Multi-year supply-chain investigations have revealed extensive global ties to the forced labor of Uyghurs, in products both from the sea and from the land. Research published in 2023 shows that the global seafood industry, and the global supply of gold, are both linked to the Chinese government’s state-imposed forced labor. The reports that uncover these chains of hidden complicity are like a gift to a suffering people. The research makes it clear that a wide range of businesses must take urgent action to stop complicity. On October 9, 2023, The Outlaw Ocean Project, in collaboration with The New Yorker, released “The Uyghurs Forced to Process the World’s Fish,” an investigation that sheds light on the use of forced Uyghur labor in the seafood industry in China, with implications for the US and other countries. Two days later, on October 11, C4ADS published a report titled “Fractured Veins,” highlighting mining in East Turkistan, aka the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and its entanglement with international finance, global supply chains, investment and commodity markets.  Together, both reports highlight a new range of products that are affected by forced labor that new regulatory bodies must act on, to eliminate in global supply chains. The mining and seafood investigations are only the latest, following more than 20 other supply-chain investigations published since 2019. A full list has been compiled by the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region.  Uyghur Forced Labor in the Seafood Industry “The Uyghurs Forced to Process the World’s Fish” is the result of four years of painstaking research. Ocean Outlaw director Ian Urbina and a large team of researchers showed incredible persistence, and cross-checked information using multiple research methods, to be able to uncover the hidden story of Uyghur forced labor in seafood processing plants.  Two Uyghur researchers, Zubayra Shamseden and Yalkun Uluyol, assisted with Uyghur-language analysis and interpretation, as part of the multi-national, multi-lingual team that contributed to the results.   The paper emphasizes the importance of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), a pivotal piece of legislation passed by the US Congress in 2021. This law determines that goods sourced in the Uyghur Region are products of state-imposed forced labor and are therefore banned from entering the US market. The UFLPA also places the onus on suppliers and importers to prove they are not connected to forced Uyghur labor, shifting the burden of proof from accusers to those in the supply chain. While the law has led to the detention of over a billion dollars’ worth of goods from the Uyghur Region, the seafood industry, which is a significant contributor to US imports, has so far largely evaded sanction.  The lack of free access to East Turkistan for foreign journalists, along with extensive censorship on the Chinese internet, makes it difficult to gather information on Uyghur labor conditions. To counteract this, the Outlaw Ocean research team analyzed internal company newsletters, local news reports, trade data, satellite imagery, and videos posted on social media platforms by the workers themselves to gather information and track the experiences of Uyghur laborers. This is a noteworthy investigative approach effective in overcoming the challenges to traditional on-the-ground reporting.  The information obtained through these methods reveals that a significant number of Uyghur workers have been sent to work in seafood-processing factories in Shandong Province in eastern China, over a thousand miles from East Turkistan. Further, cases of individuals being sent to work by coercive means, including detention and family pressure, are common. Several seafood companies in China have employed more than a thousand Uyghur laborers since 2018, according to the Outlaw Ocean research. These companies have actively contributed to the shipment of over 47,000 tons of seafood to the US. It’s alarming that despite these companies’ practice of using forced Uyghur labor, many have passed audits conducted by leading global inspection firms.  Companies implicated in using forced Uyghur labor often rely on claims of compliance with labor standards and regulations. This involves creating an appearance of conformity through self-assessment questionnaires and by sometimes misleading auditors during inspections. Auditors often rely on pre-announced inspections for which employers can prepare, leading to the concealment of Uyghur workers. This approach is a severe deficiency in the current audit systems for detecting and addressing forced labor practices.  The report also raises concerns about the effectiveness of certification bodies, such as the Marine Stewardship Council, in ensuring the ethical sourcing of seafood. Even certified companies were found to be involved in forced labor practices, showing an urgent need for reform in certification procedures.  The sheer complexity of seafood supply chains is a significant factor in the concealment of labor abuses. Numerous handoffs and subcontracting make it challenging to trace the origins of seafood, thus allowing companies to exploit these complexities to their advantage.  To stop these practices, there is a need for regulatory changes, in particular, expanding and strengthening the federal Seafood Import Monitoring Program. Companies in China and their US buyers should provide detailed labor information, adding a layer of accountability to the supply chain.  