Indian scientists make us proud, despite politicians.

Tomorrow is a crucial day that could bring great joy to Indian scientists and science. At 7.30 AM the spacecraft called Mangalyaan, on a Mars Orbiter Mission, will reach the final moments of its journey that started last October. Yesterday the engine was test fired for 3.968 seconds in preparation for tomorrow when it will be fired for 24 minutes to slow the spacecraft down so that it can be captured by the gravity of Mars at a distance of of 423 km, after travelling over 700 million km. The science behind the mission is mind boggling in its complexity, the most satisfying thing being that it is designed, constructed and planned entirely in India. It is ironic that Mangalyaan is arriving 3 days after the NASA spacecraft called MAVEN reached Mars because the US has done everything possible to hinder our space exploration, the excuse being that the same technology maybe used for making missiles, while it has supplied arms to Pakistan with which to kill Indians. Perhaps something for our Prime Minister to remember when he is being overwhelmed by the usual diplomatic hot air while on his visit to the US in a few days time. Despite a poor education system India has produced many brilliant scientists but the tragedy is that they are completely ignored by the government, which functions to enrich politicians and civil servants, and the press, which concentrates on the same politicians and civil servants and trivial Bollywood gossip. About 50% of our children are not fit for the grade they are in. In a country where 50% of the population is under the age of 25 years, with a million joining the workforce every year, it is a tragedy that 80% are not fit for employment. The dismal state of affairs is captured by the events of Jadavpur University in Kolkata where a female student was drugged and molested in a male hostel on the evening of 28 August. Apparently the university tried to hush up the incident which led to students protesting outside the Vice Chancellors office. The police were called and did the only thing that police in India know, which is thrash the students. Trinamul Congress thugs joined in to molest more women. West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee thought that the Park Street rape in 2012 was a conspiracy against her government and transferred the Joint Commissioner of Police, Damayanti Sen for solving the case. Her nephew, Abhijit Banerjee said that the agitation at Jadavpur is because of a ban on drugs on the university campus. Mamata Banerjee started her career in the Congress and just as the Congress brutally attacked sleeping followers of Baba Ramdev in 2011, resulting in the death of one woman, so Trinamul is organising its own rally against ' anarchists ' and ' outsiders '. Perhaps we would be better off on Mars.