Ex-ISRO chief Madhavan Nair likens situation to imprisonment of Galileo

Bangalore: The space wars continue. G Madhavan Nair, the former head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) today said, "In medieval times, you have heard of Galileo put in prison by the King. If Indian scientists are also treated like this, God save the scientific community in the country."

Mr Nair was reacting to remarks attributed to Minister of State V Narayanasamy that Mr Nair and three of his former colleagues at ISRO have been black-listed to send a clear message -that no wrongdoing will be tolerated.

The war stems from a deal signed during Mr Nair's tenure as ISRO chief which committed to ISRO building two satellites and providing 70 mhz of valuable S-band spectrum to a company named Devas for Rs 1000 crore - a deal tilted heavily in favour of Devas.

The government this week said that Mr Nair and three men - all eminent scientists - who worked with him on the deal are banned from government positions.  Mr Nair has defended the deal, and blamed his successor, K Radhakrishnan, for misrepresenting the facts to the government.   "Today I saw a news item...somebody (Narayanasamy) saying that we want to teach the scientists a lesson," Mr Nair said. "Scientists have to be given freedom if technology has to grow."

Galileo, a 17th century Italian physicist and astronomer, was found guilty by the Church for his observations that the earth revolves around the sun, contradicting the age-old belief that the earth was centre of universe.

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Mr Nair said he plans to use the Right to Information Act to get a copy of the official order that declares he is ineligible for government jobs.

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