The report references investigations into working conditions in various other industries, emphasizing that the problem of forced labor is not unique to seafood. This suggests that more sectors, including seafood, need to be scrutinized to ensure human rights and labor standards are upheld. The global scope of the issue underlines the need for a unified international response. The role of consumers and advocacy groups in pressuring companies to take responsibility for their supply chains cannot be understated. Public awareness and outcry can force companies to conduct more rigorous due diligence.  Uyghur Forced Labor in the Mining Industry The Center for Advanced Defense Studies’ (C4ADS) report “Fractured Veins” discusses the exposure of the global mining industry to global supply chains and investments, revealing the involvement of large state-owned corporations and their subsidiaries. The report is one in a series of C4ADS reports on global business links to the Uyghur genocide. C4ADS researchers also deserve great respect and appreciation from Uyghurs. One C4ADS analyst, Nicole Morgret, was previously a researcher and author of numerous UHRP reports. On December 26, 2023, the Chinese government placed sanctions on Ms. Morgret and two other Americans. The Foreign Ministry announced that the sanctions were a response to actions that “damaged” China’s “legitimate rights and interests of officials and businesses.”  C4ADS immediately issued a statement, standing by its reporting and re-emphasizing its commitment to “combating the illicit networks that perpetrate and facilitate human rights violations around the world, including in the Uyghur region.” UHRP also issued a press statement the same day. UHRP’s executive director, Omer Kanat, said in response to the retaliatory action by the Chinese government: “Attempts to censor and intimidate credible researchers … only demonstrates the desperation of the Chinese government to shut down critical voices.”  Using publicly available mining licenses and corporate data to create a comprehensive map of the mining industry in East Turkistan, C4ADS analysts were able to connect these mines to their ultimate owners. This mapping is a crucial starting point for understanding the complex web of corporate ownership and supply chain connections. It reveals a significant aspect of the mining industry in East Turkistan: That while mining licenses are often held by companies registered within the region, these companies are frequently subsidiaries of large state-owned corporations, some of which are headquartered outside of the Uyghur Region.  The involvement of powerful state-owned entities in the region’s mining sector is how major Chinese mining companies have obtained accreditation from respected international industry bodies. Mapping the mining industry in China by connecting mines to their beneficiaries is key to unraveling the puzzle since these accreditations mislead global buyers and investors into believing that the gold is sourced responsibly, thus further facilitating potential human rights abuses. The report also describes extensive global supply chain connections, showing that major US companies like Mattel, Macy’s, Tesla, Apple and NVIDIA are directly or indirectly linked to suppliers that source gold from East Turkistan-located mines with risk indicators of forced labor. Such connections could potentially breach international guidelines particularly for US importers, under the provision of the UFLPA, as well as OECD responsible sourcing standards.  C4ADS underscores how major asset management firms’ portfolios include companies that own mines in East Turkistan connected to forced labor and human rights violations. This not only puts these firms at risk but also their clients, including institutional investors and individuals, who might inadvertently become implicated in human rights violations.  C4ADS’ work is a comprehensive analysis of the complexities of the mining industry’s global reach and its potential ethical, legal, and financial consequences. More importantly, it recognizes that gold mines are just one facet of a broader issue, as the Uyghur Region’s mining sector produces various globally traded minerals.  The report calls for the reduction of capital flows to Chinese mining companies that are involved in human rights abuses in East Turkistan and emphasizes the pivotal role that stakeholders, including corporate buyers, sellers, investors, regulators, policymakers, and law enforcement, have in diminishing these flows. Uyghur Forced Labor on Land and Sea The Outlaw Ocean and C4ADS reports provide a comprehensive view of the complex challenges associated with the forced labor of Uyghurs within distinct sectors. They underscore the need for vigilance and international cooperation to combat forced labor and human rights violations in intricate global supply chains. Whether in seafood or mining, both reports reinforce the importance of acting swiftly to protect the rights and dignity of Uyghur workers and individuals affected by these injustices.  According to Statista, a German group specializing in data gathering and visualization, China is the largest producer of seafood in the world, accounting for around 35 percent of the global fish and seafood production volume in 2021. The consumer market for fish and seafood products in China surpassed a total retail market revenue of US $80 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach around US $130 billion in 2028. China’s production volume of fish and seafood has increased rapidly over the past few decades, from 4.5 million metric tons in 1980 to roughly 69 million tons in 2022, profiting significantly from the use of forced Uyghur labor. China is also one of the world’s top producers and reserve holders of many important minerals and metals, including critical minerals, which makes the Chinese mining industry economically and politically significant. With more than 1,500 mining operations, of which approximately three-quarters are sub-surface, the value of China’s mineral production amounted to a 1.5 percent share of the country’s GDP in 2020. The total value of metallic minerals and coal produced in China as of 2020 was nearly US $218 billion. Furthermore, China is the lead producer of gold in the world, accounting for around 10 percent of total global production.  