India’s Department of Space (DoS) has introduced stricter rules governing resignations and voluntary retirements of scientists working on critical ISRO missions after at least 100 personnel reportedly left key centres over the past few months, according to a report by The Times of India.
A memorandum dated July 14 states that resignation and voluntary retirement requests from Group ‘A’ scientific and technical personnel associated with Gaganyaan and other important national missions will no longer be processed as a routine administrative matter. Instead, every request must now be referred to the Department of Space for a final decision, along with recommendations from the respective centre director.
The change reverses an administrative arrangement introduced in 2020, under which ISRO centre directors and heads of units were authorised to approve resignation and voluntary retirement requests from senior scientific and technical staff up to the scientist/engineer-SG level.
According to the report, the recent departures include scientists from major ISRO facilities such as the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). Sources cited by TOI said the exits involved personnel linked to programmes including Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-3, SpaDeX and the LVM-3 launch vehicle.
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan acknowledged that employees do leave the organisation but said such movement is part of every institution. He added that the revised policy is intended to ensure that important national projects do not face disruption because of sudden departures.
While the reported resignations represent a relatively small proportion of ISRO’s workforce of more than 14,600 employees, the Department of Space memorandum notes concern over the increasing number of requests from scientists associated with prestigious missions of national importance.
The report also points out that attrition is not new for ISRO. Official data shows around 700 employees resigned between 2012 and 2024, while the agency’s latest annual report says recruitment for more than 1,000 scientific, technical and administrative positions is currently at an advanced stage.
The latest policy reflects the government’s focus on maintaining workforce continuity as India advances ambitious programmes such as Gaganyaan and other strategically important space missions.
