Category Archives: World Opinion

INDIA IN SPACE: Chandrayaan-3: First orbit-Raising Maneuver Successfully Performed, says ISRO

Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation have performed the first orbit raising maneuver of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on Saturday.

Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation have performed the first orbit raising maneuver of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on Saturday, the space agency said. The health of the spacecraft was “normal”, ISRO said in a social media post. Chandrayaan-3 is now in an orbit, which when closest to Earth is at 173 km and farthest from Earth is at 41,762 km, the space agency said.

“Chandrayaan-3 Mission update: The spacecraft’s health is normal. The first orbit raising manoeuvre (Earthbound firing-1) was successfully performed at ISTRAC/ISRO, Bengaluru. Spacecraft is now in 41762kms x 173kms orbit,” ISRO said.

ISRO on July 14 successfully launched the third edition of its Moon exploration programme from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, aimed at making a soft landing on the unexplored south pole of the Moon that would make India achieve a rare feat.

Only three countries, the United States, China and Russia, have managed to land on the lunar surface so far.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: NATIONAL: SPACE : Chandrayaan-3 Lunar Mission | ISRO’s next Leap to the Moon – July 14th, 2023

Catch India’s highly anticipated lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 with The Hindu’s coverage of the latest news, developments, behind-the-scenes, insights and related stories into this remarkable feat of Indian space science.

India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), began the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission to explore the Moon on July 14, 2023, by making a soft landing on the natural satellite of Earth. Building upon the success of its predecessors, Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2, the third lunar mission is set to push the boundaries of space discovery and innovation.

Just under four years after the launch of Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3 takes off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Andhra Pradesh perched on the back of a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-MK III) heavy-lift rocket, on July 14, 2023. The mission is a prime example of India’s growing commitment towards advancing its presence in the global space community.

According to ISRO, the Chandrayaan-3 mission has three major objectives:

  1. Demonstrate safe and soft landing on the surface of the Moon,
  2. Conduct rover operations on the Moon, and
  3. Conduct on-site experiments on the Lunar surface.

In 2019, Chandrayaan-2, captured the world’s attention when it successfully placed the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover near the Moon’s South Pole. But the mission experienced partial setbacks. The Vikram lander on Chandrayaan-2 had crashed on the lunar surface while attempting to land. Despite the mishap, it still marked a significant achievement in India’s space history.

If the Chandrayaan-3 mission lifts off on July 14 as planned, the lander would be ready to soft-land on the lunar surface by August, according to S. Somanath, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Mr. Somanath also said that the space agency has incorporated major improvements in the lander for the upcoming mission. This includes stronger ‘legs’ for the lander, the ability to withstand a higher descending velocity and a reduction in the number of engines from five to four. ‘‘We have also increased the quantity of the propellant, and solar panels cover a larger area. New sensors also have been added,’‘ he said.

Here is comprehensive coverage of the historic mission of the latest updates, exclusive interviews with ISRO scientists, and in-depth analyses of the mission.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SPORTS / IRONMAN: Sadanand Amarapur from Hubballi wins Ironman title in Khazakstan

Cycling and running that began as a hobby for this government officer have now taken him to international success.

Cycling and running that began as a hobby for this young government officer have now taken him to international success with a title win at the International Ironman event in Khazakstan recently.

Meet Sadanand Amarapur who is serving as Assistant Director of the Hubballi Taluk Panchayat; he has successfully completed the triathlon, which demands physical and mental endurance, at Astana in Khazakstan.

In the event organised on July 2, Sadanand Amarapur swam 3.9 km, cycled 180 km and ran 42 km completing the triathlon in 13 hours and 27 minutes bagging the International Ironman title.

Sadanand Amarapur was among the 1,200 athletes from 62 nations who took part in the international event. By successfully completing the physically and mentally demanding event, Sadanand Amarapur has become the first government officer from Karnataka to achieve the feat.

Son of a former police officer Hanumanthappa Amarapur, Sadanand Amarapur initially took to wrestling like his father and participated in national-level wrestling competitions. A native of Ichchangi in Haveri district, Sadanand Amarapur joined government service as Panchayat Development Officer in 2010 and got promoted as Assistant Director (Rural Employment) in 2018.

Sadanand Amarapur, who has received various service awards for his work, took to cycling and running as a hobby and later, they became his passion.

His association with Hubballi-Dharwad cyclists took him to various events and he completed the Tough Man event held in Goa in 2017. By successfully completing a series of Brevets of 200 km, 300 km, 400 km and 600 km in a year, he won the title Super Randonnuer in 2019. And, he completed the Tigerman Duathlon at Nagpur in 2020 and the Herculean Triathlon in Odisha in 2021.

