Independence day – India

Its been 60 years that India gained independence from the British rule. Look at some indicators for India, compared against US, EU, Japan, Germany and China. Some of the prominent ranks/numbers (from CIA fact book page) include:

• Largest democracy in the world
• GDP (official exchange rate) rank : 13th @ $804 billion; preceded by South Korea
• GDP (purchasing power parity) rank : 5th @ $4.156 trillion; preceded by Japan
• Resource Consumption ranks are as follows; Electricity : 6th, Oil : 7th , Natural Gas: 22nd
• Second largest roadways.
• 18th largest importer and 30th largest exporter. Lots of room for improvement here.
• Seventh largest in total land area
• India has the largest arable/irrigated land. The only big nation to have as much as 48% of its land arable.
• Second most populous nation @1.13 billion with median age of 24.8 y, while chinese median age is at 33.2
• Second largest HIV/AIDS incidence at around 5 million, next to South Africa.
• India has world’s largest number of people living below poverty line ~ 280 million ~ 25%
• One third of the population in India is still illiterate.
• Holy cow !! India has the largest cattle population.

CIA World-Factbook Indicators

Here’s a short compilation of key indicators for important nations wrt India

http://santhosh.wordpress.com/quick-nation-indicators/

NASA team reviews Indian moon mission

A team of scientists from the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration came to the country (India) to review the preliminary design of India’s maiden moon mission – Chandrayan 1, which will also carry an American payload, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Saturday. (more)

Unbelievable!! The Indian Chandrayan project has a budget of just $89 million. Whats stopping NASA from exploring MOON as such. It has a bloating budget of $1.62 billions and no current Moon Missions. May be, they have concluded that its not worthwhile. We can certainly have a base station on Moon for further exploration and support.

Is it too much to dream about affordable space tourism in our generation? Atleast a casual visit to Moon. Though late, US Congress has recently passed a space tourism bill. In the best interests of humanity, shouldn’t we search for other earth-like planets and expand our presence. May be, we can allot a planet or two for the wildlife alone. The imagination runs wild from here on.

Sethu Samudram project finally takes off

All along, I didnt know Indian ships had to navigate all around Sri Lanka for the coast to coast movements. I assumed such a canal or a natural sea passage already existed between India and SriLanka. Its a shame that we did not take this canal project seriously so far when the cost estimates were spiralling upwards. It is expected to save nearly 30 hours shipping time by cutting over 400 km off the voyage. Adam’s Bridge: is still the barrier. It is a 30 km long 2 million year old narrow and shallow ridge made up of sand and rocks connecting Dhanushkodi and Mannar (Sri Lanka). So, in the days of Ramayana, we did have a delicate land route to Sri Lanka. (Its myth is still unresolved, I presume) Sethusamudram work to start on July 2 Rediff, India – 4 hours ago Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the work on the Sethusamudram Canal Project on July two, Union Minister for Shipping and Surface Transport, TR … PM to inaugurate work on Sethusamudram Project on July two Press Trust of India PM to kick off ship canal project July 2:- Webindia123 Sethu project logo released News Today Chennai Online – all 5 related »

From Wikipedia, on Rama’s Bridge

Good News India

Good News India The Mission: The main purpose of goodnewsindia.com is to persuade that there is more to India than the stream of depressing stories projects her to be, and

• To establish a niche for the dissemination of stories that inspire hope in the future of India, a confidence in her abilities and an appreciation of her as a sensitive civilisation.
• To show-case the heroic efforts of thousands of little known men, women and institutions, while skirting celebrities, politicians, political parties, prima-donnas and publicity-hunters.