Chennai

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"When I stand here, I look at a young village boy. After having been a state topper in the science stream, I had no courage to write the IIT entrance examination...but I kept a dream to once graduate from such an institution. I had the fortune of completing my Masters degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and now my PhD comes from IIT-Madras," said Indian space agency (ISRO) chief Dr S Somanath while reminiscing his humble journey, as he earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-Madras on Friday (Jul 19).  

In his stellar career that has spanned four decades, Dr Somanath has been conferred with multiple honorary doctorates, but the PhD from IIT-Madras is special, as this is a result of his determination to earn a doctorate in a subject close to his heart. 

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"I joined here (IIT-M) as a student when I was doing the GSLV Mk3 rocket design and development. I got immersed in that. So, I couldn't further this task of completing my PhD. It's a good fortune that after assuming the office of chairman of ISRO, I could complete it and get graduated. It is really a great honour. I thank the Department of Space and ISRO, who sponsored me to study while working for the organization," Dr Somanath said in a short address after receiving his PhD at the 61st Convocation of IIT-M.

According to IIT-M, 2,636 students graduated on this occasion.

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The ISRO chief thanked his mentors and research guides - Prof Shankar Krishnapillai, Prof Narayanan, and his close friend and colleague Dr Unnikrishnan Nair, who heads ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

Notably, Dr Nair had also completed his PhD from IIT-Madras, and so did Dr Veeramuthuvel, project director of Chandrayaan-3.

Also read | Less than 1% IITians in ISRO, they don't want to join: ISRO Chief Somanath

While top officials of ISRO have completed their PhDs from IITs, it must also be remembered that IITians don't prefer to join the Indian space agency. Perceptions of low pay in the government-run ISRO, the style of functioning of government organisations, preference for corporate jobs, high-paying domains, and the lure of foreign employment are a few reasons that are said to deter IITians from pursuing careers at ISRO.

"Our (country's) best talents are supposed to be engineers from IITs. But, they are not joining ISRO. If we go and try to recruit from IIT, no one joins," Dr Somanath said in a television interview last year. He also mentioned that the Indian space agency was not getting the best of talent and that IITians comprise less than one per cent of those working at ISRO. 

Following the successful lunar soft-landing of India's Chandrayaan-3, parliamentarian from Thiruvananthapuram Dr Shashi Tharoor had said in the Lok Sabha: "If IITians went to Silicon Valley, CETans (alumni of College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram) took us to the moon."

He was referring to the alumni of unsung engineering colleges from various parts of India, and how such people from humble backgrounds worked on the Chandrayaan-3 mission and continue to work for several government-run science and technology organisations in India. 

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Referring to the exceptional cases of IITians joining ISRO, Dr Somanath said in a TV interview, "Few passionate IITians who think space is important, such people join."

Sharing an example of an ISRO team that went to recruit talent from an IIT, Dr Somanath mentioned that 60 per cent of students left the hall after seeing the highest pay that they could earn at the Indian government-run space agency.

"The career ambitions of those joining IITs are different."

While he said that ISRO was not attracting the best talent, the Indian space agency chief admitted that the organisation has adequate talent to carry out the work they are performing. He also referred to the diversity and vast availability of scientific talent in India, given the massive human resource pool.