We should not overlook how rich East Turkistan is in energy resources and how important the region therefore is to China in terms of energy security. It has the largest reserves of oil, natural gas, and coal in the PRC, with its coal reserves accounting for 40 percent of the PRC’s total. The oil and gas reserves found in the Tarim, Junggar and Turpan‑Hami basins account for around 30 percent and 34 percent of the PRC’s total reserves. In 2020, more than 40 percent of China’s energy for more than 1.4 billion of its citizens was produced by coal. As China’s energy consumption continues to increase, the mines in East Turkistan will only become more important for its economy.  The recent investigations into mining in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and the seafood industry are part of a truly alarming body of evidence that regulatory bodies must address, to eradicate forced labor from global supply chains. These efforts are essential in ensuring justice and human rights for the Uyghur community.   Source: UHRP

A research analyst has raised the violations of human rights and atrocities by the army in Pakistan. Michela Mutovciev, a Research Analyst at Amsterdam-based EFSAS think-tank made her intervention during the Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances during the 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday. She said, “Our organisation would like to express its appreciation for your commitment to the plight of the people of Pakistan, who continue to live under the rule of a Military Establishment operating with impunity. Particularly concerning is its attitude towards all forms of opposition and dissent, targeting human rights advocates, political activists, and journalists, through the practice of forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, abductions and torture as part of State policy”. Mutovciev said although this UN Working Group has examined 800 cases in Pakistan, the country’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has registered more than 8,000, while Pashtun and Baloch groups claim these to be in tens of thousands. The research analyst told the UN that these modus operandi have seemingly evolved and even the killing of Pakistani dissidents abroad is not an exception anymore. “Sajid Hussain in Sweden, Karima Baloch in Canada, Arshad Sharif in Kenya and the failed attempt to murder a Netherlands-based Pakistani blogger are cases in point”, she said adding that the Pakistani people live in an environment of extreme fear, which the military establishment continues to reinforce. She later urged for urgent intervention of this Council is crucial to push Pakistan towards the imposition of the rule of law and the democratization of society, guaranteeing an end to enforced disappearances inside and outside the country and the ultimate respect for human rights.

India launched its maiden expedition to observe the sun called Aditya-L1 on Saturday. Following the success of India's moon landing with Chandrayaan-3 this is the country's next attempt at another space milestone. Aditya L-1 launched at 11:50 a.m local time (0620 UTC/GMT). The crowd at the viewer's gallery and within the office of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota district of the Southern Indian state of Andra Pradesh, erupted in celebration.  Within 10 minutes of the launch, the vehicle performance was reported to be normal.  A jubilant launch With the success of the launch, Dr. Shankar Subramaniam the principal scientist of the mission announced that "now ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) has established that it has the capability to send observatory class missions anywhere in the interplanetary medium."  Aditya-L1 is carrying scientific instruments to observe the Sun's outermost layers and aims to study behavior. Dipankar Banerjee, director at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) said that "we're proud to be Indian...the entire country is excited that we got this opportunity now to travel towards the sun," Around an hour and a half after the launch, the Aditya-L1 satellite successfully separated from the rocket that had carried it into orbit, PSLV-C57.  "PSLV-C57 had injected Aditya L-1 satellite into the desired intermediate orbit. PSLV-C57 Aditya-L1 mission is accomplished" said the mission director Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted a link to the launch of the spacecraft taking place at the SDSC. Aditya-L1 could make a 'big bang' for science The mission which is named after the Hindi word for "sun" blasted off on Saturday morning. The spacecraft is set to travel about 1.5 million kilometers for over four months towards a so-called Lagrange Point in space. Objects tend to stay put in this space because of the balancing act of gravitational focus which also aids to reduce fuel consumption of the spacecraft. "India has a long tradition of looking at the sun from the ground...but there are limitations of looking at the sun from the ground because you can only see the lower atmosphere of the sun. So this was very, very important that we could go to the space," said Dipankar Banerjee director of ARIES. "It is multi-wavelength, multi-instrument and multi-direction and it measures particle, field and radiation. So you don't have such kind of satellites existing at the L1 point so far or currently. That makes Aditya-L1 absolutely unique," said Anil Bharadwaj, director of Physical Research Laboratory, a unit of the Department of Space of Government.

