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MEDIA WATCH
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Asian Voice | 20th January 2018
In yet another triumph for the India’s Space Organisation (ISRO), its workhorse PSLV –C40 put 31 satellites into orbit at the weekend.. Seven of these belonging to foreign partners were placed in two orbits. Its primary payload was the fourth satellite in the advanced remote sensing Cartosat-2 series, whose images will be used to develop geographical information system applications; it weighs 70 kgs and was placed in a circular polar synchronous orbit 505 km from Earth. The satellite’s design life is all of five years.
so doing these companies can tap into a rich client pool, connecting with customers, and trading via the e-commerce route across continents. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) estimates that around 1.4 billion people globally made online purchases in 2015, a figure likely to reach 2 billion in 2019. The Indian business community is already using the internet to promote sales in developed markets, sometimes within weeks of launching their companies (Economic Times December 21, 2017).
TCS wins $2.25 billion Nielsen deal
Indian satellite launch plus team group of ISRO Chairman, A.S. Kiran Kumar and successor K. Sivan
More significant were the two other Indian satellites in C-40’s payload. Designated technology demonstrators, the microsatellite and nano-satellite displayed capability of the miniaturization to follow. ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar will hand over the reins to K. Sivan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Both men were present at the launch (Hindu, Business Line, Times of India January 13).
Industrial output in 17-month high India’s industrial output in November, driven by manufacturing growth, registered its fastest expansion in 17 months, hence raising expectations of stronger second half growth for the current fiscal ending March 31. The index of industrial production rose 8.4 per cent from the previous year, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office at the weekend. The recovery is broad based, so the numbers will bolster the government ahead of the budget on February 1. (Economic Times, January 13).
Skilled Indians moving to Canada from the US Despite the Trump administration’s decision to suspend the threatened H-1B visa entry to the United States, his mood swings have introduced an element of uncertainty about the future of the skilled Indian workforce force in the country. The Trudeau government of next door Canada has stepped into the breach with a fast-track visas applicants to 10 working days weeks instead of the several months it took previously to process such applications. Prime Minister Trudeau’s new Global Skills Strategy is in takeoff. Released data for the period June 12-September 20, 2017 shows Indians topping the list with 988 successful applicants, China second with 296, France 92, Brazil 75, South Korea 68 and the
United States 52. (Times of India December 20, 2017).
Scientists home-word bound Increasing number of Indian scientists have been returning to India from prestigious institutions abroad, according data released by the Department of Science and Technology from 2012-17. During this period the numbers rose by 70 per cent. This is primarily due to the Ramaujan Fellowship scheme and the Innovation in Science Pursuit Inspired Research Faculty Scheme, by the Ramalingaswami project coordinated by the Department of Biotechnology. These programmes have facilitated the return of ‘high-calibre’ Indian researchers to relocate to Indian institutions, said Y.S. Chowdhury, Minister of State, Science and Technology, in reply to a question in Parliament (Hindu, December 29, 2017).
Small businesses eyeing Global markets With around 430 million internet users, India has become one of the largest online populations globally. There is growing interest among India’s youth, digitally savvy and confidant of using technology to spur company growth and hone their entrepreneurial skills to scale the heights. Hence, the Indian e-commerce has passed the cusp of massive expansion into a more exciting orbit. India’s online retail is estimated to grow more than 1,200 per cent to $200 billion by 2026, according to a report by USSbased financial services firm Morgan Stanley.
New horizons Small and medium-sized businesses, in particular, have well understood the eyewatering opportunity in ecommerce openings and are therefore digitizing at speed. In
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has won an outsourcing $2.25 billion contract, the largest ever bagged by an Information Technology firm, from television ratings measurement company Nielsen. The deal signals the renewal of TCS’s engagement with Nielsen, which first awarded a $1.2 billion, ten-year contract to the Mumbai-based company in 2007. This has now been doubled to expire 2025. The renewal of the contract is a boost to the reputation of Rajesh Gopinathan, as Chief Executive Officer in succession to N.Chandrasekaran, who, in February 2017, was appointed Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, the group’s holding company (Mint December 22 2017).
