What happened: Opposition alleges ISRO weakening; the Centre says ISRO is enabled for frontier missions

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh raised concerns about reports of a privatization push in India’s space sector. Ramesh argued that changes could limit the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) role in rocket development and manufacturing and could involve transfer of satellite-related assets to private companies. Ramesh also questioned a reported plan to hand over responsibility for the second spaceport being built at Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu, where ISRO is investing around ₹1,000 crore.

Ramesh further claimed that 100–120 key ISRO professionals left in recent months, which he presented as evidence of internal apprehension about the direction of reforms.

Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh responded by rejecting the Opposition’s “weakening” framing. Singh said ISRO is not being weakened but “enabled” to focus on frontier missions, including Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, and future lunar, Venus, and Mars missions.

Singh linked the policy direction to scale needs. He said the natural evolution of the space programme follows India’s target of about 50 launches annually. In Singh’s account, private industry must scale up manufacturing while ISRO concentrates on research and frontier missions.

Singh also defended increased private participation by citing the growth of space start-ups, saying India now has more than 440 space start-ups. Singh referenced Skyroot Aerospace’s July 18 Vikram-1 launch as the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach orbit. He stated a government target of a $44-billion space economy that needs private rocket factories, satellite manufacturing capacity, and a deeper supply chain alongside ISRO’s continuing research and mission work.

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