On Wednesday, India landed its lunar rover on the moon's south pole in a momentous accomplishment for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). With the successful landing, India became the first country to put a spacecraft on the moon's south pole. But for ISRO chairman S. Somanath, a new, critical phase of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is just beginning. The six-wheeled, solar-powered "Pragyan" rover will explore the largely uncharted south pole region of the moon and transmit images and scientific data over two weeks. The rover will also carry out spectrometer analysis of the mineral and chemical composition of the moon's surface, returning valuable data on the properties of lunar soil and rocks. Somanath is keeping a close watch and is concentrated on collecting data. "The lander and rover are perfectly healthy, and so far, everything is working very well. There will be further movements, and we are monitoring it. It will determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site," Somanath told DW. He added that the mission also aims to confirm the presence of ice in the region could "supply oxygen, fuel, and drinking water for future space exploration." Mission boosts India's space ambitions With a shoestring budget of about $74.58 million (€69 million), the Chandrayaan mission puts India alongside the US, Russia and China in a small group of spacefaring nations to pull off a controlled landing on the moon. The landing comes just days after Russia's Luna-25, destined for the same region, crashed on the lunar surface. The ISRO chief believes Chandrayaan's success will inspire India's space industry to push its boundaries of innovation. He dedicated the historic feat to India's entire scientific community. "Missions like this will enhance India's capability to undertake complicated projects," said Somanath. "We at ISRO will launch the Aditya-L1 mission in the first week of September, which is dedicated to studying the Sun," he added. The Aditya-L1 satellite, named after the sanskrit for sun, will be transported into space by the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Its primary objectives cover the study of dynamics in the upper solar atmosphere, including the chromosphere and corona. "A mission to Venus is on the agenda, but those details are being worked out and will take some time to happen. We went through a lot of pain and hard work for this lunar mission, and we will succeed in the future," Somanath added. The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is also expected to bolster private Indian space companies and increase their share of the global launch market within the next decade. "It is already happening and will receive a further boost. We can capitalize on our reputation for cost-competitive engineering," said the ISRO chief. "Already, it has spurred investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses." According to a report by management consulting firm Arthur D. Little, India could have a $40 billion space industry by 2040. The report estimates India's current space market is worth around $8 billion and has grown at about 4% annually in the last few years, compared to 2% globally. India's moonshot years in the making The planned operational span of the lander and rover is one lunar day, equivalent to approximately 14 earth days. Chandrayaan-3 is India's third lunar exploration mission. The 384,000-kilometer journey was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on India's southeast coast. Chandrayaan-3 orbited Earth several times to gain speed before embarking on its month-long lunar trajectory. The successful landing comes nearly four years after Chandrayaan-3's predecessor, Chandrayaan-2, crashed while attempting to land on the moon's south pole in September 2019. The incident was a blow to India's ambitions to become a space power. However, Somanath said the failure strengthened the ISRO's resolve. "Nobody needs reminding that the final moments before a craft's landing will be the riskiest. We learned a lot from failure and corrected it," he said. "We spent years analyzing each contingency and rectifying the errors of Chandrayaan-2, strengthening the hardware and software of the craft, and preparing for worst-case scenarios," he added. "We saw to it that the braking commands had to be far more detailed to ensure that the autonomous landing was performed in a controlled manner and velocity," he said. In addition, Somanath pointed out that command stations ensured "continuous, uninterrupted contact" with the "Vikram" lander module to track the descent's progress and make any corrections if required. "What is crucial is that we were also able to have many experiments that helped us to perfect the process of landing. Today, these efforts have paid dividends," added Somanath. The ISRO chief made it a point to mention that it was a team effort that went into the mission's success and thanked the project director, mission operations executive, and other team members. "There are a lot of women engineers and scientists who worked directly on the mission, and this is a tribute to all of them," he said.

