A panel of the Indian Space Research Organisation on Sunday indicted former ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair and three other scientists for acts of commission in the $ 300 million spectrum deal between commercial arm of the ISRO, Antrix and Devas Multimedia Ltd. In an interview with Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Nair slammed the panel report and claimed that his name will soon be cleared.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy on Sunday accused former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair of misleading the nation by saying he was not given a chance to explain his case before the high level panel which indicted him and three other space scientists in the Antrix-Devas deal.
Nair, who has been barred from holding any government post for his alleged role in the controversial Antirx-Devas deal, was in Patna on Friday to bid farewell to his colleagues.
In a belated action, defence public sector undertakings Bharat Electronics Limited has removed former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair from its Board of Directors as he was barred from holding any government post for his role in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal.
Nair blamed the then United Progressive Alliance government for the "hasty" decision to cancel the agreement with Devas
Former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair on Monday said he would file an appeal under the Right To Information Act by Tuesday seeking reasons for blacklisting him from government jobs even as he reposed faith in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to revoke his ban order. "I will file the appeal on Monday or Tuesday (before the Central Information Commission)," he said.
India on Wednesday successfully launched a record 104 satellites -- all but three of them foreign--from Sriharikota and put them into orbit in a single mission onboard its most dependable Polar rocket.
Besides Nair, others named in the charge sheet include the then K R Sridhar Murthy, Ramachandra Vishwanathan and M G Chandrasekhar.
Eminent space scientist G Madhavan Nair on Thursday disapproved move by scientists and writers to return their awards alleging "growing intolerance" in the country, and dubbed their action as a mere "show".
Indian Space Research Organisation Dr Radhakrishnan, who has been accused of waging a "personal battle" against him by former ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair, refuted the latter's claims in Bengaluru on Monday. Nair and three other scientists have been barred from holding any government posts because of their alleged role in the Antrix-Devas deal, in which the private firm was allotted scarce S band spectrum by ISRO by allegedly violating rules.
'I will say all this happened because of ignorance coupled with arrogance,' says G Madhavan Nair.
The decision to provide Z grade security was taken by the Karnataka government following specific threats to ISRO scientists by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Dawaood Ibrahim.
The government is yet to take a call on former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair's request to the Prime Minister's Office to order an inquiry into the reasons behind annulment of the controversial Antrix-Devas deal and the procedure followed.
An agreement for the pilot project to see whether hydrogen can be used to fuel automobiles has been signed and the work started, said G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation that builds satellites as also their launch vehicles.
Former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair on Thursday rubbished suggestions of a scam in the scrapped controversial Antrix-Devas deal and maintained that estimation of huge loss to the exchequer is "totally erroneous".
Central Administrative Tribunal on Friday dismissed former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair's plea, seeking quashing of the Centre's decision to debar him from holding government posts for his alleged role in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, on the ground of maintainability.
Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair alleged that the ISRO spy case in 1994 was an attempt to destroy the organisation and scientist Nambi Narayanan was the scapegoat in the episode.
Former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair is pinning hopes on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to revoke the order banning him and three others from government jobs despite Union Minister V Narayanasamy ruling out its review, as he reiterated there is "no issue" vis-a-vis the Antrix-Devas deal.
India's first mission to Moon -- Chandrayan-I -- is tentatively scheduled to be launched on September 19 this year, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Madhavan Nair said. He said that all the preparations have been nearly completed and the exact date of the launch will be decided within a month. He described September 19 as the 'earliest opportunity' for the historic launch. The final stage of integration of instruments with the spacecraft was going on.
The challenge before space scientists was to make exploration more affordable by substantially reducing the cost of access to space, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said Saturday.
With the development of GSLV Mark-III, India will be able to launch heavy satellites into the geosynchronous transfer orbit. This vehicle is billed as the technological successor to GSLV Mark-II.
G Madhavan Nair was in Thiruvananthapuram to mark the 40th anniversary of the launching of 'sounding' rockets from the Thumba Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.
'The ISRO has done enough simulations and also redundancies have been built in so that chances of such failure are remote. Still, we have to keep our fingers crossed'
The Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said on August 20.
Ex-ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said the scientists at space agency have achieved this historic success by getting a salary one-fifth of the scientists in the developed world.
The UPA government looks set to give the contract a decent burial and, in turn, redeem ISRO and itself.
'What is the future of ISRO?' Professor Rao asked from his hospital bed. 'What we see now is the continuation of programmes we started long ago.' 'What are we planning in the space science arena?' 'What is our plan for human space flight?' Former ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair recalls his last meeting with Professor U R Rao, the pioneering Indian space scientist who passed away on Monday, July 24.
Hurt at the action taken against him over the Antrix-Devas deal, former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair on Wednesday accused space agency Chairman K Radhakrishnan of being behind the move and pursuing a "personal agenda" to mislead the government.
Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair, Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, historian Ramachandra Guha and noted billiard player Pankaj Advani were among the 63 personalities who received the Padma awards in New Delhi on Tuesday. The recipients also include social activist Sunderlal Bahuguna and veteran actor Helen Khan. President Prathibha Patil gave away the Padma awards at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
On the positive side, if India indeed decides to go ahead with the manned mission, it would give a tremendous impetus to the development of many new technologies, including relating to life-supporting ones.
Veteran space scientist G Madhavan Nair said on Tuesday that Indian Space Research Organisation's unsuccessful bid to soft land on the moon is nothing to be alarmed about, and it would only enable the space agency master complex missions going forward.
'The benchmark was set by Dr Sarabhai.' 'If there is a problem, everybody would be encouraged to come up with a solution.' 'The final solution will be the result of all the inputs.' 'This is passed on through time.' 'Even today, you see that nobody wants to take particular credit on a success.'
Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair is all set to become the first non-American to head the International Academy of Astronautics.
Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair met Dr Singh in Delhi on Friday afternoon and briefed him on the lunar mission launched on October 22.
With India's maiden Moon Mission making a path-breaking discovery on water presence on the lunar surface, the objectives of Chandrayaan-II will be modified for further probes in that aspect, ISRO chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair has said
'Modiji's programmes are efficient and with foresight, and needed for the country.' 'I also like his way of functioning. So, in whatever way I can, I would like to contribute.'
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair today said the country should be proud of Chandrayaan-1 for being a successful low-cost planetary mission.
"We will have to study newer technologies to develop capsules, which will send men to space and bring them back safely"
Indian space scientists are designing a new generation satellite with unfurlable antenna for mobile television services - the proposed spacecraft would have multimedia applications as well.