that there was no company at that time with similar technology, sources say it was an inside job all along—from the planning stage to when a commercial plan was put in place. “It’s a conspiracy hatched by a set of officials to favour a particular company, with the active collusion of politicians. As the 2G scam had by then hit the headlines, Isro had no answer for why it had not auctioned the space spectrum or offered the scarce national resource to the defence forces,” says another source.

That’s when the two learned men crossed lightsabers. The handpicked protégé managed to duck out of harm’s way and let Nair stand exposed.

Nair calls Radhakrishnan a snitch who wants to protect himself. Apparently, the Devas issue was uncovered by the current chairman. As a member of the Antrix board, Radhakrishnan would have been privy to the deal all throughout. So why then did he choose to write to the PMO calling for action? Why was he made part of the internal investigations? These are some of the questions that fellow scientists are asking.

Open met Madhavan Nair a few weeks ago while researching a story on which there had been no response from Isro for months. Nair has been allotted an office at Isro’s headquarters Antariksh Bhavan in Bangalore, on the same floor as Radhakrishnan. He was quite caustic and unusually critical of Radhakrishnan, especially when it came to programmes started by him.

Nair answered every question with an elaborate sigh of helplessness and a nod in the direction of the current chairman’s door, hardly a few feet away across the corridor: “By now, Isro should have started work on several fronts, but unfortunately nothing has started. It needs men of calibre like a Kalam [former President APJ Abdul Kalam who once headed the missile programme] or even a Saraswat [scientific advisor to the Defence Minister, who has fast-tracked several DRDO programmes], to take up such a complex challenge.” Clearly, Nair wasn’t impressed with either the speed or dedication of his successor, who appeared to be going slow on several projects that Nair had fast- tracked and obtained governmental sanction for, such as the indigenous astronaut programme. Asked why it was not taken up, he would only say: “People have different styles of functioning.”

The former chairman said that India has the ability to put a human in space and bring him/her back safely. “We have already built an experimental Space Recovery Capsule to sustain life and splashed it back into the sea. Its thermal management, positioning etcetera was great. In 2011, there should have been more such missions. Unfortunately, nothing has been done.”

Nair also blamed Radhakrishnan for the repeated failures of the cryogenic gig of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). “There is nothing majorly wrong with the GSLV and it can be fixed. It only takes some dedication,” he said again, taking another pot-shot.

By now it was very clear that an invisible wall has come up in that corridor. To most queries, his refrain was, “You ask him.” Despite repeated attempts, Radhakrishnan refused to answer any.

“Given the lethargy and lack of interest these days, government funding for the prestigious moon mission project has also slowed,” said Nair. The comment struck an odd note, given that he was still part of the establishment as chairman of the High Power Committee on National Civil Aircraft Development (passenger planes), for which he has been given office space at the Isro headquarters. Had he got a whiff of the punitive action that was to follow?

Nair is now saying Radhakrishnan has maligned him. “I don’t want to say why he did something or didn’t do something… but it’s very clear that he wrote a letter to the PMO after taking over as chairman, raising doubts on the Devas agreement which he was also part of.”

As of today, Nair says he has filed an RTI application to get a copy of the PMO order as well as reports of the BK Chaturvedi committee on the Antrix-Devas deal. That is some comedown for a man who enjoyed the confidence of the same Prime Minister till very recently.

Under pressure to come clean, perhaps, Radhakrishnan released a press release on 31 January that he was ‘in the process of getting necessary clearance for releasing the reports of two committees viz (a) high powered committee set up by the government [led by BK Chaturvedi] and (b) high level team set up by the government to examine various aspects of the Antrix-Devas agreement of January 2005’.

But is the force with either of them?

IsroK RadhakrishnanMadhavan Nair