Dr Kiran Kumar, Chairman ISRO Interview Prajavani

http://www.prajavani.net/news/article/2018/01/14/547078.html

ವಾರದ ಸಂದರ್ಶನ: ಡಾ. ಕಿರಣ್ ಕುಮಾರ್

‘ಐದು ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ 60 ಮಹತ್ವದ ಉಡಾವಣೆ ನಿರೀಕ್ಷೆ’

ಶಿವಾನಂದ ಕಣವಿ

14 Jan, 2018

ನಿವೃತ್ತಿಗೆ ಎರಡು ದಿನಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಇಸ್ರೊ ನಡೆಸಿದ್ದ 31 ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳ ಉಡಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಿರಣ್‌ ಅವರು ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಪಾತ್ರವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಉಡಾವಣೆ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾದ ಬಳಿಕ ಅವರು ಇಸ್ರೊದ ಮುಂದಿನ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳು, ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಪಯಣದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಡಾ. ಕಿರಣ್‌ ಕುಮಾರ್‌

ಭಾರತೀಯ ಬಾಹ್ಯಾಕಾಶ ಸಂಶೋಧನಾ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ (ಇಸ್ರೊ)ದೀರ್ಘ ಕಾಲ ಕಾರ್ಯ ನಿರ್ವಹಿಸಿ, ಅದರ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರೂ ಆಗಿದ್ದ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ, ಡಾ. ಕಿರಣ್‌ ಕುಮಾರ್‌ ಅವರು ಈಚೆಗೆ ನಿವೃತ್ತರಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅವರ ನಿವೃತ್ತಿಗೂ ಎರಡು ದಿನಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಇಸ್ರೊ ನಡೆಸಿದ್ದ 13 ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳ ಉಡಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಿರಣ್‌ ಅವರು ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಪಾತ್ರವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಉಡಾವಣೆ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾದ ಬಳಿಕ ಅವರು ಇಸ್ರೊದ ಮುಂದಿನ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳು, ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಪಯಣದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

* ಈ  ಉಡಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣಾ ಉಪಗ್ರಹ ಕಾರ್ಟೋಸ್ಯಾಟ್‌ ಜೊತೆಗೆ 30 ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳನ್ನೂ ಕಳಿಸಿದ್ದೀರಿ. ಈ ಕಾರ್ಟೋಸ್ಯಾಟ್‌ನ ನಿಖರತೆ ಎಷ್ಟು?
ಅದರ ನಿಖರತೆ ಸುಮಾರು 60 ಸೆಂ.ಮೀ. (2ಅಡಿ). ಈ ಕಾರ್ಟೋಸ್ಯಾಟ್‌ ಸಹಾಯದಿಂದ ಉದ್ದ ಅಗಲಗಳ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಎತ್ತರವನ್ನೂ (ಮೂರನೆಯ ಆಯಾಮ–3ಡಿ)ನಾವು ಕೊಡಬಲ್ಲೆವು. ಅದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಗುಣಮಟ್ಟದ ಚಿತ್ರಗ್ರಹಣ ಬಹು ಮುಖ್ಯ.

* ಅಮೆರಿಕ, ರಷ್ಯಾದ ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣಾ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳಿಂದ ಭೂಮಿಯ ಮೇಲಿನ ಕಾರುಗಳ ನಂಬರ್ ಪ್ಲೇಟನ್ನೂ ಓದಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯ ಅನ್ನುತ್ತಾರಲ್ಲ?
ಹೌದು, ಅದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಅವರು 7–8 ಟನ್‌ ಭಾರದ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳನ್ನು ಕಳಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಅವು ಒಂದು ರೀತಿಯಿಂದ ಭೂಮಿ ಕಡೆ ನೋಡುವ ‘ಹಬಲ್’ ದೂರದರ್ಶಕಗಳೇ ಆಗಿದ್ದವು. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಕನಿಷ್ಠ 2.5 ಮೀಟರ್‌ ಅಗಲದ ದೂರದರ್ಶಕ ಬೇಕು. ನಾವೀಗ 70 ಸೆಂ.ಮೀ ಸಾಧಿಸಿದ್ದೇವೆ ಮತ್ತು 1.2 ಮೀ. ದೂರದರ್ಶಕವನ್ನು ನಿರ್ಮಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇವೆ.

* ನೀವೀಗ 30 ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳನ್ನೂ (28 ವಿದೇಶದವು) ಕಳಿಸಿದ್ದೀರಿ. ಅವುಗಳ ವ್ಯಾವಹಾರಿಕ ಪ್ರಯೋಜನವೇನು?
ವಿಶ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗ ಕೆಲ ಕಂಪನಿಗಳು 200 ಚಿಕ್ಕ (10–15 ಕೆ.ಜಿ. ತೂಕದ) ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳ ಮಾಲೆಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ಭೂ ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ ಮಾಡಲು ಮುಂದಾಗಿವೆ. ಅದರಂತೆ 150 ಕೆ.ಜಿ. ಭಾರದ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳನ್ನು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿ ಇಂಟರ್‌ನೆಟ್ ಸೇವೆ ಒದಗಿಸುವ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳೂ ಇವೆ.

* ಆದರೆ ನಾವು 4–5 ಟನ್ ಭಾರದ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳೆಡೆಗೆ ಹೊರಟಿದ್ದೇವೆ...?
ಅದೂ ಬೇಕು. ಮಾನವನನ್ನು ಬಾಹ್ಯಾಕಾಶಕ್ಕೆ ಕಳಿಸಲು ಇಂಥ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯ ಅಗತ್ಯ. ಅದಲ್ಲದೆ ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇಷ್ಟು ಸಾಧ್ಯತೆಗಳನ್ನು ತುಂಬುವ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಇಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೆ ನಾವು ಕೈಚೆಲ್ಲಿ ಕೂರುವುದು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ.

* ನಮ್ಮ 4 ಟನ್ ಭಾರದ ಸಂವಹನ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ರಾಕೆಟ್ಟುಗಳ ಮೂಲಕವೇ ನಾವು ಎಂದು ಉಡಾವಣೆ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು?
ಜಿಎಸ್ಎಲ್‌ವಿ ಮಾರ್ಕ್‌-3 ರಾಕೆಟ್ಅನ್ನು ಪಳಗಿಸುವವರೆಗೂ ಫ್ರಾನ್ಸ್‌ ದೇಶದ ಆರಿಯಾನ್ ರಾಕೆಟ್‌ಗಳನ್ನು ಅವಲಂಬಿಸುವುದು ಅನಿವಾರ್ಯ. ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ಒಂದು ಉಡಾವಣೆ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾಗಿದೆ ಇನ್ನೂ ಕೆಲವು ಉಡಾವಣೆಗಳ ನಂತರ ನಾವೂ ಈ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯವನ್ನು ಪಡೆಯುತ್ತೇವೆ. ಅದಲ್ಲದೆ ನಾವೀಗ ಎಲೆಕ್ಟ್ರಿಕ್ ಪ್ರೊಪಲ್ಷನ್‌ನಲ್ಲೂ ಪ್ರಯೋಗಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ಅದು ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾದರೆ 6 ಟನ್ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳನ್ನು ಹಾರಿಸಲೂ ನಮ್ಮಿಂದ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗಬಹುದು.

