Around 60 startups have registered with ISRO: Dr Jitendra Singh
Author: BI Bureau
New Delhi: Around 60 start-ups have registered with ISRO since ‘unlocking’ of the Indian space sector recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and quite a few of them are dealing with projects related to space debris management. The other start-up proposals vary from Nano-satellite, launch vehicle, ground systems, research and so on.
This was stated by Union Minister of State for PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh while speaking after inaugurating the ‘ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Operation’ (IS4OM) at ISRO Control Centre, in Bengaluru today.
Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that only last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, during inauguration of IN-SPACe headquarters at Ahmedabad, said, “When the strength of government Space institutions and the passion of India’s private sector will meet, not even the sky will be the limit.”
The Minister reiterated that the passion of private players and innovative start-ups will augment the role of the Department of Space in protecting India’s interests in space by developing all-round capabilities in the domains of space transportation, debris management, infrastructure and applications.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that ISRO has been taking necessary measures to safeguard all its Space assets from intentional and accidental close approaches by space objects including operational spacecraft and space debris objects. He added that Space Situational Awareness activities have many strategic implications.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that given the ubiquitous applications of space technology in day-to-day life, the long-term sustainability (LTS) of outer space activities is of paramount importance to ensure that the outer Space remains utilizable to the future generations of mankind. He added that effective management of safe and sustainable operations in outer space entails a holistic approach encompassing multiple areas related to observation and monitoring of space objects.
Secretary, Department of Space, S Somanath said that infrastructure for space weather monitoring and forecast plays a critical role in protecting space based as well as ground-based infrastructure from critical solar activities. On an equal footing, detection and prevention of asteroid impacts are essential for human welfare.
However, the ever-growing space object population including that of operational satellites and orbital debris and the associated collision risks pose a serious threat to the safe and sustainable use of outer space. He said that the increasing congestion of Earth orbits pose a looming threat of collisions among larger debris that could trigger a self-sustained cascading process of further collisions, known as the Kessler syndrome. /BI/
More In Tech Governance
The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
