Brig K.G.Behl (Retd)
Former Dy. Surveyor General, Survey of India, Dehradun
The aim of the National Technology Day is that all scientific establishments in every field should review the technical advances made in their fields and ensure that latest technology is made available for the development of the country at grass root level.
Though India is known for its ancient technology and State of Art which thrived during Ramayan, Mahabharat & Vedic ages and produced weapons which worked by uttering mantras with precision and worked like dart. The Indian astronomers like Arya Bhatt and others carried on the tradition during different periods but those need to be revived. The British came to India in exploration of commerce and trade with East India Co. getting permission from Moguls but established themselves as Masters as princely intrigues between different Indian State’s made them concur the whole of the country. To know as to how much area was under their control and collect revenues they establish in 1767, Survey of India in Bengal which was later spread all over the country. Everest studied geodesy in detail and devised techniques, his Everest geoids still works in India and adjacent countries bringing India on global technical programs in various fields. The history of the Indian nuclear programs dates back to 1944 when physicist Homi Bhabha submitted a report on nuclear energy and a year later established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). In 1950 studies were made in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and plans were developed to produce plutonium and other bomb components.
After independence its first prime minister Pandit. Jawaharlal Nehru established steel plants, dams and scientific research institutes all over the country and called them temples of development. Since then technical education has played a vital role in the human resource development of the country by creating skilled manpower, enhancing industrial productivity and improving the quality of life. Technical education covers courses and programs in engineering, technology, management, architecture, town planning, pharmacy and applied arts and crafts including hotel management and catering etc. Thus technology is not limited to any field but lately corporate sectors too have taken research in their fields seriously to bring their products to the global standards.
National Technology Day reminds the day when Sh. Atal Behari Vajpayee the then Prime Minister of India, declared this as a full fledged nuclear state with the operation popularly known as Pokhran–II, stressing that detonations have been carried out to test the power of fusion and fission bombs which can be utilized for peaceful purposes for the development of the country. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam the Chief Advisor and the Director of Defence Research & Development organization and Dr. R. Chidambaram, the Director of the Department of Atomic Energy Chief Co-ordinator of the test planning along with other teams of scientist. The purpose was to use nuclear power in their works for space exploration and other development works specially to generate electricity for the villages. Since these tests were carried out secretly it caused lot of uproar in western countries, who imposed many financial and commercial restrictions on the trade.
It gave fillip to many projects which were already going on in the country in different fields and helped in attaining global standards in those. It specially helped in the progress of space technology where satellites were placed in the orbit for different subjects namely Information Technology, meteorological predictions, space explorations of Moon and Mars etc.
Pokhran-1, also called Smiling Buddha, was exploded in May 1974 When Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India. After the formation of nuclear suppliers group (NSG) India’s nuclear programme suffered as world’s major nuclear powers imposed nuclear embargo on both India and Pakistan. Pakistan was racing to meet India’s challenge as such with the embargo imposed nuclear programme struggled for years to gain credibility and its progress crippled for the lack of indigenous resources as it was dependent on imported technology and technical assistance. It further suffered after the 1975 state emergency and the ouster of Indira Gandhi in 1977. On her return to power in 1980 General Elections, Indira Gandhi in 1981 restarted it, when Dr. Ramanna was brought back as Director of Nuclear Program and accelerated it from 1983 – 1985. It was in 1980’s that the work on hydrogen bombs and missile programme was initiated by Dr. Abdul Kalam, an aero space engineer who developed the launch vehicle for ISRO and was later made the Director of Missile Program.
The technical education system in the country can be broadly specified into three categories central govt. funded institutions, state govt. / state funded institutions and self financed institutions. There are about 81 centrally funded technical and scientific institutes which includes 15 IIT’s , 13 IIM’s, 5 Institutes of Science education and research, 30 National Institutes of Technology, 4 Indian Institutes of Information Technology, 4 National & Research Institutes, 1 Indian Institute of Science & others.
In 1950 free and compulsory education was enshrined as one of the directive principals of the State Policy in the constitution of the Indian Republic. First Institute of technology (IIT) was established at Kharagpur and in 1956. In June, 1972 the Govt. of India set up space commission and Department of Space (DOS) Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) under DOS to execute space programmes, through its establishments located in different places in India.
India took big strides in carrying out its Space Programme. ISRO built India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, which was launched by the Soviet Union 19 April in 1975. In 1980, Rohini became the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle, SLV-3 ISRO subsequently developed two other rockets: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for launching satellites into polar orbits and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for placing satellites into geostationary orbits. These rockets have launched numerous communications satellites and earth navigation centre. Satellite navigation systems like GAGAN and IRNSS have been deployed. In January 2014, ISRO successfully used an indigenous cryogenic engine in a GSLV-D5 launch of the GSAT-14.
On 22 October 2008, ISRO sent its first mission to the Moon, Chandrayan-1. On 5 November 2013, ISRO launched its Mars Orbiter Mission, which successfully entered the Mars orbit on 24 September 2014, making India the first nation to succeed on its maiden attempt, and ISRO the first Asian space agency to reach Mars orbit. Future plans include development of GSLV MK – III for launch of heavier satellites), development of a reusable launch vehicle, human, spaceflight, further lunar exploration, interplanetary probes, a satellite to study the Sun, etc.
ISRO has conducted a variety of operations for both Indian and foreign clients. It has several field installations as assets, and co-operates with the international community as a part of several bilateral and multilateral agreements. Several foreign satellites have been launched by ISRO’s launch vehicles, and several ISRO satellites have been launched by foreign launch vehicles.
India recently successfully launched from Sriharikota Space Centre 20 Satellites in a single mission which included satellites belonging to the United States, Canada, Germany and Indonesia. On May 3rd 2017 India launched G SAT-9 South Asian Satellite which Indian Prime Minister gifted to South Asian Countries for their use.
Our present Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is trying to bring to India technology from technically advanced countries of the World so that we may be able to manufacture those items in India, which we had been importing from those countries. His call “Make in India” wants to get manufactured things in India which were being imported earlier. It is where the foreign concerns are being attracted to come to India. He is trying to get nuclear fuel and technology so that India may produce more power needed for the development of the country.
On this day let us strengthened the hands of our technocrats and appreciate their efforts so that our country may develop fast and reach the top comity of nations.