India on Wednesday became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon's south pole. "India is on the moon," S. Somanath, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said as the Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander made a "soft landing" on the lunar surface. "This is a victory cry of new India," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the final moment before touchdown from Johannesburg where he is attending the BRICS summit. Modi hoped mission success would spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses. Joy as spacecraft touch down The successful landing comes just days after Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after losing control. India's previous attempt to land on the moon failed in 2019, but on Wednesday, scientists and officials clapped at the country's cheered and hugged each other as the spacecraft landed. DW's bureau chief in New Delhi, Amrita Cheema, reported that the response in India was "euphoric." "India has a young, vibrant and very aspirational population and they take great pride to be part of a country which is going towards the future and able to compete at the international level and part of the big league even in its space program," she said.  The mission was launched nearly six weeks ago, and people across India were glued to television screens and said prayers as the spacecraft approached the surface. Chandrayaan-3's mission The south pole of the moon has potential as a source of oxygen, fuel, and water for future missions and a moon colony. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to explore it for two weeks, running a series of experiments to determine the mineral composition of the lunar surface. Several countries, including the United States, China, Israel and Japan, aim to set up a base on the moon. Only the United States, China and the former Soviet Union have previously achieved a controlled landing on the lunar surface. Other space agencies took note The European Space Agency (ESA) director general Josef Aschbacher was among the first to congratulate India's ISRO. "What a way to demonstrate new technologies AND achieve India's first soft landing on another celestial body. Well done, I am thoroughly impressed," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Senator Bill Nelson, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)  administrator, also congratulated India. "We're glad to be your partner on this mission!" he wrote on social media.   NASA and ESA provided tracking support to the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Health experts today laid emphasis on immediate hospitalization as the dengue situation in Bangladesh is getting worse this year as the country witnessed a record number of dengue positive cases and deaths.   "All types of dengue positive cases need immediate hospitalization to reduce dengue-related deaths," Dr M Mushtaq Hussain, adviser of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR)." BSS Reports. Dengue positive patients have been divided into three categories -- A, B, C -- on the basis of severity of the disease, he said, adding dengue positive patients with stable condition are under A category while moderate severe and critical patients are under category B and C.   The health expert said all dengue patients should ensure admission to hospitals for getting remedy from the mosquito-borne disease. "In order to ensure hospitalization of all infected people, the authorities should take immediate steps to set up primary and secondary hospitals in Dhaka city," Mushtaq added.  Primary and secondary hospitals at district and upazila levels must be improved with adequate medical facilities for dengue patients, he said, adding "We need more dengue dedicated hospitals both inside and outside Dhaka city to handle the epidemic in the country."  The health experts attributed the highest dengue-related deaths to lack of awareness and late hospitalization as the country already has reported a record number of dengue-related deaths.  "Dengue fatality rate is very high this year as people are not aware enough about the disease . . . late hospitalization is another reason for death caused by dengue," IEDCR Director Prof Dr Tahmina Shirin said.  "We are observing that people are not immediately going to doctors after being affected by dengue fever, which is eventually worsening conditions of patients," she added.  Among the four serotypes of dengue viruses: Den-1, Den-2, Den-3, and Den-4, Tahmina said, Den-2 and Den-3 are more active this year. "In most cases, dengue symptoms are not seen. So, we are suggesting people visit doctors immediately after being affected by fever," she added.  Bangladesh has been grappling to stem dengue outbreak as July was the deadliest month since detection of the mosquito-borne disease in 2000 while experts predicted the dengue situation may deteriorate further in the coming August and September.  According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), July alone recorded 43,854 dengue positive cases with 204 deaths while 20,393 dengue positive cases were recorded and 89 people died from the disease in the past eight days of August.  Talking to BSS, several entomologists said that dengue by now emerged as an epidemic as it spread all over the country but observed that the concerned agencies, particularly city corporations could not take required steps to annihilate mosquitoes. Dr Ayesha Akhtar, assistant director of Shyamoli TB Hospital, said, "Dengue was detected in Bangladesh for the first time in 2000 and it has turned into epidemic at the beginning of rainy season this year and the dengue situation will be more severe, if the rising trend continue."  "We have to take preventive steps particularly destroying breeding sources of Aedes mosquito to stop outbreak of dengue disease," she added.   City dwellers must be cautious about stagnant water which is the main source of breeding of Aedes mosquito, Ayesha said, adding that even a small quantity of water can grow Aedes mosquitoes leading to the spread of such deadly disease.   As many as 13 dengue patients died and 2,742 were admitted to different hospitals in the country during the last 24 hours till 8 am today (August 8).  "During the period, 1,002 dengue patients were hospitalised in Dhaka city while 1,740 were admitted to different hospitals outside Dhaka," a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said. "This year, 340 deaths, the highest in a year since dengue was detected in 2000, were reported from dengue disease while 281 died last year," the daily statement of the DGHS said. As of August 8, the total number of patients stood at 72,225, the statement read.  Health experts warned the dengue situation may deteriorate this month and in the next month, asking authorities concerned to launch a massive campaign against all types of mosquitoes. Analysing the amount of rainfall, temperature and humidity in Bangladesh, they described August and September months as the most suitable period for breeding of Aedes mosquitoes.