As part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, he covered 3,800 km from Kashmir to Kanyakumari on a bicycle carrying the message of Addiction Free India and disseminating information on programmes of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.

Felicitation

On Tuesday, Deputy Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde felicitated and congratulated Sadanand Amarapur for his achievement.

Responding to the felicitation, Sadanand Amarapur attributed his success to the support and cooperation extended by his family, friends and the encouragement he received from senior government officials of the State government.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: INDIA’s PROGRESS: 415 million Indians Came out of Multidimensional Poverty in 15 years, says UNDP study

The UN report noted that deprivation in all indicators declined in India and “the poorest States and groups, including children and people in disadvantaged caste groups, had the fastest absolute progress.”

A total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, the United Nations (UN) said on July 11, highlighting the remarkable achievement by the world’s most populous nation.

The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.

It said that 25 countries, including India, successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable. These countries include Cambodia, China, Congo, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia, and Vietnam.

In April, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous nation with 142.86 crore people, according to UN data. “Notably, India saw a remarkable reduction in poverty, with 415 million people exiting poverty within a span of just 15 years (2005/6–19/21),” the report said.

“The report demonstrates that poverty reduction is achievable. However, the lack of comprehensive data during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic poses challenges in assessing immediate prospects,” it said.

In India, 415 million poor people moved out of poverty from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, with incidence falling from 55.1% in 2005/2006 to 16.4% in 2019/2021.

In 2005/2006, about 645 million people were in multidimensional poverty in India, with this number declining to about 370 million in 2015/2016 and 230 million in 2019/2021.

The report noted that deprivation in all indicators declined in India and “the poorest States and groups, including children and people in disadvantaged caste groups, had the fastest absolute progress.” According to the report, people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived under the nutrition indicator in India declined from 44.3% in 2005/2006 to 11.8% in 2019/2021, and child mortality fell from 4.5% to 1.5%.

“Those who are poor and deprived of cooking fuel fell from 52.9% to 13.9% and those deprived of sanitation fell from 50.4% in 2005/2006 to 11.3% in 2019/2021,” according to the report.

In the drinking water indicator, the percentage of people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived fell from 16.4 to 2.7 during the period, electricity (from 29% to 2.1%) and housing from 44.9% to 13.6%.

The report said that countries with different incidences of poverty also halved their global MPI value. While 17 countries that did so had an incidence under 25% in the first period, India and Congo had a starting incidence above 50%.

India was among the 19 countries that halved their global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value during one period – for India it was 2005/2006–2015/2016.

According to the 2023 release, 1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people (just more than 18%) live in acute multidimensional poverty across 110 countries. Sub-Saharan Africa (534 million) and South Asia (389 million) are home to approximately five out of every six poor people.

Nearly two-thirds of all poor people (730 million people) live in middle-income countries, making action in these countries vital for reducing global poverty. Although low-income countries constitute only 10% of the population included in the MPI, these are where 35% of all poor people reside.

Children under the age of 18 account for half of MPI-poor people (566 million). The poverty rate among children is 27.7%, while among adults, it is 13.4%. Poverty predominantly affects rural areas, with 84% of all poor people living in rural areas. Rural areas are poorer than urban areas across all regions of the world.

Countries halved their MPI in periods as short as four to 12 years, demonstrating the feasibility of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of halving poverty according to national definitions within 15 years.

“Thus, it is crucial to consider context-specific multidimensional poverty indices that reflect national definitions of poverty since the global MPI assesses multidimensional poverty with the same methodology,” the report said.

The agencies, however, added that despite these encouraging trends, the lack of post-pandemic data for most of the 110 countries covered by the global MPI restricts the understanding of the pandemic’s effects on poverty.

“As we reach the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we can clearly see that there was steady progress in multidimensional poverty reduction before the pandemic,” the Director of the Human Development Report Office, Pedro Conceição, said.

“However, the negative impacts of the pandemic in dimensions such as education are significant and can have long-lasting consequences. It is imperative that we intensify efforts to comprehend the dimensions most negatively affected, necessitating strengthened data collection and policy efforts to get poverty reduction back on track,” Mr. Conceição added.

A press release issued by the UNDP said that judging from the few countries where data were solely collected in 2021 or 2022 – Mexico, Madagascar, Cambodia, Peru, and Nigeria – momentum on poverty reduction may have persisted during the pandemic.

Cambodia, Peru, and Nigeria showed significant reductions in their most recent periods, offering hope that progress is still possible. In Cambodia, the most encouraging case among these, the incidence of poverty fell from 36.7% to 16.6%, and the number of poor people halved, from 5.6 million to 2.8 million, all within 7.5 years, including the pandemic years (2014–2021/22).

