In a mind-bogglingly impressive achievement, the South Asian nation has become the first country to land on the moon’s south pole.
Just one question before we hail this historic triumph.
What kind of success is it to have a space programme costing tens of millions of pounds when the World Bank says 163million Indians don’t have access to safe drinking water and 210million are without improved sanitation?
There is no doubt that India isn’t quite the downtrodden developing country it once was.
Its space triumph came hot on the heels of Russia’s duff attempt last week, when its spacecraft spun out of control and smashed into the lunar surface.
But for all its wealth and achievements, India is still a country with chronic and widespread poverty.
Around 230million Indians are still living in poverty, according to the latest UN data, which is the largest number of poor people in a single country anywhere in the world.
Millions of Indians face a daily struggle to survive, with an astonishing 84 per cent of its population of nearly 1.3billion living on less than $6.85 (£5.43) per day, according to figures from 2019.
Yes, there is great wealth in India, as is evidenced by its booming number of billionaires and the moon landing.
Unsurprisingly, the Indian government is hoping to boost investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi insisted: “The sky is not the limit.”
But according to Oxfam, the top ten per cent of the Indian population holds 77 per cent of the total national wealth.
And it would take 941 years for a minimum-wage worker in rural India to earn what the top-paid executive at a leading Indian garment company earns in a year.
So while India makes a big show of its billionaires, tech bros and spaceships, for others life is very hard indeed.
Vast sums
CNN reported that almost 75 per cent of Indians face hard lives of manual labour in villages, while a third of the population is illiterate.
So with all that in mind, I really think the vast sums involved could surely have been better spent elsewhere.
And if it sounds like I have an axe to grind, I do.
Because we, the UK taxpayers, gave an estimated £2.3billion of aid to India between 2016 and 2021.
But if the Indian government prefers to spend cash on outer space rather than solving poverty, shouldn’t we stop giving them so much aid and spend it on our own struggling population instead?
Rich list Emma’s brand new way to earn money…
IT’S game, set and cash for Emma Raducanu – who is the world’s sixth richest tennis player, despite barely picking up a tennis racket this past year.
The 20-year-old has entered the top ten of the game’s rich list on Forbes thanks to raking in huge sums from sponsors.
Emma, who is now ranked 186th in the world after her 2021 US Open win, has won just five matches this year after taking three months out to recover from wrist and ankle surgery.
But despite the setbacks she has raked in £12.2million over the past year thanks to blockbuster brand deals with Porsche, Nike and Dior.
I wonder if she would rather be ranked 6th in the world and 186th in the rich list?
Probably not – and who can blame her?
She’s brainy, gorgeous and making a fortune.
Stuff tennis, I say.
The world is Emma’s oyster – or in her case her caviar, lobster and, quite frankly, anything else she wants.
Loner Harry so sad
THERE’S no denying Prince Harry has behaved in ways that many of us find hard to understand.
And I know that lots of people will say any difficulties he is currently experiencing have been brought on entirely by himself.
But there is still something tragic about the fact that when Harry returns to Britain on the eve of the first anniversary of the Queen’s death, he is not planning to see King Charles or Prince William.
Nor will he be accompanied by his wife, Meghan.
Harry is in town to make an appearance at an event for the charity WellChild, of which I am an ambassador.
And although the awards ceremony he is attending will take place just a day before the first anniversary of his grandmother’s death, the Prince has “no intention” of seeing his brother or father during his stay.
Surely some part of him must be yearning to? It just seems so sad to me.
All I can see is a very lonely man who has exiled himself, probably mistakenly, and almost certainly regretfully.
I guess the big question is: Can Harry ever come back from this?
One hot minute
IF you want a lesson on how to negotiate, just ask Kim Cattrall.
She is rumoured to have earned a staggering £790,000 for 20 lines and just 60 seconds of airtime in the finale of TV’s And Just Like That.
That works out to an impressive £13,166 per second on screen – nice work if you can get it.
Sex And The City fans loved her sassy character Samantha because she always seemed to know her worth in all aspects of life.
So does Kim.
She has proved that if you don’t stand up for yourself, no one else will.
And what does it say about the SATC reboot, that they would pay her that much money for one minute of screen time?
Basically, that the series is nothing without her in it – even if it is just for a few seconds.
Metal fatigue
IAN Dury famously drawled that all his brain and body needed was a heady mix of “sex and drugs and rock and roll”.
Well, that’s fine until you approach your 60s – just ask Metallica.
The rockers have left their hellraising behind and now much prefer to spend their time cycling on a Pelo-ton, eating Tofu and chilling out with a bit of yoga.
This, coming from a band once nicknamed
“Alcoholica” thanks to their booze and drug-filled lifestyle, is quite some turnaround.
But as drummer Lars Ulrich, 59, said: “The clichés about Jack Daniel’s and shenanigans and burning the candle at three ends . . . that’s all well and good.
But I can tell you that having a clear mind and a clear view and feeling strong and healthy, you can still give the drums more of a beating . . . as much as you ever have before.”
So, I guess that’s why they have ignored Dury and now seem to follow Aerosmith frontman Steve Tyler’s advice.
“Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll,” he mused, “take out the drugs and you’ve got more time for the other two.”
Good for them!
Power women farce
WHOEVER at Vogue decided to feature the transgender cyclist Emily Bridges as the only sportswoman in Vogue’s top 25 “powerhouse” women is surely having a laugh.
She was banned from competing in the women’s category of the sport by British Cycling.
Yet she has been named in the fashion magazine’s influential list, bafflingly ahead of sportswomen such as the Lionesses, who have made history with their sporting achievements.
As Fiona McAnena, director of Fair Play For Women, said, the nomination is a “real kick in the teeth for women”.
I wish Emily Bridges well.
But given she is not yet a successful international cyclist, it is hard to see why she is on this list – and why the many other powerhouse athletes who have broken records, like heptathlon champ Katarina Johnson-Thompson, are not.