On September 7, BGA India  Managing Director Ratan Shrivastava participated in a discussion on India’s space sector. The conversation, hosted by one of India’s largest broadcasting organizations, featured a conversation focused on space sector reforms in the country.

The discussion, conducted by public service broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) as part of its topical affairs program “In Focus,” lasted around 60 minutes. It featured comments by Shrivastava along with fellow panelists Sanjay Kumar, the CEO of GeoSpatial World, and KV Prasad, who previously served as editor of The Tribune. It touched on various issues across the Indian space sector, including its relationship to India’s broader development priorities and the opportunities and challenges therein.

During the discussion, which was bilingual in a mix of Hindi and English, Shrivastava, a recognized space expert who has decades of experience on defense issues both in the Indian Army as well as in the private sector, shared his insights on understanding India’s space industry and the pathways for advancing government priorities. In his remarks, Shrivastava hit on several important themes, including where India is today and how it can meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s declared objective of ensuring that the benefits of outer space investments reach the common man.

“Space should become part of the development of the country,” Shrivastava said in his comments regarding the link between India’s space sector, the country’s broader priorities and the need to promote broader public awareness in wider society. The full discussion is available on YouTube at this link.