In a major administrative overhaul aimed at safeguarding its flagship space programmes, the Department of Space (DoS) has significantly tightened resignation and voluntary retirement rules for scientists and technical personnel.
The directive comes in the wake of reports that over 100 scientists and engineers have recently resigned from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), sparking concerns over the retention of specialised expertise.
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A The Times of India indicated that around 80 scientists resigned from the U R Rao Satellite Centre and at least 20 left the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.
Among the high-profile exits are senior personnel deeply embedded in critical national projects, including LVM-3 project director Victor Joseph from VSSC, the SpaDeX project director from URSC, and Aditya Rallapalli, Chandrayaan-3's project manager for simulations.
According to an internal memorandum issued by the DoS on July 14, resignation and voluntary retirement requests from Group ‘A' scientific and technical personnel involved in strategic missions, including the highly anticipated Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, will no longer be accepted routinely.
This new mandate effectively reverses a 2020 administrative order that had previously empowered ISRO centre directors and unit heads to independently approve such exits up to the Scientist/Engineer-SG level.
Under the revised guidelines, centre directors must now forward all such requests, along with their specific recommendations, directly to the Department of Space for final approval. Furthermore, officials have been strictly advised to ensure that personnel tied to critical projects successfully fulfil their ongoing responsibilities before they can be officially relieved.
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Despite the sudden policy shift and the volume of departures, ISRO leadership remains confident in its operational resilience. ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan downplayed the crisis, stating that employee turnover is a common reality across large organisations and assuring that responsibilities are being seamlessly reassigned to prevent any disruption to flagship missions.
Officials maintained that all major projects, including the Gaganyaan mission, will continue strictly as planned. To counter the attrition and reinforce its workforce, ISRO is actively progressing with a massive recruitment drive to fill approximately 1,050 scientific, technical, and administrative positions, ensuring that India's space ambitions remain firmly on track.
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