ISRO's ASTROSAT : Another Milestone

Barely a year has passed since its first interplanetary mission, MANGALYAAN, entered the orbit of MARS, and ISRO has crossed yet another important milestone. The ASTROSAT,  is India's first attempt at setting up an observatory in space, a place from where it can study cosmological phenomena. ISRO also Launches SIX different satellite of foreign countries.

ASTROSAT, carrying five payloads, including an Ultraviolet Image Telescope, is being described as India's version of Hubble Telescope. All the payloads and instrument on ASTROSAT are meant for observation of celestial processes, and the mission is aimed at obtaining data that will help in a better understanding of the universe.

 In some ways, ASTROSAT is very different mission for ISRO and will add a new dimension to its capabilities. Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan, the moon and Mars missions respectively, were essentially technology demonstration projects. But with ASTROSAT, ISRO has attempted to fulfill the core mandate of space agency- study of astronomical phenomena.

 ASTROSAT has life of 5 years and has a lift-off mass of 1513kg. It has been lunched into a 650km orbit orbit inclined at an angle of 6deg to the equator by the launching vehicle PSLV-C30. After the injection into orbit, the two solar panels of ASTROSAT are automatically deployed in quick succession. The spacecraft control centre at Mission Operation Complex(MOX) of the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network(ISTRAC) at Bangalore will manage the satellite during its mission life.

The Scientific objectives of ASTROSAT mission are :

•  To understand high energy processes in binary star system containing neutron stars and black holes.
• Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars.
• Study star birth regions and high energy process in star system lying beyond our galaxy.
• Detect new briefly bright X-Ray sources in the Sky.
• Perform a limited deep field survey of the Universe in the ultraviolet region.

 Payloads of ASTROSAT :
Five payloads of ASTROSAT are chosen  to facilitate a deeper insight into the various astrophysical objects constituting our universe. These payloads rely on the visible, Ultaviolet and X-rays coming from distant celestial sources.

• The Ultraviolet Image Telescope(UVIT), capable of observing the sky in the visible,Near Ultraviolet and Far Ultraviolet regions of electromagnetic spectrum.
• Large Area X-Ray Proportional Counter(LAXPC) is designed for study the variations in the emission of X-ray from source like X-ray binaries, Active Galactic Nuclei and other cosmic sources.
• Soft X-ray telescope(SXT) is designed for studying how the X-ray spectrum of 0.3-8keV range coming from distant celestial bodies varies with time.
• Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) functioning in the X-ray region, extends the capability of the satellite to sense X-ray of high energy in the 10-100keV range.
• Scanning Sky Monitor(SSM) is intended to scan the sky for long term monitoring of bright X-ray sources in binary stars, and for the detection and location of sources that become bright in X-rays for a short duration.

Caste Reservation Politics and its Concequenes.

During last one month, Protest for reservation in Gujrat increased, which has became one the most trending issues.  Initially Caste based reservation was introduced by Govt. in order to provide opportunities to people of the lowest level with socially and economically weak but unfortunately this policy lost its path in the middle of nowhere. Today benefits of reservation is utilized by the 
people with capabilities. And with the time Reservation % increases the chance for general category become more  and more narrow.

Caste based reservation policy in India has long history ranging from British Era to present time. During British period Reservation this reservation was followed only for representation in Parliament. But after Independence reservation quota was 22% for SC,ST,OBC. But it was recommended to increase to 49% by MANDAL COMMISSION in 1980. In 1982 quota for SC/ST was implemented by govt. in Public sector job and govt. aided institution. It was planned to review the situation after 5years.  Govt. uses quot system as their vote banks and started to increase the quota percentage more than 50%,. The Supreme Court of India later ruled that reservation should not to be exceed more than 50% in any condition and put a cap on reservations. 

However the reservation percentage differs from state to state:

• In Tamil Nadu reservation is 18% for SC and 1% ST(In center 7.5% for ST and 15% for SC ).
• In North-East region, 80% of total seats reserved for ST, while Only 20% unreserved.
• Rajasthan has increased reservation upto 68%.

Reservation policy have several consequences i.e Short term Consequences, Intermediate Consequences and Long term Consequences.

 As I mentioned earlier that today political parties cosidered reservation system as Vote Bank in near future they are not going to abolish this. Few days when there were news of reconsideration of caste based reservation then Govt. clarify that they are not going to reconsider caste based reservation policies. I don't have a problem against any kind of reservation for under-privileged section of our country. However where I do have a problem is the manner in which each and every government in the past or so has been trying too convert this socio-economic issue into an issue of vote bank politics. 

So what are my thoughts regarding  Reservations Policy?
As per Govt. norms reservation are for those people who belongs to backward category irrespective of their financial situation. According to Govt, each and every person belonging to GENERAL category are socially and economically good. I think this is not a valid assumption;; neither it is fair.