* ನಾವಿನ್ನೂ ದುಬೈ ದೇಶದ ಥುರಾಯಾ ಕಂಪನಿಯ ಸ್ಯಾಟಲೈಟ್‌ ಫೋನ್‌ಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ನಮ್ಮದೇ ಸ್ಯಾಟಲೈಟ್‌ ಫೋನ್‌ ಯಾವಾಗ ಸಿದ್ಧವಾಗಬಹುದು?
ನಾವು ಮಾಡಿರುವ ಹೊಸ ಆವಿಷ್ಕಾರವೆಂದರೆ, ಸದ್ಯ ಇರುವ ನಮ್ಮ ‘ಎಸ್ ಬ್ಯಾಂಡ್‌’ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿಕೊಂಡೇ ಕೈಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ಫೋನ್‌ಗಳನ್ನೇ ಸ್ಯಾಟಲೈಟ್‌ ಫೋನ್‌ಗಳಂತೆ ಬಳಸಬಹುದು. ದೇಶದ ಯಾವುದೇ ಕಾಡು, ಗಿರಿ ಕಂದರಗಳಿಂದ ಸಂವಹನ ನಡೆಸಬಹುದು. ಇದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ನಾವೊಂದು ವಿಶೇಷ ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಉಪಕರಣವನ್ನೂ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಪಡಿಸಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ಸದ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇದು ನಮ್ಮ ಗುಪ್ತಚರ ವಿಭಾಗ ಮತ್ತು ರಕ್ಷಣಾ ಪಡೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದೆ.

* ಅದೇ ತರಹ ನಮ್ಮದೇ ಜಿಪಿಎಸ್ ಉಪಗ್ರಹ ಮಾಲಿಕೆಯೂ ಸಿದ್ಧವಾಗಿದೆಯೇ?
ಹೌದು, ರಕ್ಷಣಾ ಪಡೆಗಳ ಅಗತ್ಯವನ್ನು ಗಮನದಲ್ಲಿಟ್ಟು ಹೆಚ್ಚು ನಿಖರ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಪಡೆಯಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ಅದನ್ನು ರೂಪಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕರಿಗೂ ಅದರ ಲಾಭ ಸಿಗಲಿದೆ.  ಅದರ ಲಾಭವನ್ನು ಜನರಿಗೆ ತಲುಪಿಸಲು ಹಲವು ಕಂಪನಿಗಳು ಮುಂದೆಬಂದಿವೆ.

* ಇಸ್ರೊದ ಮುಂದಿರುವ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳೇನು?
ಮುಂದಿನ ಐದು ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮಹತ್ವದ ಸುಮಾರು 60 ಉಡಾವಣೆಗಳನ್ನು ನಡೆಸುವ ಯೋಜನೆ ಇದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಉಪಗ್ರಹ ಮತ್ತು ರಾಕೆಟ್‌ಗಳ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ನಾವು ಕೆಲ ಖಾಸಗಿ ಕಂಪನಿಗಳನ್ನೂ ಒಳಗೂಡಿಸುವವರಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಮಾರ್ಗದರ್ಶನದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವು ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಲಿವೆ. ಇದರಿಂದ ನಮ್ಮ ಕ್ಷಮತೆ ಇನ್ನೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚುತ್ತದೆ. ಇದರೊಡನೆಯೇ ಸೆಮಿ ಕ್ರಯೊ ಎಂಜಿನ್, ನಮ್ಮದೇ ಶಟಲ್, ಚಂದ್ರಯಾನ–2, ಶುಕ್ರ ಗ್ರಹ ಯಾನ, ಆದಿತ್ಯ, ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಮಂಗಳಯಾನ ಅದಲ್ಲದೇ ಈಗಿರುವ 42 ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯನ್ನು 80–100ಕ್ಕೆ ಏರಿಸುವುದು... ಹೀಗೆ ಹಲವು ಯೋಜನೆಗಳಿವೆ. ಚಂದ್ರಯಾನ–2 ದಲ್ಲಿ ಚಂದ್ರನಮೇಲೆ ಇಳಿದು ಒಂದು ರೋಬೊ ವಾಹನವನ್ನು ಓಡಾಡಿಸಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ ಮಣ್ಣಿನ ಪರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ ಮಾಡುವುದಿದೆ.

* ಮಾನವನನ್ನು ಬಾಹ್ಯಾಕಾಶಕ್ಕೆ ಕಳಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಎಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ ಬಂದಿದೆ?
ಅದಕ್ಕಿನ್ನೂ ಅನುಮತಿ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಬೇಕಾದ ವಿವಿಧ ಕ್ಲಿಷ್ಟ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನಗಳನ್ನು ನಾವು ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇವೆ, ಗಗನಯಾನಿಗಳನ್ನು ಭೂಮಿಗೆ ಹೇಗೆ ಸುರಕ್ಷಿತವಾಗಿ ಮರಳಿ ತರುವುದು, ಯಾನಿಗಳ ಕ್ಯಾಬಿನ್‌ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ. ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ ಗಗನಯಾನಿಗಳ ಸೂಟು ತಯಾರಾಗಿದೆ.

* ಇಸ್ರೊದಲ್ಲಿನ ನಿಮ್ಮ ವೈಯಕ್ತಿಕ ಯಾನ ಹೇಗಿತ್ತು?
ನಾನು ಇಸ್ರೊ ಸೇರಿದ್ದು 1975ರ ಆಗಸ್ಟ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ. ಅದಕ್ಕೂ ಮೊದಲು ನಾನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಮಲ್ಲೇಶ್ವರದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಭಾರತೀಯ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ (IISc) ಪಿಎಚ್.ಡಿ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. ಆಗ ‘ಫಿಸಿಕಲ್ ಎಂಜಿನಿಯರಿಂಗ್‌’ ಎಂಬ ಹೊಸ ಬಹು ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಕೋರ್ಸನ್ನು ಭೌತಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ ವಿಭಾಗ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭಿಸಿತ್ತು. ನಾನು ‘ಇಮೇಜ್‌ ಪ್ರೊಸೆಸಿಂಗ್‌’ನಲ್ಲಿ  ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನದ ಬಳಕೆಯನ್ನು ಅನ್ವೇಷಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. 1975ರಲ್ಲಿ ಅಹಮದಾಬಾದ್‌

ನಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಇಸ್ರೊದ ಉಪಗ್ರಹ ಅನ್ವೇಷಣಾ ಕೇಂದ್ರವನ್ನು ಸೇರಿದೆ. ಆಗ ಶುರುವಾಗಿದ್ದ ಭಾಸ್ಕರ 1 ಮತ್ತು 2 ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳಿಂದ ನನ್ನ ಪಯಣ ಶುರುವಾಯಿತು. ಅಂದಿನಿಂದ ಸುಮಾರು 50ಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳ ವಿನ್ಯಾಸದಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಕೊಡುಗೆ ಇದೆ. ಮೊದಲು ಭೂ ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ, ಆನಂತರ ಆಪ್ಟಿಕಲ್, ಮೈಕ್ರೋ ವೇವ್ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ ಇಮೇಜ್ ಪ್ರೊಸೆಸಿಂಗ್‌, ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಸಂವಹನ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳು... ಹೀಗೆ ಇಸ್ರೊ ಯಾನ ಅವಿಸ್ಮರಣೀಯ.