However, the full impacts globally remain to be measured, it said. With a renewed emphasis on data collection, “we need to broaden the picture to include the impacts of the pandemic on children,” the press release said.

“In over half the countries covered, there was either no statistically significant reduction in child poverty or the MPI value fell more slowly among children than among adults during at least one period. This suggests that child poverty will continue to be a pressing issue, particularly in relation to school attendance and undernutrition,” it said.

Director of OPHI at the University of Oxford, Sabina Alkire, said the scarcity of data on multidimensional poverty is hard to comprehend, let alone justify.

“The world is reeling under a data deluge and gearing up for the next era of digital growth. Yet we do not have a post-pandemic line of sight for 1 billion of the 1.1 billion poor people,” Ms. Alkire said.

“This problem is eminently solvable – data on multidimensional poverty are faster to gather than most realise – requiring just 5% of questions in the surveys we use. We call on funders and data scientists to make a breakthrough on poverty data, so the interconnected deprivations that strike poor people in real-time can be tracked – and intercepted,” she added.

The global MPI monitors poverty reduction and informs policy, showing how people experience poverty in different aspects of their daily lives – from access to education and health to living standards such as housing, drinking water, sanitation and electricity.

The MPI as a poverty index can be pictured as a stacked tower of the interlinked deprivations experienced by poor individuals, with the aim of eliminating these deprivations.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: MANUFACTURING /AUTOMOTIVE EXPORTS: Maruti Suzuki Commences Exports of compact SUV Fronx

Maruti Suzuki India said it had begun exports of the newly introduced compact SUV Fronx. The first batch of 556 vehicles was shipped from Mundra, Mumbai, and Pipavav Ports to destinations in Latin America, West Asia and Africa, the automaker said.

“The newly launched Fronx is an important model in our portfolio, and we are confident that it will augment our ambitious export plans,” said MD & CEO Hisashi Takeuchi.

“Aligned with the Government of India’s efforts towards Make in India, we are focussed to lead the export of cars manufactured in India. With support from our parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation we have expanded our portfolio and are now exporting to more markets,” he said.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: REGION – ASIA: The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Adjudged as Asia’s Best Member Athletics Federation by the Asian Athletics Association (AAA)

The Athletics Federation of India has been adjudged as the best member federation in Asia by the Asian Athletics Association.

Olympian Adille Sumariwalla, the AFI president, received the award at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Asian Athletics Association in Bangkok on Monday.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: INDIAN WOMEN: Four Indian-origin Biz Leaders on 2023 Forbes’ 100 Richest Self-Made Women List

Four Indian-origin women, including Jayshree Ullal and Indra Nooyi, have made it to Forbes’ list of America’s 100 most successful self-made women.

Four Indian-origin women, including Jayshree Ullal and Indra Nooyi, have made it to the Forbes list of America’s 100 most successful self-made women, with a combined net worth of a whopping USD 4.06 billion. Building supply distributor Diane Hendricks, with a $15 billion net worth, retained the top spot for the sixth year in a row. This year’s list has eight entrants, including television producer Shonda Rhimes and Insitro CEO Daphne Koller.

“Bolstered in part by a rebound in the stock market, they are cumulatively worth a record USD 124 billion, up nearly 12 per cent from a year ago,” Forbes said last month at the release of its ninth annual list.

Jayshree Ullal

Jayshree Ullal, president and CEO of computer networking firm Arista Networks, ranked 15th on the list, the highest among Indian-origin business leaders. Arista Networks, a publicly-traded company, recorded revenue of nearly $4.4 billion in 2022. Ullal, 62, owns about 2.4% of Arista’s stock, some of which is earmarked for her two children, niece and nephew, according to Forbes. She is also on the board of directors of Snowflake, a cloud computing company that went public in September 2020. She studied electrical engineering at San Francisco State University and engineering management at Santa Clara University.

Neerja Sethi

Neerja Sethi, with a net worth of USD 990 million, has been ranked 25th on the list. Sethi, 68, along with her husband Bharat Desai, co-founded IT consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel in 1980. French IT firm Atos SE for $3.4 billion in October 2018 bought Syntel in 2018 and Sethi got an estimated $510 million for her stake.

She did her Bachelor of Arts/Science and Master of Business Administration from Delhi University and Master of Science from Oakland University. Sethi met her husband, Desai, in the US while working for the pioneering IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and attempted to emulate it. They started the business with an initial investment of just $2,000.

