ISRO's Exodus: Space Crisis, Staff Crisis

ISRO is losing people faster than it can hire them. Around 100 scientists and engineers have resigned or taken voluntary retirement recently, with the bulk of the exits from URSC, ISRO's satellite hub, and VSSC, its rocket-making centre. More worryingly, the agency's on-roll strength is now lower than it was in 2001-02, even as its workload has multiplied with Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4 and-5, and Venus and Mars missions on the table. TOI's Chethan Kumar, who broke both stories, joins Anirban Chowdhury to unpack what's really driving the attrition, why the private space boom is only part of the story, and what it means for India's space ambitions.