Some Fields where reservations policy needs to be reconsider :

• Govt is providing reservation in higher education. A country where millions of children are still don't have access of quality primary education. Due to lack of proper primary education children often denies access to higher eduction and employment opportunities.
• Reservations should include economic criteria irrespective of social status. This is the field which should be focus with immediate effect. Rich person (irrespective of caste) can access and afford education to their children. It is the poor who needs this such protection(irrespective of caste).

I know many peoples of Reserved caste whose economical condition is very good and still they are enjoying  benefits of reservations, while on the other hand persons from general category still fight hard to survive.

One another consequences of reservation is that it is creating a huge gap among society. 

Neerja Bhanot :India's Youngest Braveheart recipient of India's highest peacetime military award for bravery, the Ashok Chakra.

Today is the birth anniversary of Neerja Bhanot, youngest recipent of India's highest peacetime Military award for bravery, the Ashok Chakra. She was a flight attendant for PAN AM based in Mumbai India, who was murdered while saving passengers from terrorists on board the hijacked plane Pan Am Flight 73on September 5th 1986.

She was the senior flight purser on the ill- fated Pan Am Flight 73, which was hijacked by terrorist when it landed at Karachi,and was enroute for New York via Frankfurt. As she alerted the cockpit crew about the hijack ,the american cockpit cerw fled from the aircraft. Being the senior most cabin crew member on-board, she took charge.
The terrorists then instructed Bhanot to collect the passport of all the passengers in order to identify the Americans. Bhanot and other attendant hid the passport of 41 American Passengers on-board.

After 17 hours, the Hijackers opened fire and set off explosives. Bhanot opened the emergency door and helped the number of passengers to escape. She could have been the first one to escape but not. She decided to stay helped the fellow passengers. She was shot while shielding 3 children from bullets.

Afterwards She was recognized internationally  as "Heroine of the Hijack". She became the youngest recipient of the Ashok Chakra Award, India's highest award for bravery during Peacetime. In 2004 Indian Postal Service released a stamp commemorating her.

Stamp in the memory of Neerja Bhanot

The hijackers were captured by Pakistan, tried, convicted and sentenced to death in 1988. However death sentence were later commuted into life in prison.

In 2001 one of the hijackers who shot passengers, namely Xayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud was captured by FBI in Bangkok after being released by  Pakistan and currently serving 160 year prison term in America. Four other were freed from Pakistan in January 2008. FBI announced $5 million bounty on their heads. In 2010, Pakistan said that one are killed in drone attack in North Waziristan. However this was never confirmed by FBI and remained unsolved till Date..

Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami: Brave Son Of India

Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami, a Special Forces Commando of the Army who laid down his life while battling militants in Handwara on Thursday, had eliminated 10 militants in a short span of 11 days before making the supreme sacrifice in Kashmir.

31 year old L/Nk Mohan Nath Goswami of village Indira Nagar of Haldwani Tehsil,
joined the elite Special Forces in Dec 2002.
Soft spoken, but considered to be one of the toughest commando, he always volunteered for the operational missions and was part of numerous successful operations launched by his unit in J&K.



  

 "In the last 11 days, he was actively involved in three counter-terrorism operations in the Kashmir Valley in which 10 terrorists have been eliminated and one captured alive," Udhampur-based Defence Spokesman Colonel S D Goswami said.

     The spokesman said Lance Naik Goswami volunteered to join the elite Para Commando outfit of the Army in 2002 and went on to gain the reputation of being one of the toughest soldiers of his unit -- "no small feat in an outfit that boasts of being one among the best in the world".

    The Lance Naik volunteered for all operational missions undertaken by his unit and was a part of numerous successful counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

     "The first operation was conducted in Khurmur, Handwara, on August 23. The operation resulted in elimination of three hardcore LeT terrorists of Pakistan origin.

     "He volunteered for a second back to back operation in Rafiabad, Kashmir. The operation was conducted over two days on August 26 and 27. It witnessed a fierce gunfight that led to the elimination of three more LeT terrorists," the spokesman said.

     He said Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Sajjad Ahmad alias Abu Ubaidullah, resident of Muzzafargarh, Pakistan was captured alive in this operation. "The apprehension of a terrorist has proved to be a shot in the arm to prove Pakistan's complicity in abetting terrorism in J&K," he added.


    Lance Naik Goswami once again volunteered to be part of an operation launched in the dense Hafruda forest near Kupwara. "This proved to be his last operation but not before elimination of four terrorists in a heavy gun battle," the spokesman said.

  A true soldier, Lance Naik Goswami breathed his last in action.

    "The mortal remains of this brave heart commando have been flown by an IAF aircraft to his home town in Bareilly. They will be taken by Army helicopter to Pant Nagar and onward to his native place where he will be cremated with full military honour," he said.

    Lance Naik Goswami was a resident of Village Indira Nagar, Haldwani in Nainital. He is survived by wife and a seven-year-old daughter.

Source :-  Indian Army Fans and Z news.