Monday, January 22, 2007

Tryst with Juntaa !


Pranab's visit to Myanmar last weekend cannot be termed a "routine" diplomatic journey. With the clout of India's Arms assistance to its military ruled Myanmar syntheszes new kind of equation. Till now help was confined to military training and info sharing of insurgents. India willing to go beyond the traditional arena need not come as a surprise though. For there have been speculations besides Banla border, insurgents are in Myanmar borders too ! Aferall that perception would be more grave as we share 1500km border with Myanmar !
Well India is not alone is recognising the Junta rule. Recently even china & Russia vetoed the US designed resolution hilighting "Junta" a place for insurgent growth. India's foreign policy initiative on this front is more strategic than economic. Though the economic dimension of gas supply cannot be ruled out.
Myanmar to survey its gas reserves by april & if excess agreed to supply at "right" price ! Though this might not be key ally , it cannot be ruled out to be small ! These days world order is more towards energy rich friends with relative weakness in their political school . Energy needs might well be the fuel for future conflicts. Especially for growing economies like India & China !
2006 was significant that all 3 service chiefs visited Myanmar. All of them had their deal to be offered to the Juntaa ! True that north east conflict tops "Look East policy" besides Oil exploration findings of Naypyida. ONGC,GAIL also have stake in the fields there. Border fencing also to commence soon with full support of the burmese. Ofocurse top most infrastructural development is the Sithway-Mizoram and Mainpur-Thailand (via Mynamar) highways.
But also pity that Democaratic India since 1993 (reversal of stance )has no word on Noble Laurate Aung San Su ki who has been virtually house arrested for decades now ! Are we skipping democracy for Diplomacy ? Though Foreign minister might term Junta as internal matter, with more military rules on almost all neighbours (except Bhutan) we will have to be more prudent in pushing for Democracy because that itself is half the answer to Insurgency !

Friday, January 12, 2007

PSLV-C7 blasts off to glory !


Madhavan Nair was a visibly happy chief. What more can the chief ask from his troops. In his own words "More perfect than text book launch !". India's 9th continuous successful PSLV launch is definitely a great stride by itself. On PSLV's vehicle configuration lies many ambitious plans including the manned space mission ! The GSLV's recent dismal was yet nagging as the countdown began.

PSLV-C7 by itself has many "first's". First time Space Recovery Experiment(SRE), Dual Launch Adopter, 4 satellites out of which 2 weigh a ton ! First ever video capture of stage separation !

India now proclaims its capability to put multiple satellites on space ! Budget constraint for smaller countries can seek India's capability. Because vehicle design is the crux & the most expensive. Argentina experimenting its first satellite !

Shriharikota will be buzzing all the year as there are series of launch schedules waiting execution. ISRO has the track record of silencing their critics through their success rather than rhetoric. I feel it is one of the channels where tax payer can atleast be proud of !

Time is come for ISRO to start thinking big ! Ofcourse they already have , but a vision document should be generated on public debate ! Antrix, the commercial wing of ISRO no doubt has been busy marketing our transponders. Scientific diplomacy integrated with focused vision will make our space programme more attractive not just to customers but to great minds !

Monday, January 01, 2007

Dawn of year in a day !

No exception to this physical laws of New Year ! As we welcome yet another year on this earth my thought's drown with mankind's thirst for knowlege and zeal for improvement. We all have the instinct to better ourselves .. Anything lets say eat one more tasty roti than yesterday not , hear one more song, one more movie, meet another friendly soul, one more hug, one more kiss, hold another resolution, lend a helping hand & more readers to my blog :-) ...... !

Hearty congrtulations to all of you for being name "Times - Man of year". When I first got the news I was overwhelmed ! Yes it read "Man of the Year - YOU" .. No doubt it is we all who make the earth dynamic day and night can be named for such an honour ! A low intensity worry for people not felicitating me though !

France might have missed the FIFA cup, England it's captain, Iraq it's Saddam, Darfur its peace, India its Tennis pair but it is again the urge to better the past which pushes the whole world forward ! Fidel castro in his famous self trial at Havana said
"Court might punish my deeds. But history will absolve me !!".
In fact it is the way of life all over the world.

I hope forthcoming year will enhance lives of millions in poverty, teach us to live more peacefully, more options, tonnes of joy, more hope, less violence besides give few good movies to watch !

Top 10 things to watch for in 2007 :

- Indo-US Nuclear Deal
- Sachin's worldcup ton
Besides Sidhu's WC comments , Mandira's Designer wears !
- Kamal-Rajini Movie
- Dr.Kalam's return Home & Retun of Gandhi as President !
- Sunitha William- Home alone in space
- 9% Y-O-Y GDP growth for India
- Fidel Castro's comeback to power
- Israel-Palestine peace accord
- SRK 's stint with KBC
- shiva-musings.blogpost.com :-) !!

Wish u all a happy year ahead !!