India marks its 79th anniversary a week ago since independence. Among its major technological advancements since independence are its space and defense industries which got started only over the last few decades. Its tech advancement has been shared with developing countries like Guyana.
Freddie Kissoon and other perennial critics of India have been of the view that India should not invest resources on space (ISRO) and defense, arguing that the resources can be better directed towards poverty reduction. Freddie and his anti-India pals failed to recognize that India has reduced poverty from 80% in 1947 to less than 10% today. Poverty is being reduced with technological self reliance and India makes available its technology to Guyana and developing countries.
Freddie and others have not made similar critical remarks on poverty about China, Pakistan, and western countries that have higher rates of poverty than India and that have invested substantially more of their GDP than India, in terms of percentages, on defense and space exploration. The problem with Freddie is he never studied international politics, India, South Asian Affairs, India-China relations, geopolitics, realism, and other major political international issues and economics to understand why defense and space are very important to India — its development and survival. Investing in defense and space industries have saved India billions of American dollars annually over the last several decades prior to which India had to expend scarce resources purchasing services related to telecommunications (satellites, WiFi, etc.) and defense equipment to deter two hostile neighbors and threats from further afield.
India has two very aggressive neighbors on its border, one of which has been a sponsor of terror against India which has had to commit considerable resources to combat this terror. China and Pakistan invaded or crossed into India multiple times seeking to capture territory. Clearly, India has needed equipment for defense against aggression and intelligence on foreign troop deployment. The west was not very helpful. For the first few decades after independence, India relied on costly imported defense equipment and satellite communications to deter aggression. The West was not very helpful in supporting India against foreign aggression or terror. When China invaded India in 1962, the West rebuffed India’s request for assistance; USSR aided India.
The Indian government recognized that it could not depend on the democratic west for protection and decided it had to develop its own defense industry and satellite capability to protect the homeland. Tech, science, and engineering institutions were established. Money was poured into defense and telecommunications research. The space industry was launched. When the West refused to sell a super computer to India improve its space and defense industries, India developed its own. If India had not developed its own industries and super computers, it would have had to spend considerable amounts of money importing equipment and services for its defense and telecommunications. And now, India sells defense equipment and telecommunications services.
Its defense industry and space launches generate revenue, create high-tech jobs, and foster international partnerships. Producing its own arms and satellites have turned out to be very cost-effective, less than a fifth of purchasing same equipment and services from the west. India produces more than half of its defense needs, saving billions of dollars. India has a very advanced space industry with high-reliability missions. India was the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit and the first in the world to succeed on its first attempt. Also, India achieved a historic soft landing near the lunar south pole of the moon in 2023, making India the fourth country to land softly on the Moon.India holds the record for launching the most satellites, including for western countries, of over a hundred in a single mission, bringing in revenues. India is cooperating with NASA and works closely with the international space station. Indian astronauts went on missions to outer space. India plans to send astronauts to outer space in a decade.
India has used space technology for peaceful purposes, for its defense and protection, national development, earth observation, scientific exploration, weather forecasting, telecommunications, and commercial satellite deployment. And India has been using the space program to aid developing nations particularly on weather patterns and climate and sharing telecommunications with them. Satellites provide critical data for weather forecasting, disaster management, agriculture, telecommunications, and mapping across India’s vast geography. These technologies are being utilized in Guyana and several other countries practically for free.
ISRO has earned global acclaim for achieving major milestones—such as reaching Mars and landing a rover on the lunar south pole—on frugal, highly efficient budgets. India supplies defense hardware and telecommunications services to international markets, expanding its geopolitical influence. And Western countries have used India’s space agency to launch their satellites, resulting in huge earnings that have helped to further the space program. India’s space economy has reportedly reached an estimated USD 9 billion in 2026, with projections to hit USD 40–45 billion over the next decade. India’s space policy, once driven primarily by domestic development goals, is increasingly aligning with that of the US while also offering its tech to Guyana and other countries.
India has been achieving Technological Self-Reliance, developing indigenous rockets or missiles and satellites, avoiding total dependence on foreign providers, boosting national security and uncompromising access to space to boost protection. India’s Brahmos is the fastest missile in the world with scientists seeking to improve on it.
For Freddie, here’s the thing — even if India didn’t develop its domestic industries and didn’t develop self reliance, there is no guarantee that the unused money would go towards eradicating poverty. It doesn’t in USA or France or China. And at any rate, the space and defense industries have contributed to raising literacy and eliminating poverty. The defense and space industries also eliminate India’s vulnerability to shifting geopolitical alliances and foreign embargoes as currently being experienced. And the industries
boost local manufacturing and trade.
With its technological advances and achievements, India has massively improved the quality of life not only in India but in other countries, like Guyana, around the world also. India has given considerable aid to Guyana and other poor countries. So critics like Freddie are wrong. India should have a local defense industry to reduce heavy reliance on foreign arms imports, protect national sovereignty and support strategic self-reliance that has benefited Guyana.