Neha Narkhede

Narkehe, co-founder and former chief technology officer (CTO) of cloud company Confluent, is ranked 50th on the list with a net worth of USD 520 million. The 38-year-old software engineer-turned-entrepreneur helped develop the open-source messaging system Apache Kafka to help develop LinkedIn’s massive influx of data. In 2014, she and two LinkedIn colleagues left to found Confluent, which helps organisations process large amounts of data on Apache Kafka.

The USD 586 million (2022 revenues) company went public in June 2021 at a USD 9.1 billion valuation; Narkhede owns around 6 per cent, Forbes said. In March 2023, Narkhede announced her new company, fraud detection firm Oscilar, where she is co-founder and CEO.

Indira Nooyi

Nooyi, the former chair and CEO of PepsiCo, retired in 2019 after 24 years with the company, half of which she spent in the top job. The 67-year-old has a net worth of USD 350 million and is ranked 77th on the Forbes list. Her fortune stems from stock she was granted while working at PepsiCo.

Nooyi, who grew up in India, received an MBA from Yale before becoming one of corporate America’s few female CEOs in 2006.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: BUSINESS & ECONOMY: INVESTING DESTINATION: India Pips China as Most Attractive Emerging Market for Investing: Invesco Global report

As per the report, India is a better story now in terms of business and political stability.

India has overtaken China as the most attractive emerging market for investing for sovereign wealth funds in 2023 due to its solid demographics, political stability and proactive regulation, a report said on Monday.

The Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management report has captured the views of 142 chief investment officers, heads of asset classes, and senior portfolio strategists from 85 sovereign wealth funds and 57 central banks. Collectively, these institutions manage about $21 trillion in assets.

As per the report, India is a better story now in terms of business and political stability. In addition, fast-growing demographics, good regulation initiatives, and a very friendly environment for sovereign investors are the positives for the country.

“India has now overtaken China as the most attractive emerging market for investing in emerging market debt,” the report stated.

The report noted that India is among a number of countries, including Mexico and Brazil, that are benefitting from increased foreign corporate investment aimed at both domestic and international demand. This was seen as helping fund current account deficits as well as support currencies and domestic assets including debt.

In addition, India and South Korea continue to be the most attractive destinations for increasing exposure, the report noted. Going by the report, emerging markets offer a range of attractive investment opportunities in both public and private markets.

The report found inflation as the most significant short-term risk to global economic growth. This was followed by rising geopolitical risk, tight monetary policy, supply chain disruptions and impact of climate change on environment as other risks.

Central banks looking to combat yield volatility and inflation risk see gold as a safe-haven asset. This spurred record gold purchases in 2022, a trend prevailing into the first quarter of 2023, it added.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL & INDIA : SPACE TECHNOLOGY: 4th edition ‘G20 Space Economy Leaders’ Meeting (SELM) in Bengaluru: ‘Space technology has entered every household in one way or the other’

G20 Space Economy Leaders’ Meeting begins in Bengaluru.

The 4th edition of G20 Space Economy Leaders’ Meeting (SELM) commenced in Bengaluru on Thursday July 6.

This is the first face-to-face meeting under the G20 umbrella, with the previous meetings organised in virtual and hybrid formats. Heads of national space agencies from 18 of the G20 countries and nine of the 11 invited members are participating in the two-day meet whose theme is ‘Towards a New Space ERA (Economy, Responsibility, Alliance)’.

Senior representatives from 32 global industries, and 53 local industries, are also participating in the meet.

During the inauguration, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, PMO; MoES; S&T; Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance & Pensions; Dep. Of Space; Dept. of Atomic Energy, said that this gathering (G20 countries along with partner countries) represents nearly two-thirds of the world’s population, the best brains across the world in the space sector, 85% of the global GDP, and 75% of the world trade.

“You are not only spearheaders, torchbearers but also opinion-makers, and I am glad that India is in a position to share its inputs with other member countries as well. The new chapter of public-private participation is going to make it a value for all of us to learn the virtues of an integrated approach. An era of partnership is in the offing. Our concerns are common and our efforts have to be common. Therefore, the time has come to carry forward the collaboration to discover wider horizons in the times to come,” Dr Singh said.

“I hardly need to reiterate the importance that space technology has gained of late across the world. Rather, I would put it in a single sentence saying that space technology has virtually entered every household in one way or the other.”

He added that every aspect of human life, be it disaster management, agriculture, education, health, navigation, defence, is connected to space technology.

G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant, said the space economy is experiencing rapid growth with increasing revenues and more commercial actors entering the industry. “Studies project that space could become a trillion dollar sector in the coming decades. This exponential growth necessitates support from governments worldwide. That is why, we are discussing space as a formal element in the G20,” Mr Kanth said.

