India on Friday launched the South Asia Satellite, built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), that will at once boost its “neighbourhood first policy” as well as help it carve a unique place for itself in space diplomacy by becoming the rare example of a country to “gift” a satellite to its neighbours.
Isro’s GSLV-F09 rocket carrying the India’s GSAT-9,lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport,
According to external affairs ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay, the launch of the Rs450 crore satellite from Sriharikota, off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, is a dimension of the “sabka saath, sabka vikaas” (collective effort, inclusive growth) concept espoused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In attendance to see the lift-off would be the ambassadors of Maldives, Bhutan and Bangladesh, while other countries could be represented by other diplomats.
The South Asia Satellite is a geosynchronous communications and meteorology satellite developed by Isro for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) region made up of eight countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
The benefits of the satellite will be in the areas of mapping of natural resources, tele-medicine, education, IT connectivity and people-to-people links. According to news reports, the satellite will provide a significant capability to each of the participating countries in terms of DTH (direct-to-home), besides linking among the countries for disaster information transfer. Each South Asian country will get access to one transponder through which they could beam their own programming and there could be common “South Asian programming” as well, news reports said. But each country will have to develop its own ground infrastructure, though India is willing to extend assistance and know-how.
Initially, it was to be named “SAARC Satellite” but its name was changed to South Asia Satellite after Pakistan refused to join the project. It was to have been launched in December but it got delayed.
Modi had first proposed the idea of a Saarc Satellite while speaking to Isro scientists in June 2014 and later broached the idea to member states during his speech at the 18th Saarc summit in Kathmandu in November 2014.
“India’s gift of a satellite for the SAARC region will benefit us all in areas like education, telemedicine, disaster response, resource management, weather forecasting and communication. We will also host a conference in India for all South Asian partners next year, to strengthen our collective ability to apply space technology in economic development and governance,” Modi had said in his Kathmandu speech.
Earlier this week on Sunday, in his monthly Mann ki Baat radio programme, Modi said, “We have always attempted to move ahead with the concept of sabka saath, sabka vikaas. The concept of sabka saath, sabka vikaas is not confined to India but is relevant globally too, especially in the context of the neighbourhood,” he said.
“There should be cooperation of our neighbours and there should be development of our neighbours too,” he said. “The benefits of this satellite will go a long way in meeting the developmental needs of the countries participating in this project,” the Prime Minister said, adding that the project is a significant step towards promoting cooperation with entire South Asia.
“This is an appropriate example of our commitment towards South Asia...The satellite of South Asia will help in the overall development of the entire region,” Modi said in his radio address.
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