The last few days have been quite momentous in the history of the Indian space policy landscape. The appointment of Pawan Kumar Goenka, the former Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra as the Chairperson of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) indicates that the announcement of the new space-related policies favouring space entrepreneurship aren’t just promises on paper but represent a tangible shift in the vision of the government for the space programme. The further announcements to de-regulate the telecommunication sector has reinvigorated the identity of India as a market for satellite and telecommunication applications. However, these developments notwithstanding, a few concerns remain viz., the lack of single window clearances due to the overlapping/concurrent jurisdiction of the Department of Telecommunication and Department of Space for satellite communication applications; the conspicuous failure of the government’s new policy outlook being translated into a legislation; the draft spacecom policies and remote sensing policies stopping short of providing the clarity and predictability that is considered conducive for investments; and the precise functions, responsibilities, and powers of IN-SPACe, the new industry regulator, not being defined within the framework of a law.
Changing Indian space policy landscape | ORF (orfonline.org)