ಶಿವಾನಂದ ಕಣವಿಯವರು ನಿಯಾಸ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಅತಿಥಿ ಅಧ್ಯಾಪಕ. ‘Sand to Silicon’ ಕೃತಿಯ ಲೇಖಕ. ಇದು ‘ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ಕ್ರಾಂತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಭಾರತ’ ಎಂದು ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಅನುವಾದಗೊಂಡಿದೆ.

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A S Kiran Kumar interview-The Wire

https://thewire.in/213379/interview-s-kiran-kumar-recon-satnav-image-processing/

An Interview With A.S. Kiran Kumar on Recon, Satnav and Image-Processing

BY SHIVANAND KANAVI 

Kiran Kumar is set to retire as the chairman of ISRO on January 14. In his time, he oversaw the development of the IRNSS, Cartosat, cryogenic engines and reusable launch vehicle technologies.

A.S. Kiran Kumar. Credit: PTI

On January 12, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched 31 satellites into various orbits. It included the Cartosat-2F, a reconnaissance satellite, and 30 smaller satellites, 28 of which were for foreign customers.

Shivanand Kanavi spoke to A.S. Kiran Kumar, the chairman of ISRO, for The Wire on reconnaissance, micro- and nano-satellites, satellite-guided aviation, India’s own GPS and Kumar’s journey in space applications. Kumar will retire from his position on January 15 and will be succeeded by K. Sivan.

The interview has been edited for clarity.

Shivanand Kanavi: In Cartosat, are there any specialised cameras?

Kiran Kumar: Basically, the cameras are the same. The difference is, here, for generating a third dimension, you need two images from different viewing angles. Second, accuracy is needed for retrieving the height information so you need good quality images. Otherwise cartography and very-high-resolution imaging are basically the same.

SK: We used to hear about spy satellites of the US and the Soviet Union that could read the number plate of a car. Do we have that?

KK: Today, we have two feet accuracy. But much of what you mentioned is like the Hubble space telescope looking towards Earth. It will be a 7-8-tonne satellite and have a huge optics system. You will need at least a 2.5-m diameter telescope.

So far we have built a 70-cm telescope and are now working on 1.2 metres.

SK: When you do recon, you should be able to move it to a particular sector when you need it, and not wait for the satellite to get to a particular point in its orbit.

KK: You can do it in a recurrent orbit, so every day you can come over the same region. Or some kind of revisit – by adjusting the orbit you can make your revisit fixed and steer the camera by pointing and collecting the data.

SK: Today you launched 30 small satellites including two of your own. Do micro- and nano-satellites have practical applications?

KK: Yes. There are companies that are coming up with 200-satellite constellations of 10 kg, 15 kg class that will provide daily coverage of Earth at 3-5-m multi-spectrum resolution. Even if a few satellites go bust, it won’t have a big impact. So they are looking at 60-70 satellites in a single launch. Internet services with 150-kg satellites, etc. Progressively improving your capacity to perform more actions with fewer resources.

SK: Are we continuing to move towards 4-5-tonne satellites?

KK: That is also required. Others might be going miniature because they have access to that technology. If I don’t have access to that technology, I have to make do with whatever technology is accessible to me. So on one side, we will continue to make things with higher efficiency, and in parallel look at new things that are coming up.

SK: When can we stop relying on Arianespace for our heavier communication satellite launches?

KK: Till we commercialise our four-tonne GSLV Mk III, we will need to launch heavy satellites outside. We are also working on another concept: electric propulsion. Chemical propulsion requires more fuel. In electric propulsion, we will use solar energy for the basic input but then use ions for thrusting. So the rocket has to carry less fuel. So effectively, a six-tonne satellite’s function I can realise with a four-tonne satellite.

Moreover, for manned missions, you need heavier capacity.

SK: Can you tell me something about the Indian satnav system, IRNSS?

KK: IRNSS is basically our cost-effective solution for ensuring that India is able to navigate on its own without having to depend on somebody else. Our seven satellites enable us to cover around 1,500 kms from the border. Actually it is much more but 1500 km is the guaranteed range. For example, when we launched our first satellite, somebody in Sweden started receiving [the signals], and then they were coupling it with Galileo and so on. We can cover some portions of the Pacific as well, till Japan.

SK: Again, with these navigation signals, there is the commercial use and there is strategic accuracy for military purposes that will be encrypted and be in a separate band. Is that correct?

KK: In both bands, there will be separate signals for strategic use.

SK: Is our military ready for this?

KK: They are continuously working on it.

SK: What is the Gagan (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation) system and how is it going to improve our aviation?

KK: We have 26 different ground stations for Gagan. The ground receiver receives the signals from all the GPS satellites, plus the signals from Gagan, and then that receiver does the processing, discarding it if there is a satellite that should not be used, applying all those corrections to the data, and then every second it gives a position. All of this goes on in real-time. This is the one that enables the safety of life and integrity. Before Gagan came, in the Indian region there was an aerial hole. Even if an aircraft carried such a receiver, if it came over India, there was nothing to tell its position accurately. Now the Director General of Civil Aviation has certified Gagan.

SK: So even if tomorrow, for some reason, the GPS signal is cut, can Gagan link to this?

KK: We can do that because we are transmitting a signal to Gagan and bringing it down. So whatever we are transmitting in L5, we can do differently. Gagan is only one transponder in the sky. It doesn’t have anything on board. It just receives and retransmits. Rest is done on the ground. Between Airport Authority of India and ISRO, we have an entity which is set up here. Now we have three satellites carrying these payloads. So you are ensuring that at any point of time this service is not affected.

SK: When did you join ISRO? Tell me a bit about your journey in ISRO.

KK: August 1975. I was studying physical engineering, which is an interdisciplinary course conducted out of the physics department at IISc, Bengaluru. And at that time, one of the projects I did was on digital techniques in image processing. We used to take X-ray image scans and convert it into electrical signals, do some signal processing and write it back into the film so that doctors can see it as an enhanced picture. If the quality was not good and the doctors  could not extract the information, then they had to redo the entire process. So instead of re-exposing the patient to another dose of X-rays, our technique could help. Dr Deekshitalu was in the school of automation and, using a discarded lathe, they had come up with a drum scanner.

It started with black and white and later we made a colour scanner as well. And that is how I got into image processing. I joined ISRO in 1975 at the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. I initially started with our satellite for Earth observation, Bhaskara 1, and then Bhaskara 2. I was involved in building the payload. Since then, I have contributed to more than 50 electro-optical imaging systems which were put in orbit. Later, I got involved with communication payloads.

The very first payload on Bhaskara 1 had some problems and the initial turn-on was not successful. So we had to do some simulations on the ground to find out the problem. That gave us a very good exposure to the technology. As a result of that, I have been a part of the review process of many of these things.

SK: So you’ve spent the majority of your professional life in image processing…

KK: Building image systems. And then optical imaging to microwave imaging, where for example we built C-band radars in communication and navigation, etc. This course at IISc – physical engineering – was very interesting. You could join from engineering stream or science stream. So those who came from engineering had to do some core science subjects, and vice versa. Then, within the institute, you could choose whatever field you wanted. So we took courses from operations research to digital switching theory. And then we also had exposure to nuclear physics, vacuum physics, etc. That is what helped me.

Shivanand Kanavi is a theoretical physicist, senior journalist, former VP at TCS and author of Sand to Silicon: The Amazing Story of Digital Technology.

A S Kiran Kumar Interview -1 Rediff

The first of a two-part exclusive interview:

(appeared in http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/exclusive-isro-chief-we-want-60-launches-in-5-years/20180112.htm )

ISRO chief: 'We want 60 launches in 5 years'

Shivanand Kanavi

Dr A S Kiran Kumar

January 12, 2018

'We are looking at a joint venture between ISRO and a few companies to assemble the PSLV and launch it from Sriharikota.'
'In a month or two, the vehicle assembly building will be ready.'
'After that, we could see 13, 14 launches a year.'



Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Dr A S Kiran Kumar tells Shivanand Kanavi about developments we can look forward to in India's space programme long after he has retired from space exploration on Sunday, January 14.


What are the challenges facing ISRO today?

GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) Mark 3 was launched and GSLV Mark 2 has also flown 4 times after January 2014. Cryogenic engines of two types have been tested.

After doing over 200 tests of the heavier engine for GSLV Mark 3, we have flown it successfully.

Now we are asking the government to sanction another 10 flights of GSLV Mark 3.

We will have one in February-March 2018 which will carry an experimental communication satellite.

It will carry 2 Ka (frequency 26.5-40 G Hz) band beams we are also trying out Optical communication and also Q (36-46 G Hz) and V (40-75 G Hz) bands which are even higher.

We are using the opportunity of a developmental flight to try out new communication bands which we cannot do in a regular commercial launch.

It will be called GSat-30. It will be primarily for data.

We flew a GSat 19 which had Ku (12-18 G Hz) and Ka combination eight spot beams with high throughput.

GSat 11 is getting ready which will have 14 GBps capacity it will have 16 beams with two polarisations hence practically 32 beams covering all of India.

We have considerably improved our data communication capability.

We are also trying to involve private companies more and more into satellite integration. We have already given a contract to a private company to assemble and integrate two satellites.

Unfortunately one of them was lost in the last GSLV flight. The second one is getting ready and will be launched shortly.

We are coming up with an RFQ for assembling and integrating different satellites by 3, 4 companies.

We want 60 launches in the next five years which will need assembled and integrated satellites by ISRO and the private sector in a joint venture.

The facilities for assembling are at the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bengaluru. Subsequently they can build their own facilities.

This capacity building will need 5 to 10 years.

We are also looking at a joint venture between ISRO and a few companies to assemble PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and launch it from Sriharikota.

ISRO will provide critical services to this joint venture.

Who are the likely partners in this joint venture?

Walchandnagar, HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), Godrej, MTAR, Lakshmi Technologies and Engineering Industries etc who have already been with us.

Some new ones might also come in. This joint venture will have total end-to-end responsibilities.

ISRO will have service contracts like launch site activities etc. Tata Advanced Materials will be part of sub-system realisation.

Five-six entities will be involved and each will have end to end task definition. The total number of companies will be quite large.

Will it be similar to the European Space Agency and Ariane in France and the European Union?

They have reached a stage where the entire thing can be done by one company, whereas here we are creating a joint venture of many companies.

So it is more like Airbus Industries?

Yes.

For launch capacity doubling you will need another launch pad.

Today, we are looking at bottlenecks in the current system. First is vehicle assembly.

Though we have two launch pads, we only have one vehicle assembly.

Earlier the interval between two launches was large. Now, we have brought it down and in fact this year we had three launches in a-month-and-a-half -- PSLV and GSLV Mark 2 and 3.

To sustain this, we need auxiliary capacity like vehicle assembly building, which is a 90-metre building.

In a month or two it will be ready. After that, we could see 13, 14 launches a year.

To achieve 18+ launches a year, we need to create more capacity.

We are also developing a new semi-cryo engine. Once it's ready, we will need another launch pad.

Why semi-cryo?

A semi-cryo will use liquid oxygen and kerosene. What we are using currently is UDMH (Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine) and N2O4 (Dinitrogen tetroxide) which are toxic whereas a semi-cryo will not be.

Moreover, it will give better performance. We can add another tonne to our payload capacity.

On completing that, we will use it in GSLV Mark 3 which will be called Mark 3 Aug (augmented) with payload capacity increasing from 4 to 5.5-6 tonne.

Thus we are working on launch vehicles including a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).

We will try landing with a landing gear.

Will the RLV be a scaled-down model like before?

We will demonstrate it in a scaled-down model. The actual cost effective module is still being worked out.

The real cost effective solution for taking payload to space is still a grey area worldwide.

Can you say that the NASA (America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration) shuttle programme was a success as an RLV?

The shuttle programme was aimed at putting humans into space; cost-effectiveness was not the goal.

But today, cost-effectiveness is an issue with a large number of private entities coming into launch payloads and the competition becoming intense.

That's why, internationally they are giving contracts to the private sector.

The space shuttle cannot be a role model for us.

Our RLV has to be cost-effective, otherwise it will have no value for the nation.

There are about 31 companies building small satellite launchers globally.

Who succeeds and at what cost is still to be seen.

Dr Baldev Raj interview Business India

Business India, April 27-May 10, 2015

‘CSR funds give new hope to research’

The National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS ) was founded in a verdant campus in Bengaluru near the iconic IISc, by J.R.D. Tata and Raja Ramanna 25 years ago. Baldev Raj, director, NIAS, speaks to Shivanand Kanavi on the impact of the institution and its future vision

NIAS has completed 25 years. How would you visualise its role and future?

When J.R.D. Tata conceived this institute with Raja Ramanna the focus was on producing holistic thought leaders in all domains. He wanted to create a place where you could attract the best of the people in humanities, culture and heritage, science and technology, policies, strategic studies, education, etc. I think we have done eminently well in that respect. Every year we have about 15 or 20 such programmes for leaders from government and enterprises. When they go out, they say they were transformed.

We are an impactful institute but with a small budget. After I came onboard six months ago, I have interacted with everybody – our associates, adjunct faculty, chair professors or regular faculty, PhD students and so on. To be effective, to make an impact, in addition to people, you need some money. The Tata Trust supported us, in fact we exist because of the Tata Trusts. The way forward would be that, we create a sort of corpus, endowment money, which will yield us about `10-15crore a year, which is not much as an annual budget for such an institution.

To create this endowment fund are you tapping corporates, government, NRIs, and HNIs?

Fortunately, with CSR having been built into Company Law recently, I am sure our kind of institutions with deep societal impact will attract some CSR funds. So, one can approach some enlightened corporates and I have already started talking to a few. Another is to take up with the Departments of Science& Technology, Atomic Energy, Space and Defence, asking for endowment. They have already given us some money and I have requested them to enhance it based on our performance. We are also guided by an eminent management council headed by S. Ramadorai. Their large network of contacts would certainly help us.

What are the research areas the NIAS faculty is involved in?

We have people here who are in culture and heritage. We have child psychologists who are concentrating on informal education; strategic studies groups that work on different areas like space, defence, atomic energy; energy and environment groups. We also have people who are looking at why India has no time zones and so on. I also want to expand our work in agriculture, especially precision agriculture and sustainable agriculture. In India now we are giving a lot of emphasis to manufacturing but not enough to the future of agriculture.

My idea is to bring some young assistant professors, post-docs, PhD students and conduct field work and experiments in all these areas. So, our needs are small. However, NIAS needs to be more visible.

If you want to give inputs to NITI Aayog then what would be your focus areas?

I have brought on the agenda two new areas. One is the study of inequalities. It is not easy to analyse the inequalities. If you want to have inclusive development, inclusive growth, then, first of all, you need to know which are the excluded communities or what is the extent of exclusion.

The second area is our cultural heritage. I don’t think we really have anybody who can stand up in government to say what the holistic picture regarding heritage is.

