The Prime Minister is the head of Department of Space, whose primary arm is ISRO. He is the boss. Literally every Prime Minister of India has attended ISRO launches and addressed ISRO after success/failure of launches.
> asked Modi to "bless us"
You probably aren't Indian but this is quite common in India where we seek blessings from elders.
That might have been an issue with the control room getting the timing of the live feed wrong. No reason to read into it more than that. We have had previous missions where the Prime Minister's live feed was beamed after the event concluded
No, he's just an elected representative of the people, a government servant.
> You probably aren't an Indian
I am an Indian.
Modi, desperate to project himself, is overruling the President (who is the supreme commander of the armed forces), gotten himself "coronated" in the new Parliament building, gotten his picture put on every citizen's COVID vaccination certificate (as if he has invented the vaccine).
PM is not the boss of the executive according to the constitution*. The fact that traditionally and more recently the President follows the whim of the PM does not negate the text that identifies the elected President as the head of the executive.
> identifies the elected President as the head of the executive.
Wrong. He is a "nominal head", or in other words, "in name only". The powers are vested in the Prime Minister not the President. So it does not make him the head of the executive. Read Article 53 (3)a of Indian Constitution which overrides 53(1) and resolves any ambiguity: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1597349/
(3) Nothing in this article shall
(a) be deemed to transfer to the President any functions conferred by any existing law on the Government of any State or other authority;
So the authority of Prime Minister, as defined by the Constitution, cannot be transferred to the President, even though he is a nominal head. This is as per 53 (3)a.
"(1) There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice: Provided that the President may require the council of Ministers to reconsider such advice, either generally or otherwise, and the President shall act in accordance with the advice tendered after such reconsideration"
Which means the President can only ask for advice (from PM + Council of Ministers) to be reconsidered, and after reconsideration, he still has to act on the advice. He cannot overrule it. Hence why a Bill can be passed by Parliament and sent back by President to be reconsidered only once. The second time the Bill is sent, the President is duty bound to assent else he can be impeached. The Prime Minister on the other hand cannot be impeached. The ruling Government can be brought down with a no-confidence motion or if enough members from ruling party defect. No other way to impeach a Prime Minister.
Also read Article 77:
77. (1) All executive action of the Government of
India shall be expressed to be taken in the name of the
President.
It is pretty clear that he has no "real" executive powers and is head in "name" only as the Government is taking actions in his name. The executive power rests with Government of India whose head is the Prime Minister.
It is also even more undermined by the fact that the President is not directly elected by the people (like in US where people vote for the President and representative votes are cast through their electoral college) but through an electoral college consisting of the elected representatives of the People. He has no real executive powers vested in him unlike the President of USA who can pass executive orders.
Tell me one executive order passed by President of India directly and unilaterally. There are none.
> No, he's just an elected representative of the people, a government servant.
And he still is the boss of DoS whose arm is ISRO. You can cry all you want, it won't change facts.
> Modi, desperate to project himself, is overruling the President (who is the supreme commander of the armed forces), gotten himself "coronated" in the new Parliament building, gotten his picture put on every citizen's COVID vaccination certificate (as if he has invented the vaccine).
I cracked up at the little flag waving by who I assume was the prime minister/president. The duality is interesting serious Indian scientists doing great work and a politician on the screen for no good reason. Here’s to the tribe of scientist prevailing and taking the country forward, prob true everywhere now that I think of it.
> The duality is interesting serious Indian scientists doing great work and a politician on the screen for no good reason
One can say the same about President Nixon talking to the Astronauts who landed on the Moon. At least here ISRO comes directly under the Prime Minister of India while NASA does not come under the President of USA.
