Jodhpur: Flaying the apathy of the industrial giants in India towards actively funding ,'Research and Development' in Space and Defence Sector, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Former Chairman, ISRO and Chancellor JNU, Delhi said here on Wednesday that private industry in India conveniently comes into focus only at the 'manufacturing stage'.He also dwelled upon as to how for 'Chandrayan -the Voyage to Moon' and Mangalyan, the Mars Mission of India not only kindled the imagination of all classes of society but also placed India in a prestigious slot before the International Community because of the discoveries regarding Moon and Mars made during these missions.Internationally renowned space scientist Dr K. Kasturirangan who has donned various hats including those in the Planning Commission and the Parliament, was speaking on sidelines of the 24 th Prof. Daulat Singh Kothari Memorial oration lecture organised at Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur to commemorate his 110 th Birth Anniversary. Dr Kasturirangan elaborated the 'Planetary Exploration Era' of India which has already yielded the facts like 'discovery of water molecules on Lunar surface' and 'aqueous past of Mars'.Though steering clear of the recent controversies pertaining to Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid from the launchpad of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Dr Kasturirangan said that he is working closely with the Vice Chancellor of JNU to resolve issues and would not comment on anything 'as in the past'."That's why we don't hear Tatas and Mahindras sponsoring any space or defence mission of India during R and D stage or having any such facility unlike other countries", said he adding that industry in India will now have to make a choice between 'actively funding the research in Science and Technology' during the first stage of manufacturing any equipment or 'repeating the imported technology'. The former, he said would enable the realization of 'Made in India' policy. He also dwelled upon the plans of partnerships in high value global mega projects.Ruing that the research is still in its nascent stages in India despite the declaration of 2010-20 as the 'Decade of Innovation', he shared that 9000 Ph.ds are produced in Indian per years as compared to 36,000 in USA which is four times more than us.Interestingly, the 'space man' advocated the importance of 'self reliance' than waiting for 'tooo long' in the name of indigenisation with respect to important space missions on the road map of ISRO and India's space endeavour. Closely associated with the Planning Commission all these years, Dr Kasturirangan said that by 2030, India will be the third largest stake holder in the Global Economic Polarity next only to USA and China."We have the advantage of size, population and resources but all these can be tapped only with the active intervention of Science and Technology", said while refusing to comment to delayed DRDO projects and if ISRO can play a role in bridging the gap between ISRO's success and DRDO's constant delays in delivering the projects in time.Talking to TNN, he said that work is in progress for developing our own cryogenic engines and technology in addition to putting the 'Reusable Launch Vehicle' for satellites on a fast track and higher spatial resolution of satellites. It is to be mentioned that ISRO is struggling with issues haunting the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) powered by cryogenic engines procured from Russia. He, however admitted that practical reach to the masses with respect to applications of Science and Technology like Remote Sensing, Disaster Management, Tele education and Tele Medicine have still a long way to go in India.He also revealed that boosting the R and D expenditure in Science and Technology from one percent of GDP to 2 percent is in pipeline.