Can we come to the level of where Europe is with respect to cultural characterisation in say 10 years of at least 100 items in our cultural heritage? I find NIAS to have the right people. We also have an interesting group on behavioural ecology studying the conflict of man, animals and forests and they have always in the field. I think they have great peer recognition but now we are trying to see how we can make an impact on the policy.

A highly neglected area is the Harappan sites and the tourism and public education through them.

Yes, we are working on Dholavira, in Kutch, one of the largest Harappan sites in India, along with IIT Gandhinagar using satellite and digital technology.

Dr Baldev Raj, Obituary

Dr Baldev Raj

http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/if-we-make-proper-choices-well-be-a-great-nation/20180107.htm

(April 9, 1947-Jan 6, 2018 )

Dr Baldev Raj, Director of National Institute of Advanced Studies, (NIAS) Bengaluru and former Director of Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, (IGCAR), Kalpakkam sadly passed away in Pune on the morning of Jan 6, 2018, where he had gone to attend a meeting at the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Pune. Our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends and colleagues of Dr Baldev Raj.

The vast contribution of Baldev Raj to the Indian Fast Breeder Program in general and to Radiometallurgy, non-destructive testing, strategic materials etc. are well known (  )and are already documented (see for example: http://nias.res.in/director/baldev-raj ).

He was richly recognised for the same by the Government of India with a Padmashri and numerous National and International apex bodies in Science and Technology.

I would like here to briefly highlight a few other aspects of his personality and work which are less documented.

Baldev Raj was greatly interested in India’s culture and heritage. As a Materials Scientist he contributed by studying among other things the near perfect casting technology involved in Chola Bronzes of Thanjavur (Where Gods Come Alive - Bronze Icons of South India by Baldev Raj, C Rajagopalan, C V Sundaram, Vigyan Prasar, 2000, https://archive.org/details/WhereGodsComeAlive-BronzeIconsOfSouthIndia ). Under the inspiration of Profs T R Anantharaman, C V Sundaram, S Ranganathan, A K Biswas a new field called Archaeo-Metallurgy came into being in India, which tried to reconstruct our history of minerals, metals and materials by applying modern scientific analysis to ancient artifacts and Baldev Raj participated in it enthusiastically (http://reflections-shivanand.blogspot.in/2011/10/archaeo-metallurgy-dr-baldev-raj.html ).

He was aware of the fact that native intelligence and genius had no correlation with class background and in fact the nation loses a lot of potential talent because the bright children of the poor do not get enough opportunities or encouragement to flower. He started a vigorous program in Coimbatore to identify such children train a bunch of dedicated teachers to help them out and create opportunities for them to interact with the nation’s top scientists, educationists, social scientists, journalists etc. while he was an advisor to a group of educational institutions there. I had the good fortune of interacting with nearly a hundred such brilliant pre-teens to teens in Coimbatore when he had invited me to deliver some lectures at PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research in 2014. I was amazed at their energy, enthusiasm and chutzpah. More over the twinkle in Baldev Raj’s eyes as they spoke was unforgettable.

One of the lesser known aspects of Baldev Raj’s leadership at Kalpakkam was how he dealt with the unprecedented danger and destruction caused by the Tsunami in December 2004. It remains a case study in disaster management and I wish it were properly recorded for the lessons to be learnt. ( http://reflections-shivanand.blogspot.in/2013/12/dr-baldev-raj-safety-at-fast-breeder.html )

He was articulate and accessible to journalists and was a great believer in effective science and technology communication. I visited the Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam twice in 2006 and in 2011 and as Director of IGCAR, Baldev Raj was more than happy to share the progress in the prestigious Fast Breeder Program.

He had a broad vision towards humanities and social sciences unlike most scientists and he showed that effectively when he became the director of NIAS in 2014. NIAS was conceived by JRD Tata in 1988 as an Institute of Advanced Studies with a multidisciplinary ambience, where the future leaders of India can come for broadening their vision. It has had the service of such distinguished personalities as Raja Ramanna, Roddam Narasimha, K Kasturirangan, V S Ramamurthy and now Baldev Raj as Directors.

He ran a tight ship at NIAS and at the same time successfully broadened financial support for research at NIAS from not only Tata Trusts and various government departments like Science & Technology, Atomic Energy, Railways, Space, Renewable Energy etc but also corporates like TCS, Titan etc.

He advocated passionately a number of multi-disciplinary studies at NIAS on energy, strategic studies, inequality studies, consciousness studies, education, heritage conservation, man-animal interactions, risk communication in science and technology etc. (Business India, April 27-May 10, 2015, ‘CSR funds give new hope to research’ )

He helped in creating a vibrant atmosphere of discussion without intellectual silos at NIAS. He was a good people manager and cared for every aspect of the institute from its conscientious gardener to the needs of young and old researchers. He will be missed by a large community of scientists and academics.

Shivanand Kanavi

India Romancing the Atom: From Rishi Kanaad to Kaiga

My article on Government of India's approval for 10 new indigenous 700 MW reactors in Prajavani of May 27, 2017:

http://www.prajavani.net/news/article/2017/05/27/494435.html

Kannada Prajavani review: An era of darkness--Shashi Tharoor

My short review of "An era of darkness" in Prajavani 

http://www.prajavani.net/news/books/2017/01/14/465868.html

ಕತ್ತಲೆ ಯುಗದ ಮೇಲೆ ಬೆಳಕು ಚೆಲ್ಲಿದ ಶಶಿ ತರೂರ

An era of darkness: The British Empire in India

Shivanand Kanavi

ತಿರುವನಂತಪುರದಿಂದ  ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಸಂಸದರಾದ ಶಶಿ ತರೂರ ಒಬ್ಬ ರಾಜಕಾರಣಿಯಾಗುವ ಮುನ್ನ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ವಾಗ್ಮಿ ಮತ್ತು ಲೇಖಕರೂ ಆಗಿದ್ದರು. ಈವರೆಗೆ ನಾಲ್ಕು ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಹದಿನಾರು ಕೃತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಅವರು ರಚಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಲೋಕಸಭೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ಸಭೆ–ಸೆಮಿನಾರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ವಾಹಿನಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅಭ್ಯಾಸಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ, ತರ್ಕಬದ್ಧವಾಗಿ, ವಿನಯಶೀಲರಾಗಿ, ಹಸನ್ಮುಖರಾಗಿ ಮಾತನಾಡುವ ಕೆಲವೇ ಕೆಲವು ಸುಸಂಸ್ಕೃತರಲ್ಲಿ ತರೂರ ಒಬ್ಬರು.

ಮೇ 2015ರಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರನ್ನು ‘ಬ್ರಿಟನ್ ತನ್ನ ಹಳೆಯ ವಸಾಹತುಗಳಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಾಯಶ್ಚಿತ್ತ ಧನವನ್ನು ಕೊಡಬೇಕು’ ಎಂಬ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನು ಪ್ರತಿಪಾದಿಸಲು ಸುಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧ ಆಕ್ಸ್‌ಫರ್ಡ್ ಯೂನಿಯನ್ ಆಹ್ವಾನಿಸಿತ್ತು.

