[gorekee]

The question is: will the society as a whole benefit more from money spent by scientists and engineers or from a better health and education system. I think this is a "win win win" situation for a specific range of wealthy people and not the society at all.

[truncate]

Maybe not now, but someday it will. Satellites which are product of similar R&D, are up there are connecting people, predicting weather, disasters such as cyclones and much more. I'm pretty sure all these benefit society as whole.

Secondly, as it has been said several times Indian space program gets just small fraction of total Indian budget.

[Shivetya]

quite a bit of India's problems are culture based. There was big to do about building toilets all across India in an effort to improve sanitation and health.

Guess what, people would not use them because going to the bathroom in town was taboo. They would walk past the new toilet facility and use the woods.

[bushido]

Please correct me if I am wrong. Wasn't there a cost associated with using these washrooms? I recall reading a study that surveyed people and found:

a. The primary target market found the cost to high

b. The primary market who had always used the woods were embarrassed of not knowing how to "use" the facilities and embarrassed to ask anyone about it.

c. There were some free locations, that were filthy.

[roywiggins]

Outdoor defecation is a huge problem in India. It's very much a cultural thing, though obviously access to attractive facilities is a huge problem too.

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21607837-fixing-dreadful-...

> Evidence is growing that India must urgently correct its cultural practices, though it is sensitive to say so. Studies of India’s population show how since at least the 1960s child mortality rates have consistently been higher in Hindu families than Muslim ones—though Muslims typically are poorer, less educated and have less access to clean water

[known]

We are lobbying President Obama to direct Indian regime to create separate states for SC/ST/Dalit/Untouchable/Muslim/Sikh/Christian/Parsi/Buddhist/Jain communities as per 2nd Round Table Conference Resolution.

http://wh.gov/ii5bo