It's not because of national prestige (except the space program). The UK doesn't have any of those things because they have big daddy USA protecting them if the

It's not because of national prestige (except the space program). The UK doesn't have any of those things because they have big daddy USA protecting them if the need arises. India does not have anyone to protect her against China or Pakistan. In fact, China has been phenomenally increasing it's naval concentration in the Indian ocean. India has failed to grow an indigenous military industry (except for nukes and some other stuff..) and this has resulted in India becoming the largest purchaser of weapons worldwide. Definitely not a title I am proud of. Geopolitics is complex. It could be argued that had the US/UK not 'enabled' Pakistan back in the day we wouldn't have this problem today. It was good for western nations to have an ally in this region against Russia and thus Afghanistan during the cold war era. But I'd like to add. On the subject of our space program. Our president a few terms ago was a fisherman's son (and he was from a very poor family..) who eventually went on to become a rocket scientist and then later the president of the country. We are working on poverty, a one sided perspective on such a complex issue doesn't do it justice. We need the space program as much as we need to improve food distribution. And we have enough people to work on many problems simultaneously. I can understand that as someone from the UK you are upset because your government insists on giving aid to India. But the aid issue is politicized greatly. India has said several times that we do not want the aid but political forces in both countries have resulted in the continuation of aid. I can see how the UK media might spin that into 'Oh, we give them aid and they make missiles'. All I can say to that is, it's not true. I'd encourage anyone to research this more to arrive at the real facts. We don't make nukes with aid money.