Penury in the backyard of India´s rocket launch pad
(WorldNews India)

For the villagers of Rayadoruvu in Andhra Pradesh, it would have been yet another bright summer day that was spent catching crabs; not June 5. That day no one stepped out. Across the Pulicat lake, India`s space programme was about to begin a new chapter with the maiden flight of Isro`s heaviest rocket GSLV Mk3 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota. About 15km from the SDSC entrance, 14-year-old Krishna squatting by the lake, was perhaps the only villager who got a close-up of the soaring rocket. He was waiting for his grandfather, Subramani, who ferries people to and fro across the lake - perhaps the only route for the villagers to go out into the outside world. `We are...