Latest news with #SITE
Economic Times
7 hours ago
- Science
- Economic Times
50 years on, a pioneering ISRO project underlines tech's value in real-life use, not just in missions
Streaming from space Space has, once again, captured the imagination of people around the world. India, too, has seen a resurgence of interest in space, most recently through Shubhanshu Shukla's mission to International Space Station (ISS). However, the glamour and media coverage are mainly restricted to such missions, and are missing for programmes of technology it is the applications that justify the investments in space, especially for a developing country like India with so many alternative demands on resources. It is for this reason that India was a pioneer in the use of space tech for societal benefit. This year marks the 50th anniversary of a global milestone in this area. It was on August 1, 1975, that the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) began, with its first broadcast. A collaborative India-US effort, SITE took educational and development TV programmes to specially installed community TV receivers in about 2,400 villages in six states. Programmes, beamed up to Nasa's ATS-6 satellite from Earth stations in Ahmedabad and Delhi, were received in these villages through a 10-ft diameter antenna and an electronic converter - a precursor to DTH (direct-to-home). The six states were selected keeping in mind India's diversity. And, within them, the most backward districts were chosen. The villages were often remote and included, in Orissa, unelectrified villages where TV sets were operated on batteries. TV sets, for community viewing, were installed in schools or panchayat ghars where all - irrespective of caste and class - had free access.A young team, led by a few stalwarts like SITE programme manager E V Chitnis - who turns 100 today - worked with passion and deep commitment. Engineers ensured that TV sets in remote villages were maintained so well that their downtime was lower than those in urban homes. Social scientists visited these villages - some lived there for 15 months - to research the impact. Programme-makers, almost all fresh graduates from Film and Television Institute (FTII), Pune, were recruited by Isro to make the science education programmes, while Doordarshan set up special studios to make programmes specifically for each state. Local language, area-specific broadcasts took the latest agricultural practices to farmers in SITE villages. Education programmes for primary school children aimed at the 'enrichment' of classroom teaching. A special teacher training programme - in person and supported by TV broadcasts - conducted in partnership with NCERT and the education ministry, covered 45,000 teachers in two sessions. Apart from state-specific broadcasts, a common 'national programme' for 30 mins each day was beamed to all six states. Concerned about the centralising potential of satellite broadcasting, SITE also included a decentralised set-up: India's first district-level rural TV station in Kheda district (the home of Amul), Gujarat. This served as the model for expansion of TV through low-power transmitters (LPTs). The Kheda Communications Project was an experiment in participatory communication and won wide acclaim, including Unesco's first Rural Communication Prize. Hailed by Arthur Clarke as 'the greatest communication experiment in history', SITE drew worldwide recognition. As the first-ever large-scale use of direct broadcasting from a satellite, SITE took TV into the depths of rural India, reaching disadvantaged people even before TV reached most urban areas. While it lacked the heart-stopping drama of a rocket launch, or the heart-in-mouth climax of the last tragic moments of Chandrayaan-2, it had many heart-warming awe, novelty and magic of seeing a moving picture come out of a box - most people in SITE villages had never been to a cinema - the excitement and spark in the eyes of children watching educational programmes: these moments will stay forever with those involved in SITE. Probably in the one year of SITE, we learned more than the villagers. SITE embodied Vikram Sarabhai's vision for Isro, which was based on two primary strands: knowledge creation, and its use for practical benefit. The former, encompassing space science, began with cosmic ray research, using balloons and sounding rockets, and progressed to the Mars mission, the successful Chandrayaan landing and the solar observatory, Aditya. Both strands were based on the philosophy of self-reliance where possible, and cooperation or collaboration where necessary. SITE exemplified this. All the ground hardware was designed, developed and made in India; the satellite and its launch were by the US. Today, India has moved many notches up with Nisar (Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission scheduled for launch on July paced and dictated technology development, the latter not being a goal in itself. To be the 'first' or 'fifth' country to do something was never an objective, and vanity projects were articulation of this - which one hopes continues to be Isro's north star - is best expressed in Sarabhai's words: '...there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight. But... if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society.' An apt reminder on SITE@ writer worked in Isro for over 2 decades, and was deeply involved in SITE (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. 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Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
History Headline: Far from politics, journey of Hindi in southern states