ISRO is now clearly on a very different and ambitious course, which is also very challenging. This new course has its origins in the decision to go in for planetary exploration, beginning with the moon. It was early 2000, I think, that we began discussing the road ahead for ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). By that time, most of Vikram Sarabhai’s early goals for the Indian space programme — self-reliance, launch capabilities, societal needs — had been met, and the question that stared us in the face was ‘what next’. I remember the issue was vigorously discussed, and a moon probe seemed to be one of the natural options for ISRO to explore. Dr K Kasturirangan, who was the chairman then, set up a committee under Dr George Joseph, director of Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, to study what could be done in this regard. The Lunar Mission Study Task Force under Dr Joseph submitted its report shortly, and identified the gaps in our capabilities. One of the follow-up actions that I took after taking over from Dr Kasturirangan was to ask the VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) in Thiruvananthapuram to assess whether our existing launch vehicle could be used for a lunar mission. At that time, we had PSLV as our main rocket. VSSC came back to say that PSLV could deliver a payload of up to 1,000 kg to the moon orbit. We decided to strengthen the capabilities of PSLV, and when that was created, we realised that we had some excess capacity. It was then proposed that we could invite foreign space agencies to send their instruments on our mission. We received a dozen proposals of which we selected six experiments that complimented what we had planned for ourselves. That is how the foreign instruments got on our mission, which went on to be called Chandrayaan-1. Simultaneously, ISRO centres and scientists were working on designing the spacecraft, deciding on the science objectives, and building the technology know-how. When we were ready with our plan, we took our proposal to then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was in 2004, I think, at one of the routine six-monthly reviews of the Department of Space, that I brought up the proposal. Vajpayeeji was excited and immediately interested. In his characteristic poetic flourish, he remarked that the moon looks beautiful from a distance, but it might not be so if we observed it from up close. He was not off the mark, of course. Close-up pictures of the moon, taken from instruments aboard Chandrayaan-1 as well, show an uneven surface with lots of craters. Vajpayeeji cleared the proposal quickly, and we began preparations with a 2008 launch in mind. While we were still in the planning stages, President A P J Abdul Kalam once visited ISRO facilities and inquired about the Chandrayaan-1 mission. We gave him a detailed briefing on our plans, the instruments that we would send and the experiments that they would carry out. But he had us all totally stumped when he asked, “How would you prove that you have gone to the moon? What would be the evidence that we have been there?”. I said something to the effect that we will produce data, we will have photographs of the moon. That is not enough, he said, and suggested that just like we have the Indian flag fluttering in Antarctica, we should have something similar on the moon as well. It was Kalam’s suggestion that forced us to include the MIP (Moon Impact Probe) instrument in our mission. It was not part of the original plan. MIP, which had the Indian colours on its sides, was made to crash land on the moon when the Chandrayaan-1 mission went up in 2008. We had left our mark. Discussions over a follow-up mission, that would include a lander and rover, began immediately, but there were a number of challenges. PSLV was not capable of carrying higher payloads, and we had been facing some difficulties with the development of GSLV. Also, there were huge technological learnings involved, particularly with regard to the descent module that was supposed to land. In the meanwhile, the idea of sending a probe to Mars came up, and it took precedence over Chandrayaan-2, because this too was also only an Orbiter mission. The Mars mission was a resounding success too. Of course, the Chandrayaan-2 mission, when it was finally launched in 2019, could not make a soft landing, but it is a small setback. These things happen. I firmly believe that Chandrayaan-3, which is headed for the moon orbit now, will surely make up for the failure of Chandrayaan-2. ISRO is now clearly on a very different and ambitious course, which is also very challenging. This new course has its origins in the decision to go in for planetary exploration, beginning with the moon. Other space agencies like NASA or ESA (European Space Agency) had begun sending missions to the moon, and we were at the risk of being left behind. They would not have shared their data with us, or collaborated with us. Also, it might have looked futuristic that time, but the idea of having a permanent facility on the moon was very much at the back of our minds when we planned our first lunar mission. We are talking more and more about it now, but even back then, it was one of the drivers for beginning to explore the moon. Source: Indian Express

