Lok Sabha Question No. 63 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-18
Subject: Launch of Satellites
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: NALIN KUMAR KATEEL, DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH

- 63.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.63

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2018

## LAUNCH OF SATELLITES

- SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL: SHRI D.K. SURESH: Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:
- (a) the details of total number of satellites launched in the country till date;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  set  any  target  to  improve  the living  standards  of  the  people  by  launching  the  satellites particularly for agriculture, education, fishing, healthcare, etc.;
- (c)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether all the targeted objectives have been achieved successfully till now;
- (e) if so, the details thereof, if not, the reasons therefore; and
- (f) whether  the  Government  is  taking  any  effective  measures  to ensure still better performance of the satellite programs in the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE

(DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

- (a) As on date, 89 Indian satellites have been successfully launched  by  Indian  Space  Research  Organisation.  In  addition, ISRO has also launched 9 Student Satellites and 237 customer satellites from 28 foreign countries.

## (b) & (c)

The  satellite  enabled  data  and  services  are  being  used  to improve the living standards of people. These include Television broadcasting, Direct-to-Home, ATM, Mobile communication, tele-education,  tele-medicine  and  advisories  on  weather,  pest infestation, agro-meteorology and potential fishing zones. Satellite data is also used for crop production estimation, crop intensification, agricultural drought assessment, wasteland inventory, identifying ground  water  prospect  zones,  inland aquaculture  suitability  and  disaster  risk  reduction.  ISRO  has plans  to  launch  more  number  of  state-of-the-art  satellites  to further enhance operational applications and cater the needs of emerging applications.

## (d) & (e)

Many  of  the  applications  have  been  effectively  adopted  by stakeholder  departments  for  operational  use.  A  few  of  such applications include: Potential Fishing Zone Forecast & Ocean State Forecast (by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services,  MoES),  Crop  Acreage  and  Production  Forecasting  & National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System (by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre, MoA&FW), Biennial Forest Cover Assessment (by Forest Survey of  India,  MoEF&CC),  Irrigation  Infrastructure  Assessment  (by

Central Water Commission, MoWR, RD&GR), Weather forecasting (by India Meteorological Department, MoES), Ground Water Prospect and Suitable Recharge Locations' mapping (MoDW&S), Integrated Watershed Management Programme & MGNREGA (by MoRD).

- (f) In order to ensure better performance of the satellite programmes,  a  National  Meet  was  organised  in  September, 2015,  with  the  participation  of  all  the  Central  Government Ministries/Departments, for enhanced utilisation of space technology in Governance and Development. Further, to promote  utilisation  of  space  technology  in  State  Government departments, State level workshops have also been conducted in  17  States.  Other  measures  include  (i)  conduct  of  user interaction  meets  and  utilization  programmes;  (ii)  capacity building  for  space  applications;  (iii)  creation  of  an  outreach facility;  (iv)  development  of  geospatial  tools  and  information systems; (v) Proof of Concept demonstration; and (vi) Institutionalisation of space applications.

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