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu recently waded into the language row, stating that former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, a scholar, knew 17 languages. Without mentioning any of the states that have been alleging Hindi imposition by the Centre, Naidu said on July 15 in Delhi, 'Now we are asking — why should we learn Hindi?' The governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have in the past called the three-language formula proposed by the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, a covert move to impose Hindi on the southern states. They allege that the Centre's Hindi push goes against the idea of a federal polity. While the debate goes on, with the southern states often pitted as anti-Hindi, away from the noise of political debates, the language and its speakers have had a long history in the region. Scholars say Hindi actively began to make its presence felt in the South around the Independence movement, with Mahatma Gandhi establishing the first Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha in Madras (now Chennai) in 1918. The objective was to teach Hindi to a non-Hindi-speaking populace as a link language for the freedom movement. 'Learning Hindi was one way of feeling that one is participating in the Indian national freedom movement,' says Prof J Atmaram of the University of Hyderabad's Hindi Department. In 1922, the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha conducted its first preliminary exam to test basic Hindi proficiency. The first undergraduate examination, Rashtrabhasha Visharad, was conducted in 1931. In the other southern states where the Sabha had its regional centres — Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kochi and Gulbarga — Hindi learning gained in popularity. 'For example, Andhra Pradesh acted as a corridor between Hindi and other southern languages. The state welcomed Hindi learning, be it in Hyderabad or Vijayawada,' says Atmaram. In Karnataka and Kerala too, there wasn't much opposition to Hindi. 'Tucked away in Ernakulam south stands the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, active since the 1930s,' he said. Hindi grew more organically with the advent of mass media — radio and TV. 'At radio stations in Madras and Trichy, Hindi programming, along with regional languages, continued in independent India,' said Atmaram. By the 1970s, Doordarshan had reached homes in the South with its Satellite Instruction Television Experiment (SITE). The experiment, which began in 1975, focused on Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where instructional programming with shows dedicated to agriculture and education would have one visual component and two language components. For instance, a person in Andhra watching one of these programmes could opt to do so in Telugu. 'But while instructional programming had a language option, mass media programming, including news and entertainment which were aired through SITE, were mainly in Hindi,' says Prof B P Sanjay, who worked on SITE and was former director of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. The popularity of Doordarshan's blockbuster TV shows — Ramayana, Mahabharata, Chitrahaar, etc — meant that while few homes spoke Hindi, the language wafted uninterrupted into their homes and hearts. In the 1970s and '80s, another phenomenon contributed to the spread of Hindi — magazines published in Hindi. For instance, Dakshinanchal Hindi Samiti translated Bhakti literature into southern languages and vice versa. 'Also, there were famous Hindi language magazines, Kalpna and Golconda Darpan, which were being published from Hyderabad. These magazines were popular even in the North,' says Atmaram. These magazines gave writing in Hindi a push. The focus was on schooling students in Hindi and the NEP of 1968 paved the way with its recommendation of a three-language policy which foregrounded Hindi and English along with the regional languages. Except for Tamil Nadu, which followed the two-language (English and Tamil) policy in government- and aided-schools, all other southern Indian states had adopted the three-language policy. In recent times, with migration, the language and its dialects spread faster. In certain Kerala districts, there are bus boards displayed in Hindi to cater to migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Operating out of Erode's Periyar Nagar — a neighbourhood named after Tamil Nadu's social reformer E V Ramasamy, who spearheaded the anti-Hindi agitations of the1930s — is the Tamil Nadu Hindi Prachara Sabha, an NGO run by M Krishnamurthy, 60, which conducts spoken Hindi classes. 'In Tamil Nadu, no one will stop you from teaching or learning Hindi. We have been running the institution from 2009 onwards,' he said. His institution caters not just to school students and civil service aspirants but also to Erode's turmeric traders. 'They need to converse in Hindi for their business interests and we help them,' he says. The writer is Assistant Editor, The Indian Express
Leaders
07-07-2025
- Business
- Leaders
Saudi Arabia Maintains Leadership in Global Cybersecurity Ranking in 2025
Saudi Arabia continues its international leadership in cybersecurity, maintaining the first position in global ranking released by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook's cybersecurity indicator for 2025. This top ranking is a direct reflection of the unwavering support and guidance provided to the Kingdom's cybersecurity sector by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. Role-Modelling Moreover, their vision propelled Saudi Arabia to achieve leading positions year after year across various international indicators. This includes the Kingdom's classification as Tier 1 – 'Role-modelling' in the Global Cybersecurity Index 2024, published by the UN specialized agency, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This success is part of a broader series of achievements since the adoption of the leadership's insightful and proactive approach to establish a comprehensive cybersecurity sector. Additionally, this holistic approach integrates both security and development dimensions, encompassing local and international levels. SITE The Saudi cybersecurity ecosystem has seen remarkable development, since the establishment of the National Cybersecurity Authority as the Kingdom's specialized and national authority for cybersecurity affairs, and the establishment of the Saudi Information Technology Company (SITE) as its strategic and technical partner. These two pillars are fundamental to the Saudi cybersecurity model that significantly strengthened national cybersecurity posture, localized