ಅವರು ಮಾಡಿದ 15 ನಿಮಿಷದ ಭಾಷಣ ಎಲ್ಲರ ಮೆಚ್ಚುಗೆ ಗಳಿಸಿತು. ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲ, ಅದು ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದ ‘ಯುಟ್ಯೂಬ್’ನಲ್ಲಿ ಅವತರಿಸಿದಾಗ, 36 ಲಕ್ಷಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಪ್ರೇಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಆಕರ್ಷಿಸಿತು. ಪ್ರಧಾನಿ ನರೇಂದ್ರ ಮೋದಿಯವರೂ ತರೂರರನ್ನು ಅಭಿನಂದಿಸಿದರು. ಆಗ ಪ್ರಕಾಶಕ ಡೇವಿಡ್ ದವಿಡಾರ್ ಈ ವಿಷಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಒಂದು ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನು ಬರೆಯಲು ತರೂರರನ್ನು ಪ್ರೇರೇಪಿಸಿದರು. ಇದರ ಫ಼ಲ ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ‘ಅಲೆಫ್‌ ಬುಕ್ ಕಂಪನಿ’ ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸಿದ ತರೂರರ ಗ್ರಂಥ, An era of darkness: The British Empire in India (ಕಪ್ಪು ಕತ್ತಲೆಯ ಯುಗ: ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ). ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ‘ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಲಿಟರರಿ ಫೆಸ್ಟಿವಲ್’ ಒಳಗೊಂಡು ಅನೇಕ ಕಡೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಚರ್ಚಿತವಾಗಿದೆ. ಮತ್ತು ವಿವಿಧ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಲೇಖಕ ತರೂರರ ಸಂದರ್ಶನಗಳು ಪ್ರಕಟವಾಗಿವೆ.

18–19ನೇ ಶತಮಾನದ ವಸಾಹತುವಾದ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದೋ ಕೆಟ್ಟದ್ದೋ ಎಂದು ವಾದ ವಿವಾದ ಇದುವರೆಗೂ ಬ್ರಿಟನ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದು ಬಂದಿದೆ ಮತ್ತದರ ಪರಿಣಾಮ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಕಲಿಯುವ ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಶಾಲಾಪಠ್ಯಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಕಂಡು ಬಂದಿದೆ, ಎಂದರೆ ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ತುತ್ತಾದ ಭಾರತೀಯರಿಗೆ ಇದೊಂದು ಕ್ರೂರ ಹಾಸ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಕಂಡುಬರಬಹುದು. ಶಶಿ ತರೂರರ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯವಾದವು ಸರ್ವತೋಪರಿಯಾಗಿ ಭಾರತದ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ, ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಗೆ ತುಂಬಲಾರದ ಹಾನಿಯನ್ನು ಉಂಟು ಮಾಡಿತು ಎಂದು ಅನೇಕ ಪ್ರಮಾಣಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಸಿದ್ಧಪಡಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಕೊನೆಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಸಂದರ್ಭ ಗ್ರಂಥಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯೇ ಸುಮಾರು ಮುನ್ನೂರಿದೆ.

ಇದುವರೆಗೆ ಬ್ರಿಟನ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲ, ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲೂ ಹಲವು ಜನರು ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ವಸಾಹತುವಾದದ ಕೊಡುಗೆಗಳ ಪಟ್ಟಿಯನ್ನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ: ಸುರಾಜ್ಯ, ಆಧುನಿಕ ನ್ಯಾಯಾಂಗ, ರೇಲ್ವೆ, ಹಿಂದೂ ಸಮಾಜೋದ್ಧಾರ, ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟ್, ಚಹಾ, ಆಧುನಿಕ ಮಾರ್ಕೆಟ್ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ, ಇದಲ್ಲದೆ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ಭಾಷೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ಈ ಪಟ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿವೆ. ಆದರೆ ತರೂರ ಮಾತ್ರ ನಿಷ್ಠುರವಾಗಿ, ಪ್ರಮಾಣಸಹಿತವಾಗಿ ಇವುಗಳನ್ನೆಲ್ಲ ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಖಂಡಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.

ತರೂರರು ಮಂಡಿಸುವ ಹಲವಾರು ವಿಷಯಗಳು ವಸಾಹತುವಾದದ ಅಭ್ಯಾಸಿಗಳು ಗಂಭೀರವಾಗಿ ಚಿಂತಿಸಲು ಅರ್ಹವಾಗಿವೆ. ಅವುಗಳೆಂದರೆ: 

1. ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಪೂರ್ವ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜ ಬೊಕ್ಕಸ ವ್ಯಾಪಾರದ ಕರಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಅವಲಂಬಿಸಿತ್ತು. ಆದರೆ ಸ್ವತಃ ವ್ಯಾಪಾರಿಗಳಾಗಿ ಬಂದ ಅವರು ಅದನ್ನು ಬದಲಿಸಿ, ರಾಜ ಬೊಕ್ಕಸದ ಭಾರವನ್ನು ಭೂಕಂದಾಯ ಮತ್ತು ಕೃಷಿಯ ಮೇಲೆಯೇ ಹೊರಿಸಿದರು (ಅದಕ್ಕಾಗಿಯೇ ಯಾವುದೇ ಮುಚ್ಚುಮರೆ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಅವರು ಜಿಲ್ಲಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಮಾಫಿಯಾ ಶೈಲಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ‘ಕಲೆಕ್ಟರ್’ ಎಂದು ಕರೆದರು). ಪರಿಣಾಮವಾಗಿ ರೈತಾಪಿ ಜನ ಅಸಂಖ್ಯ ಕಷ್ಟಗಳನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸಬೇಕಾಯಿತು. ಇದರ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಗ್ರಾಮೋದ್ಯೋಗ ಮತ್ತು ಕೈಗಾರಿಕೆಗಳನ್ನು ನಾಶಗೊಳಿಸಿದ್ದರಿಂದ ಅಸಂಖ್ಯ ಭೂಹೀನ ರೈತರ ಮತ್ತು ಪದೇ ಪದೇ ಮಾನವ ನಿರ್ಮಿತ ಕ್ಷಾಮಗಳ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣವಾಯಿತು.

2. ಭ್ರಷ್ಟಾಚಾರ ಮತ್ತು ಅದರ ನಿರ್ಮೂಲನೆ ಈಗ ಬಹು ಚರ್ಚಿತ ವಿಷಯವಾದಾಗ ತರೂರ್ ‘ಈಸ್ಟ್‌ ಇಂಡಿಯಾ ಕಂಪನಿ’ ಮತ್ತದರ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ಅಭೂತಪೂರ್ವ ಭ್ರಷ್ಟಾಚಾರವನ್ನು ಭಾರತಕ್ಕೆ ಹೇಗೆ ತಂದರು ಎಂದು ಸಪ್ರಮಾಣ ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.

3. ನಾವು ತಿರಸ್ಕರಿಸುವ ವಿಲಾಸಿ, ಲಂಪಟ, ಐಶ್ವರ್ಯಲೋಲುಪ ನವಾಬರು, ನಿಜಾಮರು, ಮಹಾರಾಜರು ಅವರೊಡನೆಯೇ ರಾಯಬಹಾದ್ದೂರ ಮತ್ತು ದಿವಾನ್ ಬಹದ್ದೂರರು ಹೇಗೆ ಉದ್ಭವಿಸಿದರು.

4. ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷರು ಮೊದಲಿನಿಂದಲೂ ಮತ್ತು ವಿಶೇಷವಾಗಿ 1857ರ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ ಸಮರದ ನಂತರ ಹಿಂದೂ–ಮುಸ್ಲಿಂ ಕೋಮುವಾದ ಮತ್ತು ಜಾತಿಭೇದವನ್ನು ತಮ್ಮ ಒಡೆದು ಆಳುವ ನೀತಿಯ ಮೂಲಕ ಹೇಗೆ ಬೆಳೆಸಿದರು ಎಂಬುದನ್ನೂ ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.

ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಒಂದು ಕೊರತೆಯೆಂದರೆ, ಆಗೀಗ ಅನವಶ್ಯಕವಾಗಿ ಮಾರ್ಕ್ಸ್, ಸ್ಟಾಲಿನ್ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿಯವರನ್ನು ತೆಗಳುವುದು. ಇದು ಬಹುಶಃ ಕೇರಳದ ತರೂರರ ಮತಕ್ಷೇತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ ರಾಜಕಾರಣಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಇರಬಹುದು. ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಕೊರತೆ ಎಂದರೆ, ಭಾರತದ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ಸಂಗ್ರಾಮದ ಉಜ್ವಲ ಅಂಗವಾದ ಗದರ್ ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಕಾರರು, ಭಗತ್ ಸಿಂಗ್ ಮತ್ತವರ ಸಂಗಾತಿಗಳು, ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲದೆ 1857ರ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ಸಮರ, ಇವೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ಹತ್ತಿಕ್ಕುವಾಗ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷರು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿದ ಮೋಸ, ಕ್ರೌರ್ಯ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿಗಳನ್ನು ಕಡೆಗಣಿಸಿರುವುದು.

ಒಟ್ಟಾರೆ ‘ವಿಶ್ವವೊಂದೇ ಹಳ್ಳಿ’ ಎನ್ನುವ ಜಾಗತೀಕರಣದ ರಭಸದಲ್ಲೂ ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬ ಯುವ ಭಾರತೀಯನೂ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶ ಇಂದಿನ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಗೆ ಹೇಗೆ ಬಂತು ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಯಲು ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನು ಓದಲೇಬೇಕೆಂದು ನನ್ನ ಅನಿಸಿಕೆ.

Book Review: Shashi Tharoor--Era of Darkness

Shining light on an Era of Darkness

Shivanand Kanavi

An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India

by Shashi Tharoor

Aleph Book Company 2016

http://www.rediff.com/news/column/shining-the-light-on-an-era-of-darkness/20170109.htm

Shashi Tharoor whose brilliance enchanted over 3 million people on YouTube with his debating skills at an Oxford Union debate continues in the same vein in his new book "An era of darkness".

Essentially the debate was about whether colonialism was good or bad. It may seem anachronistic and even cruel for the victims of Colonialism in Asia, Africa and Latin America that such thing can even be debated. But anything can be debated in public school debating clubs of UK ! In the English tradition all these schools prepare you for a legal or a parliamentary career where you could argue either way on any issue depending on the context. Many of our own parliamentarians are trained in the same tradition and argue brilliantly in Indian courts as well as in the Indian Parliament and we can see them hold forth brilliantly on the pro of a policy and equally brilliantly on the cons of it depending on whether they are in the treasury benches or in the opposition, inducing inevitable cynicism.

However the sincerity of Tharoor in arguing that British colonialism did inestimable all sided harm to India shows through this tome where he marshals literally hundreds of facts (well organised quotes run into nearly 300). His passion for the subject comes through every page, his sardonic tone and twist of the English phrase even while cursing the power that imposed English language with "Tommy jackboots" hits the reader with a genuine force.

Along with accolades from Indians in all walks of life, including PM, Narendra Modi, Tharoor got some feeble criticism as well after his short Oxford Union talk. That has prepared him for much more disdainful and patronising vitriol from apologists of British colonialism. All his arguments and quotes seem to be in preparation of that assault. He does not leave any leaf unturned in his endeavour including the Tea leaves of Assam, Bengal and Oooty.

In fact the topics he chooses to argue include the whole gamut of issues which are normally quoted as "gifts" of two centuries of British rule over India: good governance, English sense of fairplay, Austinian judicial system, Railways, social reform of Hindu society, Cricket, Tea and even the English language. He tears them up one by one with profuse facts and anecdotal quotes from largely British and other Western sources.

Some of the insights he provides are important for colonial studies. He points out that the public finance in pre-colonial India was based on taxing trade where as the British themselves being traders made a drastic change and made agriculture and land revenue the focus, (and even called their chief district level representative: Collector) thereby causing immense hardship to peasantry. He traces the creation of the landless peasant and the increased dependence of large segment of the population on agriculture for livelihood due to the destruction of artisans and manufacture and also large scale man made famines under colonialism.

In these days when corruption, its roots and elimination often becomes a matter of public discussion he narrates its massive rise due to the practices of the East India Company and its officers.

He makes an astute observation that despite historical animosities between England and Scotland a compact was established to include Scotland into the United Kingdom ( though initiated by a fudged parliamentary vote in 1707) by promising plum positions for Scots in colonial India. That explains the unusually large proportion of Scots in the administration and the army in India. Twisting the knife further he adds that perhaps the loss of this income from India into Scottish homes is leading to disenchantment and fueling separatism in Scotland !

His remarks on the creation of a decadent gentry of Rai Bahadurs and Diwan Bahadurs and even the more abhorrent profligate and promiscuous Princes replacing the older far more grounded aristocracy are insightful.

Besides going into the financing of Indian Railways and how gold plating was done by many an English investor assured of guaranteed returns and how Railways during construction and later were used to drain the Indian economy and increase the national debt, Tharoor makes an important point that in the operational finances of Railways it was the third class passengers traveling in sub human conditions that subsidised freight and the first class !

His discussion of British communal divide and rule as well as re-imposition of caste inequalities through the Gentoo Code under Warren Hastings and in the post-1857 construction of colonial state are extremely important but often forgotten in the modern Indian discourse on communalism and casteism.

It is an enjoyable read, passionately written smooth in flow while being richly cross referenced. The blemishes are few. Note worthy ones are his quoting Marx completely out of context to show purportedly that Marx supported British colonialism in India which is contrary to facts; and frequent comparisons of genocidal massacres under British with unsubstantiated figures of deaths caused supposedly by Stalin etc. Perhaps we can ascribe it to his anxiety towards taking a swipe at his leftist political rivals in his parliamentary constituency in Kerala.

Other weakness of the "Era of Darkness" is total neglect of the role of Ghadar revolutionaries, Bhagat Singh and his comrades and even the war of Independence --the Great Ghadar of 1857, chronicled as the biggest war of 19th century world, and the colonial tactics of chicanery and brutality employed by British, while Tharoor does bring out such facets from the rest of colonial history.

I would recommend every young Indian to read this book to get a perspective of our colonial past in the present day mesmerising euphoria of the global village in spite of Trump.

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Indian Industry 1991-2016

Indian Industry 1991-2016

The face of Indian industry has changed unrecognisably in the last 25 years and none can dispute that.

