'We serve under bonds, they don't': Doctors say IITians should also be made to serve in ISRO, DRDO

Two doctors have questioned why compulsory service bonds apply to medical graduates but not to students from premier engineering institutes like the IITs, especially amid growing concerns over top talent opting out of public sector roles such as ISRO and DRDO.

Reacting to former ISRO chief S Somanath's remarks about the lack of interest among IITians in joining the space agency, Dr Deepak Krishnamurthy, lead consultant and senior interventional cardiologist at KIMS Hospital, said: "I wonder why only doctors should have bonds to work for govt. Enforce them on IITians also to work for ISRO, DRDO etc."

Dr G Rajesh, Professor and Head of Cardiology at Government Medical College, Kozhikode, echoed the sentiment. "Let them (IITians) go to US, no issues. But we doctors have bond, up to 10 years in certain states after doing MBBS or MD or superspeciality. Why these guys are exempted? You spend much more money for them!!"

The reactions come in the wake of an October 2023 interview in which Somanath, who led India's successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, said ISRO has struggled to attract talent from top-tier institutes like the IITs. "Our best talents are supposed to be engineers and they are supposed to be IITians. But, they are not joining ISRO,” he said, recalling how 60 per cent of IIT students walked out during a campus recruitment presentation after seeing the agency's pay scale.

The then space agency chief said that the IITIans probably start with the salary, which is highest at the ISRO. Business tycoon Harsh Goenka in a tweet around same time said that the salary of Somanath, who was heading ISRO and also the secretary of the Department of Space, was Rs 2.5 lakh - which is the average placement package in top IITs.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also highlighted that many engineers behind India's Moon landing came from lesser-known institutions like TKM College of Engineering and the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, rather than the IITs. "IITians went to Silicon Valley; CETians took us to the moon!” Tharoor said.

Last month, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh raised concerns over India's inability to retain top talent in defence R&D, saying that the country was "not able to get the best people for the job" as many skilled professionals continued to migrate abroad. Addressing the CII Annual Business Summit 2025, he called for improved incentives, better pay, and a robust work environment to strengthen India's defence innovation ecosystem.

"We need to have adequate impetus toward disrupting technology and also though it was said very clearly that 'incentive doesn't get you people, it is the environment that gets you people'. But I think to some extent we need to create some incentive, some good environment so that we get the best people for the job," the air chief said.  

"We are not able to get the best people for the job. People are going outward. They're going and working from other countries. I think we need to retain them here by giving them good payment, good incentive, good work environment, maybe some recognition," he added.