On 20th September, Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claimed that the women scientists at ISRO are not getting their salaries. She made the remarks in her address at the Lok Sabha during the Women’s Reservation Bill discussion.
She claimed that women scientists at IIT Kharagpur and ISRO are not getting their stipends and salaries. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said, “The women researchers at IIT Kharagpur and women scientists at ISRO are not getting their stipend and salaries. Even after sending Chandrayaan, they are not being paid their salary.”
Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju instantly fact-checked her false claims in the house. He said, “Every word spoken is a part of the parliamentary document. We should not mislead the house. When Kakoli Dastidar made the statement, she made a very serious allegation that was completely misleading. She said ISRO scientists are not getting regular salaries. The ISRO scientists themselves, including some of the scientists who have retired and who are in touch and regularly supporting ISRO, have clearly said that every regular employee, including those who are pensioners, is getting regular on-time salaries and pensions. The women scientists of ISRO have made special mention that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the best support to the ISRO, and they have made the country proud.”
Misleading reports of ISRO scientists not getting salaries
The misleading reports about ISRO scientists not getting paid have been circulating since Chadrayaan-3 was launched on 14th July 2023. It was propagated that the engineers who built the Chandrayaan-3 launchpad were not paid their salaries for over a year. From The Wire to Dainik Bhaskar, all media houses used almost the same language in their headlines, with little clarity on who were these engineers.
The report originated from the News Agency IANS wire service on 15th July, one day after the launch. Several media houses picked it up as it is, including The Wire, Dainik Bhaskar and several others. In reality, it was the engineers at Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) in Ranchi are not paid salaries as the PSU is facing financial troubles.