Dr Jitendra dubs India an emerging space economy

Addressing virtually the inaugural session of G20 Space Economy Leaders Meeting on Monday, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh described India as an emerging Space economy.

G20 Space Economy Leaders Meeting is being organized under India’sG20 presidency by the Department of Space, Government of India.

The Minister said that India is one of the very few countries that have built end-to-end capability in space. Over the years, space technology has penetrated to all walks of life. As a result, there is a huge demand for space-based services which have huge commercial potential, he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government has decided to open up the space sector for the Indian private industry through the 2020 Space Sector reforms to enhance their participation in end-to-end space activities with hand holding of ISRO. The Minister further said that the reforms aim to make private industries a co-traveller in India’s Space journey by allowing them to undertake independent end to end space activities.

The increased private industry participation will eventually resultin increased contribution of India in the global space economy.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that a nodal entity called Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center IN-SPACe has been created towards promoting and authorizing private industries participation. The creation of IN-SPACe has received overwhelming response from the Indian space industry. The first privately built sounding rocket was launched last November and a space start-up has established a Launchpad inside ISRO’s launch complex. A few start-ups have built and launched satellites, he added. The Minister said that in order to give further boost to private investments, the Union Cabinet had approved India’s space policy which envisages and encourages private participation in all areas of space activities. Dr Jitendra Singh appreciated the Department of Space for organising the Space Economy Leaders Meeting at Bengaluru and a Precursor event at Shillong. He added that the major objective of these events should be to make Space as a formal element of G20discussions, in future. The Minister concluded by wishing all the best to the diplomats, heads of national space agencies and the space industries from G20and guest countries for participating in the deliberations.

One-day camp on Annual Survey of Industries

Staff Reporter

Shillong, April 6: A one-day camp on Annual Survey of Industries (ASI)-2021-22 was held at Maithan Alloys Ltd. today for sensitisation and to enable self-compilation of ASI return through the ASI web portal by the industrial units covered under ASI 201-22.

The camp was jointly organized by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Field Operations Division (FOD), Regional Office, Shillong, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation(MoSPI), Govt of India and Byrnihat Industries Association.

About 30 industrial units around the Brynihat Industries area participated in the camp. NSSO, FOD is responsible for conducting large-scale surveys in diverse fields across the regions. The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) is one of the principal sources of Industrial Statistics in India. It provides statistical information to assess and evaluate, objectively and realistically the changes in growth composition and structure of the organised manufacturing sector comprising activities related to manufacturing processes, repair services, gas and water supply and cold storage etc.

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This survey also provides one of the important inputs for calculating the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. The survey is being conducted annually under the statutory provisions of Collection of Statistics (COS) Act, 2008 (as amended in 2017) and the rules framed there under in 2011.

While addressing the camp, N. Mohondas Singh, Joint Director & Regional Head, NSSO (FOD), RO Shillong stressed the importance of ASI data in the calculation of GDP of the country and appealed all the units for self-compilation and timely submission of the returns. He informed that the defaulting units could be prosecuted as per rules framed under Statistics Act 2008. He further stated that the camp was organised to enable self-compilation and ensure timely submission of returns of the units.

Representing the association, P. K. Mishra, Director, Maithan Alloys Limited thanked the NSSO (FOD) for organising such an important camp and appealed to all the units for timely submission of returns to avoid any legal action against the defaulting units and cooperation may be given to officials visiting the units.

The meeting was also attended by senior officers of NSSO (FOD), RO Shillong.

Shillong gets Digital design labs for livelihood at Don Bosco Technical School

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 12: Secretary, NEC, K Moses Chalai inaugurated the project namely Digital Design Labs for Livelihood Generation recently here at Don Bosco Technical School, Shillong.

Present in the event were Sherry Lalthangzo, Economic Adviser (E&M), NEC, S Sundar, MD, AMTRON, Guwahati, Fr. Sagi Stephan of Don Bosco Technical School, Shillong, Tanung Jamoh, Director (S&T), NEC, ALIMCO officers and other Senior Officers of NEC.

This project is being funded by NEC at a cost of about Rs. 5 crore combined with ACC Institute, Senapati, Manipur. The Centres developed will be providing training of use case deployment for technologies namely Graphic Designing and Animation with high end Softwares.

Later on, it will move towards 3D printing, 5G applications, digital designing of training/ instructional videos/3D Animations in different languages including local North Eastern Languages.

The day marks one of the modest initiatives in NER towards Digital and 4.0 Industry journey which will open up to huge scope and opportunities ahead in Digital space in the days to come. NEC along with the Ministry of IB is starting a training programme in March 2023 namely Animation 3D courses for 100 youths of NER in Delhi.

Very soon, NEC along with the Ministry of DoNER and AMTRON will take up 3D Printing project in the 8 NER States, which would be a revolutionary move. Also, along with AMTRON, NEC will also take up 5G Applications training in the 8 NER States, which will be up and running in the next 2 or 3 months again to open up multiple opportunities as 5G is already underway. NER is already quite challenged in terms of economic transformation and job opportunities particularly for the youth.

This initiative is in line with the vision of the Prime Minister which he spoke about when he addressed the NEC Plenary in Shillong in 2016 and emphasized the need for economic transformation in the NER region from time to time.