Instead of decrying the edge China has achieved over India, it is important to critically evaluate the actual benefits that accrue from manned space flights and the Space Station.
Employment of Space technologies for advancing the nation's social, scientific and economic interests is gaining increasing importance in the 21st century. At the same time Space security, which includes the security of Space assets and the ability to use Space for civilian and security purposes, is also attracting increasing attention. This book is an attempt to analyse the ongoing trends in the Space domain and emphasis the need for India to establish a comprehensive Space strategy.
Space assets are vulnerable to a variety of threats that include jamming of communications, command and control systems/links, physical attacks on satellites and ground stations, dazzling or blinding of satellite sensors; high-altitude nuclear detonations (HAND).
Presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted that ‘Tear gas with nerve agent has been used against the Tahrir Square demonstrators’. This raises the suspicion of use of chemical weapons in the ongoing struggle for democracy in West Asia. This commentary analyses the relevance of chemical weapons in the Arab Spring.
Throughout the history of warfare attempts have been made to use chemical agents as weapons of war. Most attempts were unsuccessful until the growth of the chemical industry during the latter-half of the 19th century. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the first military chemical agents were already in the arsenals of the major powers.
Chemical science has a direct relationship with human life. In order to celebrate the value of chemistry, the United Nations (UN) has declared 2011 as the ‘International Year of Chemistry’. Various bodies of the UN including UNESCO and other organisations like the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have been entrusted with popularising the science of chemistry.
India and France must now develop a joint marketing strategy for satellite launches and also concentrate on the joint design and development of satellites for smaller developing countries.
To say that DRDO scientists have no right to think or pass judgements over strategic doctrines may be correct in terms of policy requirements but is certainly not rich academically.
China’s 2011 White Paper on Space: An Indian Perspective
Instead of decrying the edge China has achieved over India, it is important to critically evaluate the actual benefits that accrue from manned space flights and the Space Station.