JLR India sales grew 49 per cent n Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India, a part of Tata Motors, has reported 49 per cent volume growth for the calendar 2017, thanks to new product offerings at competitive
Akash missile launch
Tata steelworks, internet ‘is probably the biggest game – changer we are witnessing,’ says Ashish Mathur, Managing Director of Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company Ltd, which provides utility services such as water, power and waste management to the city (Mint January 5).
India unveils its fastest supercomputer India’s supercomputing prowess took a significant step forward with the unveiling of ‘Pratyush’ that can deliver peak power of 6.8 petaflops, one petaflop being a million billion floating point operations per second. It is the fourth fastest computer in the world dedicated to weather and climate research, following those of Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. Its study of the Monsoon will be especially valuable (Hindu January 9).
Defence acquisitions Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cleared two defence acquisitions worth Rs 1,714 crore for 240 precision guided bombs from Russia and 131 Barak missiles from Israel. The former worth Rs 1,254 crore is for Russia’s ‘smart’ KAB -1500 laser-
Jaguar India model car
prices and superior customer satisfaction. It sold 1,954 units during this period including a raft of new and eye-catching models for the high-end market. The figure must be viewed in the context of its small base, but with affluence spreading across major urban centres, JLR’s future prospects in the country are bright. JLR has the highest sales in the luxury segment of Western markets (Hindu January 5).
Indian technology start-ups surge Indian technology start-ups recorded $9.4 billion investment in January-September 2017, a rise of 1.35 per cent compared to the entire period of 2016, with Jamshedpur, in Jharkhand is well on the road to becoming a smart city beyond the remit of the central government’s list of upcoming smart cities. Known also as Tata Nagar because of the
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of the indigenous 25-km short range surface-to-air Akash missile designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization, and looked to enhancement of its capabilities (Hindu January 10).
Russian helicopters in Navy’s sights Russia’s Ka-226T helicopters – the mainstay of its navy - are set to enter the Indian Navy’s $3 billion light Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) as replacement for its vintage Cheetah and Cheetak choppers. The Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, gave its approval to the order on October 31, 2017 under the ‘Make in India’ project under which 16 choppers will be bought off the shelf, with the remaining 95 to be manufactured in India (Business Line December 16, 2017).
Shia Board for shutting down madrassas The Shia Central Waqf Board has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to shut down the country’s madrassas, alleging that their education encouraged students to join extremist Islamist groups. The Shia body demanded that the madrassas be replaced by schools affiliated to CBSE or ICSE , which could offer an optional Islamic course in the secular syllabus (Economic Times January 10).
Allahabad High Court cases pending from 1970s
Nirmala Sitharaman
guided bombs for the Sukhoi30MMKI, in service with the Indian Air Force, to enhance its offensive capability. The 131 Barak-1 missiles have been acquired from Israel’s Rafel Advanced Defence Systems Ltd will be fitted on 14 Indian warships (Times of India (January 3).
Army satisfied with Akash missile The Indian Army expressed satisfaction at the performance
It is scarcely surprising that the administration of Uttar Pradesh – India’s most populated State of 100 million and more – invites derision and scorn in much of the country, when its principal High Court takes 12 years, on average, to dispose of a case. Justice delayed is justice denied. UP Chief Minister ntaka pouring vitriol on its Congress government is both pitiable and tragic for his benighted bailiwick (Times of India, January 7) India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma (from Uttar Pradesh, alas) is hell-bent on promoting Hindi as a language in the United Nations, whatever the cost, she said. Hindi is the mother tongue of six or seven of India’s northern States. Why not spend the money saved from a harebrained scheme to improve the lot of the common man and woman in the Hindi belt at home?