About CARTOSAT-2A

CARTOSAT-2A is a state-of-the art remote sensing satellite with a spatial resolution of about one metre and swath of 9.6 km. The satellite carries a panchromatic camera (PAN) capable of taking black-and-white pictures in the visible region of electromagnetic spectrum. The highly agile CARTOSAT-2A is steerable along as well as across the direction of its movement to facilitate imaging of any area more frequently.
Soon after separation from PSLV fourth stage, the two solar panels of CARTOSAT-2A were automatically deployed. The satellite’s health is continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at Bangalore with the help of ISTRAC network of stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Mauritius, Bearslake in Russia, Biak in Indonesia and Svalbard in Norway.

High-resolution data from CARTOSAT-2A will be invaluable in urban and rural development applications calling for large scale mapping.

About Indian Mini Satellite (IMS -1)

Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1), flown as an auxiliary payload on board PSLV-C9, is developed by ISRO for remote sensing applications. Weighing 83 Kg at lift-off, IMS-1 incorporates many new technologies and has miniaturised subsystems. IMS-1 carries two remote sensing payloads - A Multi-spectral camera (Mx Payload) and a Hyper-spectral camera (HySI Payload), operating in the visible and near infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The spatial resolution of Mx camera is 37 metre with a swath of 151 km while that of HySI is about 506 metre with a swath of about 130 km. The data from this mission will be made available to interested space agencies and student community from developing countries to provide necessary impetus to capacity building in using satellite data. The versatile IMS-1 has been specifically developed to carry different payloads in future without significant changes in it and has a design life time of two years.

Nano Satellites for International Customers
Eight Nanosatellites from abroad are carried as auxiliary payloads besides IMS-1 as well as CARTOSAT-2A. The total weight of these Nanosatellite payloads is about 50 Kg. Six of the eight Nanosatellites are clustered together with the collective name NLS-4. The other two

nanosatellites are NLS-5 AND RUBIN-8. NLS-4, developed by University of Toronto, Canada consists of six nano-satellites developed by various universities. Two of them - CUTE 1.7 and SEEDS - are built in Japan, while the other four - CAN-X2, AAUSAT-II, COMPASS-1 and DELPHI-C3 are built in Canada, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands respectively. NLS-5 is also built by University of Toronto and RUBIN-8 is built by Cosmos International, Germany. The eight nanosatellite payloads of PSLV-C9 are built to develop nano technologies for use in satellites as well as for the development of technologies for satellite applications.

I think it was Francis Bacon who once remarked: Money is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around.” he added. Smt Shobhna Bhartiya, Chairperson, Hindustan times Ltd and representatives from leading luxury brands were also present on the occasion.

Explaining about the contribution to luxury Industry from an Indian Perspective, Shri Kamal Nath informed that ‘Dharavi’, which is supposed to be Asia’s largest slum also doubles up as a giant manufacturing cluster. Over the years, many migrants have moved there and have set up one-room factories, which have become extremely successful businesses. Migrants from Gujarat have established a potters' colony, and tanners from Tamil Nadu have migrated to Dharavi and set up a flourishing leather tanning industry. Other artisans, like the embroidery workers from Uttar Pradesh, started the ready-made garments trade.

The 15,000 odd one-room factories, at Dharavi manufacture products worth nearly 500 million dollars every year, a large proportion of which are exported. “My simple point of showcasing Dharavi is this: the skills of these artisans, and millions of others living in different pockets all over the country – can, and should be, effectively used by the global luxury players to develop their own low cost manufacturing bases.

To be sure, quality could be an issue in the short term. But I am sure with the right environment and training, Indian artisans can work with European companies and develop world-class products for customers all over the world, he added.

As regards FDI in luxury sector, Shri Kamal Nath stated that India is keen to encourage the entry of foreign investment in the luxury sector to offer more choices to the Indian consumer. But the Government of India would like to facilitate this entry, at a pace that does not put local manufacturers and unorganized retailers at a risk

Reflecting strong industrial growth, 20 Indian firms, including Infosys and TCS are among top 100 outsourcing companies in the world. The latest '2008 Global Outsourcing 100', compiled by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) that features at least 20 Indian firms has five of them -- Infosys (third rank), TCS (sixth), Wipro (seventh), Genpact (ninth) and Tech Mahindra (tenth) in the top 10.

All the five are leading software service providers. "Half of the top 10 companies are from India, reflecting a strong growth in the outsourcing industry. Infosys Technologies was number three on the Leaders List, representing firms with annual sales of 60 million dollars or more," IAOP said in a statement.

Accenture has cornered the top slot and IBM is on the second spot. Companies on the list averaged 1.7 billion dollars in annual sales and engaged about 27,000 employees across the world. Other Indian companies in the list are HCL Technology (11th rank) Mastek (16), WNS Global Services (19), Hexaware (22), ExlService (26), 24/7 Customer (28), Cambridge (36), ITC Infotech (40), KPIT Cummins (42), Patni (46), Zensar (53), MindTree (54), Mphasis (56), Aditya Birla Minacs (62), FirstSource Solutions (73) and VCustomer (84).

According to IAOP, the key strength of Wipro and TCS is their 'employee management' while 'executive leadership' is cited as the strong point of Infosys and Genpact. On the other hand, 'outsourcing experience' is attributed as the main strength of Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies.

The power balance in the outsourcing industry is shifting... Global competition in outsourcing is intensifying and that was reflected in this years ranking with companies from 19 countries vying for recognition, IAOP's Managing Director, thought leadership and who head the judges panel, Jagdish Dalal said.

In last year's list, there were five Indian firms in the top 10 -- Wipro, Infosys, Genpact, Tech Mahindra and Cambridge. Among this year's top five Indian entities, Infosys, TCS and HCL have improved their positions, while Wipro and Genpact have slipped in their rankings.

In 2007, Infosys was ranked seventh, TCS 26th and HCL 15th whereas Wipro and Genpact were placed at sixth and eighth place respectively. Sodexo (fourth rank), Capgemini (fifth), Hewlett-Packard (eighth), CSC (23), CB Richard Ellis (29) and ADP (50) are among the other prominent names in the list.

"NRIs in the 35 to 45 age-group, having worked abroad for 10 or more years, have enough buffer money. If they want to come back to their kith and kin, we can provide them with job satisfaction," said a senior DRDO official. "We also give value in terms of accommodation, working environment and facilities in our labs, health benefits, pension and the like," he added. Then, of course, DRDO has demanded a ‘performance-based incentive package’ for scientists, over and above the revision in salaries, from the 6th Pay Commission.

This includes proposals like a Rs 10,000 award for every patent being filed or a paper being published in a reputed journal, as also a ‘technology-transfer fee’ for every lab-to-industry transfer. DRDO scientists say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself has promised to them that careers in science will be made ‘more attractive from all perspectives’ to stem brain drain. Apart from fiscal and career incentives, they say the government is also considering facilitating mobility between institutions, between institutions and academia, as well as from research institutions to the production and marketing sectors.

Source: The Economic Times