[ankeshk]

Response to having a space program while having poverty: http://balajiviswanathan.quora.com/Indian-Space-Mission-Pove...

Please scroll down a bit because the awesome part comes after the subhead: Why India needs a MARS program.

[sandy23]

Thats an awesome article. ISRO can be an inspiration not just to young kids but many other private/government agencies in doing technologically advanced things.

[danbruc]

Is that supported by the majority of the population? Naively I would expect that people would prefer immediate improvements over long term benefits.

[pavanky]

India does have a lot of domestic and economic policies to bring people out of poverty. The said policies however are at the mercy of politicians who are corrupt and do not deliver.

India spends 0.2% on space exploration and 12% on defence. If you want to complain about misaligned priorities complain about our defence that takes up the most resources but does very little indigenous development rather than our space program that costs next to nothing but develops a lot of indigenous technology.

[danbruc]

Seriously guys, how can you downvote a question like that? It's a real question with a real answer and not irrelevant in this context.