ISRO's Nair: Reviving an old friendship

For India's space programme, it was a sweet vindication. The recent agreement signed between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on carrying scientific instruments aboard India's moon mission Chandrayaan I signals India's arrival in the global space market. It also marks the revival of an old relationship-the first rocket launched by ISRO on November 21, 1963 was an Apache rocket supplied by the US-that had cooled off because of India's perceived tilt towards the Soviet Union.

Credit for this revival must go to 62-year-old Gopalan Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space, Government of India. "The collaboration is the result of a dialogue we have been having with NASA for the past two years," he says, modestly underplaying his own role in the negotiations.

People who know him say he is dogged, persistent and result-oriented. Unlike some of his flamboyant predecessors like U.R. Rao and K. Kasturirangan, Nair was not seen as a natural claimant to the Chairman's post. That was because he spent most of his career with ISRO working at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Kerala. He played a major role in the development of India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV-3, and headed the team that developed the Polar Satellite launch Vehicle. But the fact that he specialised in rockets was seen as a handicap. That is because the top position at ISRO has traditionally gone to satellite specialists. Nair is now focusing on applying space technology to grassroots-level development. And he has eight successful missions under his belt since he took over in September 3003, among them INSAT-3E, RESOURCESAT-1, CARTOSAT-1 and EDUSAT. He will be hoping that Chandrayaan I will be an equally resounding success.

-Venkatesha Babu

NUMBERS OF NOTE

Rs 1.4 lakh crore: Total value of applications received for the Reliance Petroleum IPO. This is the highest for any greenfield project anywhere in the world and five times the annual FDI received by India

902: The number of people (out of the 5 lakh candidates registered) who got jobs in the last five years through the government employment exchanges in Delhi. The placements were made at a cost of Rs 20 crore, i.e., each placement cost the government Rs 2.3 lakh

1,055: The number of aircraft sold by European giant Airbus last year (2005)

$258 billion: India's total annual retail sales. Around 12 million shopkeepers account for 97 per cent of the country's retail sales.

£56.5 million (Rs 440.7 crore): A four-year (plus) shirt deal signed by football giants Manchester United with insurer American International Group (AIG). This is UK's biggest shirt sponsorship deal

170 per cent: The surge in Brazil's bilateral trade with India over the past two years

80,466: The number of Indian students currently enrolled in US universities

$1,34,121 (Rs 60,35,445): The amount a stay-at-home mother in the US would earn annually if paid for all her work. This is similar to what a top ad executive, a marketing director or a judge earns, according to a study by compensation experts Salary.com

7 million: The estimated number of Indians, including corporate travellers, who went overseas in 2005

5 per cent: The benchmark interest rate set by the US Federal Reserve, a rise of 25 basis points. This is the 16th straight quarter it has raised interest rates, which are now at their highest level since 2001

40 million: Number of copies of The Da Vinci Code sold since its release in March 2003. The novel, which earned author Dan Brown £250 million (Rs 1,950 crore), has been made into a feature film at a cost of $57 million (Rs 256.5 crore)

NOTED

NAMED: Aaj Tak, as the most trusted news source in India, in a survey of 25 media brands conducted for BBC-Reuters by C-Voter/Globescan. The poll was conducted in Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, the US and India.

GRANTED: MTNL, an STD licence. This means it will be able to carry its own calls on its own network without having to depend on BSNL as is the case now. More importantly, it will carry the STD traffic between Delhi and Mumbai, the country's biggest telecom markets, where it already operates as a local call service provider.

FINED: Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) for drawing excess electricity and putting the entire regional grid into jeopardy. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has asked UPPCL to cough up Rs 1 lakh for its indisciplined move even when the frequency was below the threshold level of 49 hertz.

WON: By Indian diamond traders in Antwerp, Belgium, five out of six elected seats on the 11-member board of Diamond High Council (HRD), ending decades of under-representation. Thus, Indian expatriates have gained significant control over the world's largest trade in uncut diamonds.

FUNDED: A Chair in real estate and urban studies, at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. The grant of $550,000, spread over a period of five years, will come from the Hyderabad-based Indu Group.

ENTERED: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), into an agreement with US space agency NASA to send two scientific instruments on board of Chandrayaan-I, India's first unmanned moon mission scheduled for 2008.

RANKED: India at # 29 in global competitiveness, an impressive rise in 10 notches from the previous year, by International Institute of Management Development (IMD). The report compared 61 national and regional economies. US was ranked as the most competitive nation, while China rose 12 spots to 19 from 31.

FILMI BOOST TO TOURISM

What's common to rang de Basanti, Malamaal Weekly and Taxi No. 9211, apart from these being the three top Bollywood grossers of 2006? Answer: these films were shot exclusively in India. The unintended consequence: it has boosted the fortunes of the domestic tourism industry. How?

"Tourists are willing to spend lots of money visiting places where a hit movie has been filmed," says Rajesh Mudgill, Member, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), the apex body of such travel operators. Adds Sunil Sikka, Marketing Head, WelcomHeritage, which manages Shimla's Woodville Palace, where Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black was shot: "Occupancy levels at the hotel have improved by 15 per cent since the movie was released. And there are also many tourists who want to tour the place, even if they can't stay there."

According to ADTOI, inter-state tourism in the country is growing 18-20 per cent per annum. The absolute number: 330 million. Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Leh-Ladakh are the most popular destinations. "Films have driven tourism the world over. We've boosted tourism in other countries; it's high time our own country benefited from this trend," says filmmaker Rakesh Roshan.

-Pallavi Srivastava