India announced its arrival in the top space league of America, Russia, the European Union and China with the successful launch on April 28 of its seventh and final Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS IG) into a sub-synchronous orbit with a perigree (nearest point to the earth) of 284 km and a apogee (Farthest point to earth) of 20,657 km.
India announced its arrival in the top space league of America, Russia, the European Union and China with the successful launch on April 28 of its seventh and final Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS IG) into a sub-synchronous orbit with a perigree (nearest point to the earth) of 284 km and a apogee (Farthest point to earth) of 20,657 km. The satellite was launched on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in the early hours of the morning. The achievement gives India its complete constellation of its own Global Positioning System (GPS). When the entire network becomes fully operational, it will provide navigation and positioning services that require high precision for marine navigation, rail transport, aviation and military applications with an accuracy of 10 metres.
Congratulating scientists and engineers on site from Delhi vis video Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the new technology would benefit the Indian people. He named the system Navic. An Indian Space Research and Organization (ISRO)official said the agency had developed a coded chipset that could be incorporated with an existing receiver of a smartphone or any positioning device on vehicles, ships or planes to communicate with the satellite and acquire position data. ‘But entrepreneurs have to step up and manufacture chipsets on a large scale.’
An area of 1,500 km from India’s frontiers will be covered under the navigation system Prime Minister Modi said that India had seven neighbours, to whom he issued an invitation to join in and make use of the Indian system for national development. He went on: ‘We are now one of five countries with our own navigational system. Today we are free of dependence on other countries for navigation. Our planes will be able to land with ease and accuracy; we can plan disaster relief better and with our own technologies,’ he said. The system, he explained, was dedicated to India’s fishermen and mariners who have ventured out on the waters sometimes with only the sun and stars to guide them. The ‘navic’ opens a new chapter in their lives as it does for the rest of Indian humanity.
India has been mostly dependent on the United States for its GPS needs. However, when the US turned down an Indian request for GPS information during the Kargil war with Pakistan in the summer of 1999, India started work on its own GPS tewchnology.
In defence, India’s seven satellites will not only monitor the entire country and its environs , but they will keep track of potential threats posed by missiles and war planes. A further advantage is that signals will not get affected by the weather or through jamming. In sum, the GPS will be used for terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, vehicle tracking, fleet management, disaster management, mapping and geodetic data, acquisition and navigation for drivers.
As with supercomputers, when denied their use by the United States, India decided to design and manufacture its own – and succeeded with conspicuous success, self-reliance has taught India many lessons: there is nothing like standing on one’s own two feet.
Supine surrender to China
Having granted the German-based Uigher activist Dolkum Isa a visa to visit India, the Ministry of External Affairs back tracked and denied him on grounds that were as squalid as the decision itself. China describes him as a terrorist, but he has travelled frequently to the United States and other countries without the slightest problem. The two Chinese human rights activists Ray Wong and Ms Lu Jinghua, likewise, were also denied entry into India. The Ministry clearly has a low opinion of the public intelligence as its excuses bordered on the absurd. Where will this unseemly farce end is anybody’s guess. Sushma Swaraj, India’s External Affairs Minister is hospitalized with an illness yet to be diagnosed. Rest assured it has nothing to with China. but , who knows, It could be shame that has made her take to the bed.
It is possible that the Modi government has good reason for its China U-turn. But this is mere speculation. The evidence thus far is damning: India has caved into Chinese pressure. The Times of India editorial (April 27) noted that by its recent actions ‘India has lost face and strategic capital.’ The paper continued: ‘This is a setback because hitherto foreign policy was considered the NDA government’s strong suit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips and outreach to a diverse set of countries have certainly furthered India’s strategic profile. But India’s China policy has fallen between two stools….As things stand, India has handed the negotiating advantage to China and lost strategic capital in the international arena.’
This a sorry mess. ‘ If you say a person has been given a visa and then revoke it without a very cogent explanation, you risk coming across as succumbing to pressure, ‘said Alka Acharya, Director of the New Delhi-based Institute of Chinese Studies.
Indeed, it has. You wouldn’t think so at the silence in Parliament on this issue amidst the barrage of personal insults that party leaders hurled at each other. Such is the wisdom of the country’s political class.
The Chinese have not been slow to exploit their triumph. A statement emanating from Beijing solemnly advised India and Pakistan to keep talking until agreement was reached on all contentious issues. The India-Pakistan foreign secretary talks in New Delhi proved to be a bruising encounter. The Pakistan foreign secretary walked out on the dinner hosted by his Indian counterpart, S. Jaishankar, for delegates to the concurrent Heart of Asia conference. Meanwhile, a gaggle of former Indian and Pakistani diplomats called on the National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and requested that India-Pakistan back channel diplomacy be restored. Kanwal Sibal, a former Indian foreign secretary demurred, arguing, rightly, that such exercises were futile as long the Pakistan military called the shots in their country.
It is not for nothing that China advertises itself as Pakistan’s ‘all weather friend,’ one that it can depend upon to carry out terrorist strikes on India, thereby crippling an awkward adversary. Truth is that India has no coherent China or Pakistan policy. Drift is no substitute for policy. It involves endless chatter, and no tangible result.
Reuben brothers top UK rich list
Mumbai-born Reuben brothers, David and Simon, have topped Britain’s latest rich list, with assets worth Pounds 13.1 billion. Now, in their mid-seventies, the brothers had their schooling in Bombay, as it was then called, before emigrating to the UK in the 1950s, where they made their fortune in metals and property. They have a first cousin, Solomon Sofer, who still lives in the city and keeps in close touch with the Reuben siblings.
The family belonged to a line of Baghdadi Jews who migrated to British India in the 19th century – specifically to Bombay – from the Ottoman Empire. They were thrifty and hardworking and made the most of their opportunities.
The British rich list for 2016, published by the Sunday Times, has a strong Indian imprint. The Hinduja brothers, Srichand and Gopichand, who head the Hinduja Group, also with roots in Mumbai, have held onto the second place they achieved last year. They recently purchased the old War Office in London for 300 million pounds on a 250-year lease and plan to convert it into a three billion luxury hotel in the next few years. The Hindujas have a firm business footprint in India.
Once head of this list, steel tycoon 65 year-old Lakshmi Mittal’s Arcelor companies have slipped to seventh place because of the plunge in the world steel price. In 2008, when Mittal headed the rich list, his wealth was assessed at a staggering 27.7 billion pounds; today the figure has dropped to 7.13 billion pounds Steel prices are not destined to remain in the doldrums for long. When the recovery arrives, so, assuredly, will Lakhmi Mittal’s fortune – already substantial - rise, perhaps to its former dizzying heights.
On the global scale, India has 56 billionaires compared to 193 in China and 43 in Russia. In a linked analysis of the world’s 50 richest men, the brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani, heads of the various Reliance conglomerates, were jointly ranked 30 with a fortune of 17.9 billion pounds.