The growth in various sectors of Indian Industry in the last 25 years is phenomenal. Indian IT industry exported about $100 million in 1991 where as in 2016 it exported $ 100 billion that is a 1000 times growth ! Indian IT companies have become multinationals and are rivaling the biggest and the best in the world. Car production used to be about 1 lakh cars in 1991 which has reached nearly 25 lakhs last year and both Indian and foreign companies are doing their design and development of many new models within India. Today India has the world's largest producers of two wheelers and tractors. Telecom services have grown phenomenally and from 25 million landlines it has increased to about 50 million landlines and about a billion mobile phones. ISRO has now launched over 130 satellites from its own rockets and out of which nearly 50 are foreign satellites. In the nuclear program both for energy and weapons Indian scientists and engineers have demonstrated the ability to design and develop not only natural Uranium based reactors of 220, 540 and 700 MW but also next generation of reactors like Fast Breeders as well as Thermonuclear weapons and nuclear submarines. Indian financial sector consisting of Banks, stock markets, commodity markets etc have all modernised and India has a truly sophisticated financial sector that has surpassed many developed economies in technological superiority. India has a large base in petrochemicals, manmade fibres, plastics, oil refining, pharmaceuticals, urea and agro-chemicals and its companies in these sectors are respected all over the world for their size and sophistication. In fact just as India has become the IT services hub for the world it is also being called the Pharmacy for the world particularly in generic drugs. It is often said that India missed the bus in electronics, in fact India imports almost all of its electronics in finished or component form. However due to new developments in computer applications many of them generated by Indian engineers in Silicon Valley, like Suhas Patil, Prabhu Goel, Raj Singh, Prakash Bhalerao, Rajiv Madhavan etc the process of electronic microchip production has been neatly divided into design & testing and manufacture. Now many cutting edge chips for the world are being designed and tested in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurugram etc while they are manufactured elsewhere in China, Taiwan, South Korea, US etc. It is to be noted that about 80% of value add in chip industry occurs at design and testing stage and only 20% at the fabrication stage.

While Indian industry was in not of global scale in '91, today in many sectors they are in the top 5 in the world. More over they have spread their wings globally and own telecom, steel, aluminum, automobiles, Oil and Gas, coal mines, consumer goods businesses in other parts of the world including developed economies. They have shown their management skills by turning around successfully many industries which were sick, closed or not very profitable in other countries.

This qualitative and quantitative description of change in Indian industry in the last 25 years can go on and on for which there is not much space here and we can come back to some specific features later but it is important to touch briefly on what factors or new phenomena have driven this qualitative and quantitative growth.

Let us briefly look at what happened in the 25 years before 1991.

Was their growth in the industry in quantity and quality during 1966-91?

Yes of course. Looking at Steel, Automobiles, IT, Pharma, Energy, Textiles, Telecom, Space, Nuclear etc there was considerable growth in both quantity and quality during 1966-91. For example the sophistication of textile industry increased greatly with the new technologies in weaving, spinning, processing etc coming in the 80's. When these sophisticated technologies became accessible to small and medium powerlooms in the 80's most composite mills in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Delhi etc closed down and became real estate companies. There was also the growth of indigenous polyester fibre production. Similarly while the number of telephones increased to 25 million the quality of telecom network started changing with the introduction of C-DoTs digital exchanges and the coming into being of STD facility and the mushrooming of STD public booths in the late 80's. The hitech and strategic sectors of nuclear and space too had grown from infancy in the 1960's to considerable growth by 1991. From small sounding rockets to launching our own satellite Rohini in our own rocket SLV-3 and from research reactors in Trombay to designing and operating our own 220 MW pressurised heavy water reactors. Till recently the largest digital project in the world was the Indian Railways Passenger Reservation System built by the persistent efforts of CMC. In fact it is the success of this digital project that affected 100s of millions of people that led to acceptance of the new computer technology by ordinary people, trade unions, politicians etc. Indian computer architects had designed the Param super computer in CDAC and IT services industry was growing due to TCS, CMC and later Infosys, WIPRO and HCL reaching an export of about $100 million. Large steel mills had come into being in Durgapur, Rourkela, Bhilai and Bokaro from the initial start in Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. The automobile industry had its own base in two wheelers and had brought in the new Japanese models from Suzuki at Maruti which were far superior to the  existing cars from Premier Automobiles (FIAT), Hindustan Motors.

Clearly the eighties had laid the ground work of modernisation that led to the explosion after liberalisation in 1991.

However what was lacking was competition both global and local and along with it global opportunities. It is this opening up in 1991 that accelerated the industry's growth beyond anybody's expectations.

Briefly we can identify five major features in the current industrial scenario

1) Dynamism caused by global and local competition.

Protection from foreign competition and domestic licensing regime which had led to monopolies which faced neither domestic nor foreign competition had led many industries take a laid back attitude towards innovation, quality, design, production efficiency and management skills. Global and local competition energised many to change and become globally competitive and even become multinationals. In an article "Prowling Tigers" the magazine Economist reported that between 2006 and 2010 Indian companies bought 754 companies abroad and invested 7500 crore dollars. TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, Tech-Mahindra etc earn over 90% of their revenue from their operations abroad. Many groups like Tatas, Aditya Birla, Essar, Vedanta, Videocon, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy, JSW, ONGC, Reliance Industries etc earn sizable revenue from operations abroad. It is also true that those who could not face the challenges arising out of global and local competition went out of business. Today there are many innovations in manufacturing and services by Indian companies in IT, Financial markets, automobile, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and industrial management, which have made a mark in global markets.

2) Access to global capital and markets and the emergence of Indian multinationals

Many large business houses have had easy access to foreign capital in the form of GDRs, ADRs, private equity and hedge funds, as well as through Indian and foreign share listing, issuing bonds in other countries, loans from foreign banks at lower interests etc. Many start ups have had access to global venture capitalists. This has led to their growth in India as well as abroad. For example Tata Group could not have bought Corus or Jaguar-Land Rover or Tetley or many hotels abroad without such access to foreign capital. Kumar Birla could not have bought Novelis one of the largest producers of Aluminum in the world without such funding. Similarly almost all the IT companies bought by TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL etc abroad are financed by foreign capital so also other such acquisitions in the Pharma sector by Indian companies and so on. For the last 15 years venture capital from US, Japan etc is funding many start ups in India mainly in the IT sector.

Similarly with a change in the mindset due to globalisation every entrepreneur has to design his enterprise from day one to be ready for global competition and if successful to look for export markets.

3) Quality consciousness in manufacturing and services.

In the last 25 years thousands of Indian businesses have improved their manufacturing and services processes so that a very large number have the highest ratings in CMMI in IT and in other sectors have adopted ISO standards, efficiency and quality improvement methods like Kaizen, Six Sigma, Malcolm Baldridge, Total Preventive Maintenance, Total Quality Maintenance, Quality Circles, Zero Defect Manufacture etc.

4) Smart Manufacturing

The received wisdom after Henry Ford's success in assembly line manufacturing has been that if one has large scale and integrated manufacturing under one roof then one achieves economies of scale. However times have now changed and Japanese have innovated "Just in Time" manufacturing and Distributed Manufacturing and German-American innovations in IT enabled Enterprise Resource Planning have further revolutionised manufacturing efficiencies. Indian companies post 90's have been quick to adopt these and achieve high efficiencies both in large and medium volumes.

Today India may not have reached the manufacturing scales of China but is technically ready for high growth in manufacturing, if not for export markets which are in doldrums but for domestic consumers.

5) Frugal Engineering and solutions for  the Bottom of the Pyramid

India is slowly becoming known for innovating low cost designs in products and services which can serve over 5 billion of world's population. Carlos Ghosn CEO of the French Renault Motors and Japanese Nissan Motors has hailed it as Frugal Engineering and invested in India in a large R&D effort. Tata's Nano, Swachh etc attracted global attention primarily because of the low cost in Research and Development and a new design strategy described by well known American management guru C K Prahlad as aiming at the "Bottom of the income Pyramid"

This is a very brief look down the lane of where Indian industry has reached in the last 25 years. A natural question would be why did not industrial policy change towards liberalisation and globalisation earlier ? The answers to that lie in post-independence Political Economy of India and need another segment even for a brief discussion.