Title: "Touching Lives -
The little known triumphs of the Indian space programme";
Author: S.K.
Das; Price: Rs.250; Publisher: Penguin
Many people know about the satellite launches of the India Space
Research Organisation (ISRO). But few know how the activities of ISRO
affect ordinary Indians every day. In his book, "Touching Lives", author
S.K. Das throws light on this aspect in a simple but effective manner.
Television programmes such as "Krishi Darshan" have been much criticised
by reviewers. But Das takes you to the remote Jhabua district of Madhya
Pradesh to show the effect of such development communication on
villagers who are watching television for the first time, thanks to an
ISRO satellite and TV sets provided by the organisation.
Villager after villager
tells the author - who was then in the finance department of ISRO - how
they decided to send their children to school or improve the working of
the local panchayat or plant trees in the village commons after watching
the TV programmes.
If proof of the popularity of such programmes is needed, it is provided
in the way local bureaucrats tend to take the TV sets home for personal
viewing whenever they can get away with it, as Das found.
As the bureaucrat-turned-temporary reporter moves from Madhya Pradesh to
Orissa, he finds local engineers using groundwater maps provided by ISRO
satellites to dig wells in drought-prone Koraput district.
On to Chamarajanagar, on the edge of then-Veerappan country at the Tamil
Nadu-Karnataka border. It is a typical backwater with a government
school filled with broken furniture - except for a box that guards the
TV set in the classroom through which students can take part in distance
education programmes beamed through ISRO's satellite.
The author meets the village school topper who says he does not have to
go to Bangalore and Mysore and put an extra financial burden on his poor
father anymore, because the lessons he now gets through TV are just as
good, if not better.
Das goes through a plethora of these experiences that seem simple and
everyday to the people he meets. But points out that they do not take
for granted the advantages brought by ISRO. They know the value of the
difference it has made to their lives.
In Lakshadweep, the fishermen now wait for ISRO to tell them where the
schools of tuna are, thus saving up to a third of their fuel and time.
In Tripura, patients gather around a district hospital to get
specialized healthcare from doctors in Bangalore and Kolkata, thanks to
the connectivity provided by ISRO.
In Karnataka, a woman sarpanch knows exactly what her rights and duties
are, thanks to another educational programme beamed by an ISRO satellite
and shown on an ISRO-sponsored TV set.
In Garhwal, ISRO tells local engineers where the next landslide is
likely to occur. It also tells whoever cares to listen exactly how
deforestation has made the Himalayan ecosystem more fragile.
In the Sundarbans, ISRO satellites map and monitor the wetlands while
its scientists use this data to make a conservation plan.
In Kerala's scenic Western Ghats, weather data provided by ISRO
satellites allow tour operators to plan the day for their clients.
In Tamil Nadu's Cauvery delta, a network set up by ISRO advises farmers
on what crops to plant in the coming season and where to market their
produce.
The book is replete with such examples that add to up to a very large
revolution indeed in the lives of millions of Indians. Das has done
valuable service to both policymakers and readers by chronicling this
change with such painstaking detail.
August 17,
2007
Top |
Book Reviews
