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Table of Contents

The human factor

ISRO – two launches a month for the next 16 months.
PM set a deadline to put an Indian astronaut into orbit by 2022
Ambitious target – But most groundwork is already done
The GSLV Mk-III or LVM-3 launch vehicle is capable of propelling a crewed module into orbit. (3 to 6 tonne payload)

The only hardware which remains untested is the crew capsule, suitable for keeping astronauts in good health for over a week.

Neglected: The human factor – The proposed astronaut training centre has not been set up yet. It would take years to accustom pilots to life in zero gravity, which has impacts on a myriad behaviours.

Conclusion

Human space flight no longer signals national prestige .
But ISRO can meet many challenges beyond the low-cost launch of payloads, a sector in which it has already excelled.
Certain missions are better performed by humans than by robots.
The technical knowledge generated in the process would be of use much later, in ways that may not be obvious today.

Relaxed Realism

ABV is among the few leaders to have successfully changed the worldview of a large nation
Vajpayee visited in 1979 to China, the first foreign minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to travel there,
During his tenure, critics on the left and right attacked him for both the political sins.
“Relaxed realism” on external issues
Vajpayee’s genius was in judging that India could defy the world opinion, bear the near-term costs, and elevate India’s nuclear standing in the world through creative diplomacy.
He declared that that India and America were “natural allies” – barely six months after the nuclear tests

Went to Lahore in 1999 and resumed the peace process with Pakistan after the Kargil war – he was dismissed on the right as being too naive.

The Asiad test

India Squad – 572 athletes in 36 sports 200 of the 572 athletes are aged below 23 30 per cent of them are in their late teens.

ISSUES – Dozen court cases pertaining to the selection of athletes, tainted officials named to accompany the squad and a long unexplained delay in naming the 804-member jumbo squad India’s top athletes have often mysteriously flopped at the Asian Games

Who will be India’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony?

The Cast Of Kargil

With specific appointments, Gen. Musharraf installed his men in the top command and staff positions directly dealing with the territory along the northern border

“the Americans would exercise benign neglect, if not active support, to a Pakistani military operation in Kashmir’’

Gen. Javed Hasan – “if Pakistan did not militarily and otherwise expand, they (India) will atrophy you”.
Kashmir Insurgency was failing – hence need for Army to ‘cross the border’.
Musharraf’s own orientation was that military force would play the key role in resolving the Kashmir issue.
As DGMO, Musharraf had war-gamed a Kargil-like situation .
Musharraf himself recalled only that he had told the prime minister, “the time window for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute is short”.