Speaking omission

Whenever the press convenes to record an achievement by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), its chairman and other associated scientists traditionally come forward to talk about various aspects of the project after a speech by a political dignitary. But Wednesday saw a significant departure from this practice. After Mangalyaan, the Mars Orbiter, successfully entered the Martian orbit at 7.18 a m, it was only Prime Minister Narendra Modi's triumphal speech that the press and the listening world got to hear. Neither K Radhakrishnan, chairman of Isro and secretary in department of space, nor M Annadurai, programme director of the Mars Orbiter Mission, spoke on a programme that has been underway for 300 days, long before Modi came to power at the Centre.