Former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair and three other senior scientists, who were barred from holding any government posts, have been indicted by the country's top space body-appointed committee for acts of commission in the Antrix-Devas deal.
The punitive action on January 13 against four scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation in connection with the Antrix-Devas deal leaves many questions unanswered. It does however make it apparent that there have been lacunae in the functioning of one of India's premier scientific institutions, its commercial arm, and the overseeing body.
Taking action in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, the government has barred former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair and three other eminent space scientists from holding any government jobs.
Akash Ambani's first big job as he takes over as chairman of Reliance Jio, the group's telecom arm, is a no-brainer - he has to get his company through the long-awaited 5G auctions that are a few weeks away. But his bigger job, analysts said, will be to lead the transformation of the telecom company into a tech giant, a process that is underway as it seeks to list in the US. Insiders said there has been plenty of debate within the company's top executives on the auction strategy.
Here's a recap of moments captured in India in the past 24 hours.
The Indian space agency is all set to embark on its most complex mission.
Aero India, the largest air show in Asia and one of the world's most important military aviation exhibitions, is all set to kick-start at Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bangalore, from February 6 to 11.
The Indian Space Research Organisation has begun the work on its next Rs 10,000 crore ambitious project the ''manned mission'' which will witness an Indian transported to space, Chandradathan, Director of Sathish Dhavan Space Centre said in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.
The government will use the Supreme Court order calling the 2005 deal between ISRO's commercial arm Antrix and privately-owned Devas Multimedia a fraud, to counter seizure of its properties, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday as she launched a blistering attack on the Congress for handing over airwaves used by the defence to the private firm for pittance. "It is a fraud of Congress, by Congress (and) for Congress," the minister told reporters as she read out paragraphs from the Supreme Court's January 17 decision allowing winding up of Devas Multimedia because of the fraud.
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.
A round up of what's happening in the world of technology, gadgets and gizmos.
Scientists will see two spacecraft slamming into the moon's south pole at 9,000 kmph kicking up a 10-km-high shower of debris that National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) hopes will confirm the presence of enough water necessary to supply future visits by astronauts.
India's Polar Satellite Launch vehicle-C16 rocket on Wednesday successfully launched into orbit the latest remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2 that would study and help manage natural resources along with two nano satellites.
The 51-hour countdown for the 17th flight launch of Indian space agency's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C 15 from Sriharikota spaceport is expected to begin on Saturday morning."The rocket will put into orbit five satellites remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B from India, Alsat from Algeria, two nano satellites from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico (very small) satellite called Studsat built by 7 Indian engineering students.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday attacked the prime minister on Indian Space Research Organisation Antrix-Devas row, questioning his "silence" and demanded that he must come clean as he holds the space portfolio while the Congress said that political parties should refrain from commenting on a "legal matter".
Picking holes in the high-level team report that indicted him in the Antrix-Devas deal, former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair on Sunday said it had "inconsistencies and inaccuracies" and attacked the Department of Space headed by his successor K Radhakrishnan for "cowardice" in releasing only "convenient portions".
Former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair and three fellow space scientists against whom the government has taken damning action in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal were "thrown out like garbage", said Prof C N R Rao, head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the prime minister.
The New York Times, The Washington Post, The BBC and The Guardian, among many other leading foreign media outlets, all carried stories on Chandrayaan-2, India's landmark moon mission.
'A veiled secret of India's defence and strategic culture is the lack of a serious interest in them by the political class. The Indian National Defence University would fill this void,' feels Lieutenant General Anil Chait (retd).
The arrest of Stewart David Nozette, a senior NASA scientist who played a key role in India's Chandrayaan-1, has shocked space scientists in both India and the United States.Nozette, who played a key role in Chandrayaan finding evidence of water on the moon, was arrested by the FBI on charges of spying for Israel. No important information regarding India's space research could have been leaked by Nozette, since he didn't have access to such data, said ISRO officials.
ISRO has been selected for the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2014 for its contribution to the country's development through space technology and satellite-based services.
India's premier space agency Indian Space Research Organisation plans to undertake 58 satellite and launch vehicle missions in the 12th Five year period and sees larger role for industries in realising these ventures.
Indian Space Research Organisation's second mission of the year to place an earth observation satellite by a GSLV rocket faced a setback as the mission could not be accomplished fully due to performance anomaly in the cryogenic stage of the rocket, the space agency said on Thursday.
"We propose to cover organisations like ISRO and arms deals under the purview of Jan Lokpal as they are important from internal security angle, besides the Prime Minister above all who will come under its jurisdiction," Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde, part of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill, told media persons in Bengaluru.
"All the 34 DTH transponders on INSAT satellites are fully booked," Antrix Corporation Executive Director K R Sridhara Murthi said.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, along with all the Commander-in-Chief rank officials from the three services will be attending the conference.
Indian Space Research Organisation has built a supercomputer, which is to be India's fastest in terms of theoretical peak performance of 220 TeraFLOPS (220 Trillion Floating Point Operations per second).
A salvo from a Pinaka battery brings down on the enemy more than seven tonnes of high explosive in just 44 seconds.
The controversial Antrix-Devas deal will now come under the scrutiny of a Parliamentary panel. Parliament's Committee on Estimates has decided to examine the allocation of S-band spectrum by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with special reference to the Antrix-Devas deal, an official said.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
"The level of education and knowledge being imparted by many colleges... they are not up to the mark. Instead of concentrating on quantity, these institutions should concentrate on quality," he told PTI in an interview.
ISRO, through Antrix Corporation, has inked commercial agreements with EADS Astrium of Europe to jointly make and supply two commercial communication satellites.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Colonel Michael (Mike) Fincke, a veteran of two space expeditions of total duration of over 365 days, on Friday termed the Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-1 mission a grand success, despite the abrupt end to the mission due to a technical problem.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan described the GSAT-11 as the "richest space asset" for India.
"It is going to be the most complex mission ever undertaken by ISRO. It is going to take place between July 9 and 16, this year," Sivan said, addressing scientists from the Mission Control Centre.
Gujarat holds the largest area under wetland with over 3.47 million hectares.
India and Russia held discussions on the possibility of cooperation in space exploration, including missions to the moon and Mars. Russia's head of Federal Space Agency met the Indian Space Research Organisation chairman.
'Whether or not Chandrashekhar Azad succeeds or fails electorally, he has already made democratic politics more accountable to Dalits.'
India has been consistently objecting to the methodology adopted by the WHO to project excess mortality estimates based on mathematical models, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.
India's space scientists are developing semi-cryogenic propulsion technology using kerosene that is expected to give the country the capability to launch six-tonne class satellite, almost three times the weight its rockets can currently handle.
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