The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has achieved several milestones in space exploration, is facing a challenge in recruiting the best engineering talent from the country. According to ISRO’s chairman Dr S Somanath, the graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the premier engineering colleges in India, are not interested in joining ISRO due to its low pay structure.
Dr Somanath, who was instrumental in the success of Chandrayaan 3, the lunar mission that made India the fourth country to land on the Moon and the first to touch down on the south pole region, said that ISRO’s best talents are supposed to be engineers and IITians. However, he lamented that if ISRO tries to recruit from IIT, no one is really willing to join.
He revealed that only a few IITians who think that space is important join ISRO, but their percentage is hardly less than 1 per cent or even lower. Sharing an example, he told what happened when his team went to one of the IITs to conduct a recruitment drive. Following his presentation on ISRO’s work and career opportunities, he revealed he saw more than half of the students walk out of the room upon seeing the maximum salary they could make at ISRO.
The ISRO chief said that money cannot attract people at ISRO and that the space agency was hiring adequate talent to do the work it was doing. He underlined a difference between the ‘best talent’ and ‘adequate talent’. He said thousands of students don’t get the opportunity to write exams for the IITs but they are equally talented.
The salary of an ISRO scientist varies depending on factors like experience, education, job position, and location. The starting salary for engineers is nearly Rs 56,100. The ISRO follows the pay scales and salary structure as per recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC).
The salary of Dr Somanath, who is at the top post at ISRO and also the secretary of the Department of Space, is around Rs 2.5 lakh, which is the average placement package in top IITs.
The trend of IITians preferring fat packages over public sector jobs was also highlighted by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor after the success of Chandrayaan 3. He said Dr Somanath was a product of Kerala’s TKM College of Engineering and many of his colleagues graduated from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET).
He added that at least seven more engineers from CET were involved in the success of Chandrayaan 3. He tweeted, “Indians are rightly obsessed with the IITs, but let’s salute the alumni of unsung engineering colleges who serve the public sector with dedication & who are the backbone of national enterprises like @ISRO. IITians went to Silicon Valley; CETians took us to the moon!”
ISRO has been making remarkable strides in space research and exploration, launching several satellites and missions for various purposes. However, it seems that it has not been able to inspire and attract enough young engineers from India’s elite institutions to join its ranks and contribute to its vision.
