Hey folks,

Last month, two news items—quite unrelated to each other—set me thinking. One was about our honourable Finance Minister announcing a big boost on science spending in his budget speech. It was a bonanza for the Indian Space Research Organisation, which gets the largest chunk — most of it will be used for manned space missions. He also talked about the exciting Rs 850-million-scheme, INSPIRE, that will offer scholarships to students, hoping to attract them to ‘careers in science.’ Thrilling stuff, huh?

I thought so too. Then I read about these scientists in Beijing who have compiled a 224,000-year record on the behaviour of Asian monsoons. Their aim is to make better, more accurate predictions on rainfall patterns in the future. For China, where a huge portion of the population depends on the monsoons for livelihood, this will be a giant step forward.

But isn’t this true of India as well? Monsoon rainfall is the only source of water for than 40 per cent of our farmers. But our Meteorological Department still uses an early 20th century model to predict rainfall! No wonder the forecastings go horribly awry sometimes…

So I am thinking, shouldn’t we first develop better monsoon models, and then spend on human space flights? I hope all the INSPIRE aspirants think so too...