Round-table meetings for the heads of space agencies, panel discussions, bilateral meetings and a plenary session are a part of the first day of the event.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: SPACE & SPACE TECHS : The New York Times says India’s Space Programme set to ‘Transform Planet’s Connection to Final Frontier’

The article titled ‘The Surprising Striver in the World’s Space Business’ notes that India has become home to at least 140 registered space-tech start-ups.

Lauding India’s ambitious space programme, The New York Times has said the country, currently witnessing an “explosive” growth in space-tech start-ups, is set to “transform the planet’s connection to the final frontier” and can emerge as a “counterweight” to China.

“When it launched its first rocket in 1963, India was a poor country pursuing the world’s most cutting-edge technology. That projectile, its nose cone wheeled to the launchpad by a bicycle, put a small payload 124 miles above the Earth. India was barely pretending to keep up with the US and the Soviet Union. In today’s space race, India has found much surer footing,” the leading US newspaper said.

The article titled ‘The Surprising Striver in the World’s Space Business’ notes that India has become home to at least 140 registered space-tech start-ups, “comprising a local research field that stands to transform the planet’s connection to the final frontier.” “The start-ups’ growth has been explosive, leaping from five when the pandemic started. And they see a big market to serve,” the paper said.

Underscoring that India’s “importance as a scientific power” is taking centre stage, the NYT report referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s State Visit to Washington last month at the invitation of President Joe Biden and the joint statement issued by the two sides said that said the two leaders “set a course to reach new frontiers across all sectors of space cooperation.” In the joint statement, “the leaders called for enhanced commercial collaboration between the US and Indian private sectors in the entire value chain of the space economy and to address export controls and facilitate technology transfer.” The NYT report added that both the US and India “see space as an arena in which India can emerge as a counterweight to their mutual rival: China.” “One of India’s advantages is geopolitical,” the paper said as it added that Russia and China had historically offered lower-cost options for launches.

“But the war in Ukraine has all but ended Russia’s role as a competitor,” it said as it cited the USD 230 million hit British satellite start-up OneWeb took after Russia impounded 36 of its spacecraft in September. OneWeb’s next constellation of satellites was sent into orbit by India’s Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

“Likewise, the US government would be more likely to approve any American company’s sending military-grade technology through India than through China,” the NYT said.

It added that “Since June 2020, when Mr Modi announced a push for the space sector, opening it up to all kinds of private enterprise, India has launched a network of businesses, each driven by original research and homegrown talent. Last year, the space start-ups raked in USD 120 million in new investment, at a rate that is doubling or tripling annually.” The NYT report mentions Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace and aerospace manufacturer Dhruva Space.

“Skyroot and Dhruva work in the relatively sexy sectors of launch and satellite delivery, but together those account for only 8 per cent of India’s space business pie.

“A much bigger slice comes from companies that specialise in collecting data beamed by satellite,” the report said and cited the example of Bengaluru-headquartered start-up Pixxel, co-founded by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal and which has a “contract with a secretive agency within the Pentagon.” Pixxel has developed an imaging system to detect patterns on the Earth’s surface that lie outside the range of ordinary colour vision.

Describing India as a “thriving centre of innovation” and “one of the most competitive launch sites in the world”, the NYT article said space-tech start-ups are one of India’s “most sought-after sectors” for venture capital investors and their growth “has been explosive, leaping from five when the pandemic started.” Terming India’s vendor ecosystem as “staggering in size”, the NYT said years of conducting business with ISRO has created “about 400 private companies in clusters around Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and elsewhere, each devoted to building special screws, sealants and other products fit for space.” India has an abundance of affordable engineers, but their smaller salaries alone cannot beat the competition. That leaves an Indian company like Skyroot concentrating on more specialised services, the newspaper said.

Pawan Kumar Chandana, 32, Co-Founder and CEO, Skyroot Aerospace, anticipates a global need for 30,000 satellites to be launched this decade.

“We are more like a cab,” said Chandana, whose company charges higher rates for smaller-payload launches, while Elon Musk-owned SpaceX “is more like a bus or a train, where they take all their passengers and put them in one destination.” Dhruva Space, which deploys satellites, was India’s first space start-up. In any given month, Kranthi Chand, its head of strategy, is hardly in Hyderabad, as he spends about one week in Europe and another in the US, rounding up clients and investors, the article said.

In May, Dhruva Space announced the successful test and Space-qualification of its 3U and 6U Satellite Orbital Deployers and Orbital Link onboard ISRO’S PSLV-C55 mission.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)