The Assam Rice Research Institute (ARRI), formerly Regional Agriculture Research Station at Titabar under Assam Agricultural University has bagged the Best Centre – All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Rice (2022-23), in the country. An AAU official informed that the award was presented to the chief scientist of ARRI Dr Sanjay Kumar Chetia by the director of ICAR -Indian Institute of Rice Research  Dr RM Sundaram at the concluding ceremony of the two day 58th Annual Rice Group Meeting held at the Dr MC Das Memorial Auditorium at AAU Jorhat campus on Friday. ADG (FFC) ICAR, New Delhi Dr S K Pradhan, director of ICAR – National Rice Research Institute AK Nayak were present on the occasion. Over 300 agri scientists and researchers involved in rice research across the country and agripreneurs attended the meeting. Source: The Hills Times

India, on April 2, again sent out a message to the world about how its space programme was growing by leaps and bounds. Projected as a step towards developing its own ‘space shuttle’, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully conducted the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) at the Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga, Karnataka. With this, ISRO will enter into direct competition with American spacecraft company SpaceX, the only entity operating reusable space vehicles. The Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket. It can carry crew and payloads into the Earth’s orbit and beyond. ISRO’s RLV took off at 7:10 am on April 2 by a Chinook helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) as an under-slung load and flew to a height of 4.5 km. The IAF team that participated in the RLV LEX mission was headed by a woman officer—a flight test engineer. In a first in the world, a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by helicopter and released for an autonomous landing on a runway. According to ISRO, the RLV is essentially a space plane with a low lift-to-drag ratio, requiring an approach at high glide angles that necessitated landing at high velocities of 350 kmph. However, aerospace engineers say the project is at an early stage. Even NASA took close to two decades to launch the world’s first space shuttle Columbia in April 1981. While describing ISRO’s effort as an overall good attempt, an aerospace scientist said the landing on the ground was a bit harsh and its speed was very high, which is why it crossed the runway of 2.5 km despite having a parachute. He said the RLV needed to be fine-tuned a bit to meet expectations. The autonomous landing was carried out under the exact conditions of a space re-entry vehicle’s landing—high speed, unmanned, precise landing from the same return path. Landing parameters, such as ground relative velocity, sink rate of landing gears, and precise body rates as might be experienced by an orbital re-entry space vehicle in its return path, were achieved, said ISRO. “With LEX, the dream of an Indian Reusable Launch Vehicle comes one step closer to reality,” ISRO said in a statement. According to ISRO, it had first demonstrated the re-entry of its winged vehicle RLV in the HEX mission in May 2016. In the HEX mission, the vehicle had landed on a hypothetical runway over the Bay of Bengal. Precise landing on a runway was not included then. The LEX mission achieved the final approach phase that coincided with the re-entry return flight path, exhibiting an autonomous, high-speed (350 kmph) landing. The LEX began with an integrated navigation test in 2019 and followed multiple engineering model trials and captive phase tests over the years. Source: India Today

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today reiterated her call to put special focus on medical science research, urging all to take the country forward with fresh inventions to cope with the new global technologies. "I can't but say with a sorrow that research on agriculture and science is going on, but our research on medical science is fewer in number. So give special attention to medical science research," she said.   The prime minister was distributing cheques of "Bangabandhu Science and Technology Fellowship," "National Science and Technology Fellowship" and special research donations among teachers, scientists, researchers and students of different universities.   The Science and Technology Ministry arranged the ceremony at Osmani Smriti Auditorium in the capital.   The prime minister expressed a bit dismay saying a section of physicians either joins the government services or politics after obtaining MBBS degrees shunning practices and research.   And another section is busy with income, for which, they do government services and private practices at the same time, she said.   "Fewer people are doing research on medical sciences. Research on medical science has increased a little bit after I have told it time and again," she added.   The prime minister said her government aims at reaching the scientific and technological advancement to a new height. So, she wants vigorous efforts from scientists and researchers to help the country cope with newer global technologies, she continued.   The scientists and researchers will have to give commendable returns to the nation to prepare people worthy of working in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), she said.   "Technology has changed over times and we are now at the era of the 4IR as we need new technologies to be further developed and to make efficient manpower to overcome the challenges of the new era," she said.