It is easy to the Government of India to offer free and trouble-free on-line connectivity to all school and college students in the country with the transponders remaining unused as on date, according to G Madhavan Nair, former chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation.
Madhavan Nair is credited with the launching of EDUSAT (Educational Satellite) during his tenure as the ISRO boss. “These satellites as well as the GSAT-6 communication satellite which is operational now are capable of providing more than 50 different channels for educational programmes virtually free of cost to all corners of India, Nair told The Pioneer.
“Nearly 90 per cent capacity of GSAT 6 which is operational is lying vacant. The decision makers and policy makers refuse to look at it as Sage Viswamitra did to Sakunthala because GSAT 6 is linked to the notorious and fictitious Deva Scam which rocked the country for some time,” said the former ISRO chairman, a launch vehicle specialist.
He said the Centre should seriously consider launching two more satellites of the GSAT-6 genre. “This would help us in increasing the connectivity as well as coverage, two issues that haunt the on-line classes. This could be done at a budget less than Rs 1500 crore,” he said. The advantage with satellites of this genre is that the end user need not depend on towers and optic fibre cables because the smart phones would be able to pick up data signals straight from the satellites.
A major shortcoming of on-lines classes faced by students in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is poor connectivity due to shortage of towers.