Scientists from non-elite universities are largely to credit for India¡¯s historic lunar landing ¨C?but that doesn¡¯t mean New Delhi will channel more funding into second- and third-tier institutions or beef up salaries in the country¡¯s space programme, researchers say.

This August, the country¡¯s Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander became the of the moon, a moment that for many proved India¡¯s technological prowess. ¡°This is a victory cry of a new India,¡± said prime minister Narendra Modi. ?

But for the institutions behind the success, the aftermath of the event has translated into few victories of a tangible nature. While the landing thrust the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) into the limelight, it is unlikely to result in political willpower to raise ISRO scientists¡¯ salaries or boost funding for the bread-and-butter?engineering colleges that educate the bulk of India¡¯s technical graduates, researchers believe.

While ISRO doesn¡¯t publish a breakdown of its technical staff by education, researchers speaking with Times Higher Education confirmed that a negligible fraction of the agency¡¯s 10,000 or so technical employees have bachelor¡¯s degrees from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) or other elite institutions.

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One big factor is pay at the government agency, which pales in comparison?with salaries in the private sector and is unlikely to increase any time soon, researchers believe.

¡°In an aspirational society like India, with some exceptions, most young people seek higher salaries,¡± said Pushkar, director of the International Centre, Goa, and a member of the academic council at J. K. Lakshmipat University.

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He said he believed that ISRO¡¯s recent success was ¡°very unlikely¡± to lead to a stream of fresh recruits from top-tier universities, with most IIT undergraduates headed abroad or into global India-based companies for more lucrative work.

Academics?have been sceptical that ISRO would raise its salaries any time soon.

¡°ISRO is an old organisation,¡± said Mukhtar Ahmad, former professor of electrical engineering at Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, India. ¡°It has done many remarkable jobs, but the recruitment policy has remain[ed the] same.¡±

Narayan Prasad, chief operating officer of Satsearch, a private company selling components and services for space engineers, agreed.

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For researchers who joined ISRO ¨C often coming from villages or second-tier cities ¨C a government position?was a ¡°step up¡±, offering a ¡°safety net¡± and good benefits despite the pay, he said.

But salaries ¨C unremarkable for top graduates?¨C?were only one part of the equation preventing them from signing up to ISRO, according to Dr Prasad.

¡°Most people who finish their undergraduate degrees and join ISRO join at ¡®scientist B¡¯ level,¡± he said, noting that it takes a standard four years to be considered for progression into the next tier, regardless of how much a researcher excels. He estimated that, at this pace, it would take 40 years at the organisation to reach the top.

¡°The question then becomes, why would a top 0.1 per cent kid in the country wait 25 or 30 years to get to decision-making level?¡±

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But?Dr Prasad didn¡¯t seem too bothered by the fact that the nation¡¯s top graduates would be put off jobs at its scientific agencies. Even if IIT alumni emigrate, taking talent elsewhere, this ¡°brings fruits as well¡±, he said.

¡°China exports products; India exports people,¡± said Dr Prasad. ¡°A lot of CEOs are Indian. They¡¯re able to convince management to have resources, manufacturing units, call centres in India ¨C so that investment IITs have made is also paying off¡­I don¡¯t see this as competition between institutions.¡±

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pola.lem@timeshighereducation.com