priority technologies, and enhanced information sharing and international cooperation. National Cybersecurity Authority The National Cybersecurity Authority is the national entity in charge of cybersecurity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the national reference in all its affairs. It aims to enhance the Kingdom's cybersecurity posture to safeguard its vital interests, national security, critical infrastructure, priority sectors, and government services and activities. Finally, the authority undertakes several key responsibilities, including promoting the growth of the cybersecurity sector within the Kingdom, fostering innovation and investment, establishing policies, governance mechanisms, frameworks, standards, regulations, and guidelines related to cybersecurity. These efforts are designed to cultivate a resilient, secure, and trusted Saudi cyberspace that enables growth and prosperity. Related Topics Saudi Arabia Prioritizes Cybersecurity SITE, Privafy Ink Partnership to Elevate Cybersecurity in Saudi Arabia Global Cybersecurity Forum Set to Commence in Riyadh Short link : Post Views: 7
The Sun
20-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
NIA Invites You to Countdown to 'SITE 2025' Southeast Asia's Largest Innovation
BANGKOK, THAILAND - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 June 2025 - The National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) or NIA, under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, has announced its readiness to host the Startup x Innovation Thailand Expo 2025 (SITE 2025) under the theme: 'Global Innovation Partnership – AI & Sustainability: The Next Era of Innovation,' to be held from July 4–6, 2025, at Paragon Hall, 5th Floor, Siam Paragon. This year marks a significant milestone as SITE evolves into a truly regional platform for innovation. Thailand is positioning itself as a Global Innovation Collaboration Hub, uniting the strength of 10 leading partner countries: Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Czech Republic, Hungary, Finland, Switzerland, Qatar, and Chile—spanning Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. In addition, over 100 organizations will participate, including 20 international agencies, 12+ leading private-sector companies, 7 professional associations, and 50 universities from across Thailand. 'More Than an Expo – A Global Collaboration Platform' Dr. Krithpaka Boonfueng, Executive Director of NIA, stated: 'SITE 2025 is more than an expo—it's a platform where meaningful global collaboration takes place with depth, inclusivity, and a shared purpose. With AI and sustainability at the core of the global economy, our goal is to drive real-world impact across business, investment, and innovation policy.' The 2025 edition of SITE will feature more than 30 seminars, covering the full spectrum of global innovation across three major stages: Main Stage – the 'heart' of the event, where international thought leaders will share visionary insights and the latest trends in AI, sustainability, and cross-border collaboration. Global Stage – in-depth policy and strategy sessions exploring opportunities, challenges, and pathways to bring innovation to the global market. Pitch Stage – a dedicated arena for Thai and international startups to pitch their ideas, promote technologies, and scale their ventures in front of global investors. Highlights: From Global Policy to Groundbreaking Pitches One of the major highlights on the Pitch Stage will be the National Pitching Startup Thailand League 2025, alongside the 100 Startup Pitching showcase, featuring cutting-edge technologies such as AI, Deep Tech, and sustainability-driven innovation. The expo will also include exhibitions from over 300 startups and leading innovation organizations, presenting real products, prototypes, and market-ready solutions. More than 30 Business Matching sessions will be held to facilitate direct connections between entrepreneurs, investors, technology owners, and partners from both Thailand and abroad. The Prime Minister Awards, a prestigious national honor, will recognize organizations, startups, and collaborations that have created significant and measurable impact both nationally and internationally. Dr. Krithpaka concluded: 'NIA invites everyone with a creative spirit—innovators, investors, entrepreneurs, students, or those seeking new opportunities—to be part of SITE 2025. This is a platform to connect with global players, update on future trends, and create meaningful change together. It's also a critical opportunity to help drive Thailand forward in alignment with the 'Groom – Grant – Growth – Global' strategy.' The 30+ Business Matching rounds are designed to help entrepreneurs meet with investors and technology owners in a targeted and impactful way. Special Panel at the Press Conference: 'Accelerating Innovation Through Global Partnerships' This session highlighted cross-sector collaboration driving Thai innovation to the global stage. From the government perspective, Mr. Pariwat Wongsamran, Deputy Executive Director of Innovation System at NIA, said: 'Innovation today knows no national borders. What NIA is doing is not just about giving opportunities to entrepreneurs—it's about laying the foundation for an ecosystem that connects Thailand to the world in a tangible way. Through partnerships in Europe and Asia, we're not only focusing on current innovations but also building infrastructure to support long-term growth so that Thai startups can scale more sustainably.' Ms. Salinee Phonprapai, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs, added: 'Innovation is now a key engine driving Thailand's economy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pushing Thai startups onto the global stage through a network of 98 embassies and consulates worldwide. We're also working with partners like NIA, BOI, EEC, depa, and the Department of Trade Negotiations to promote investment, open new markets, and facilitate trade deals. In addition, visa policies are being introduced to attract global talent to enhance Thailand's innovation ecosystem.' On the private sector and innovation business side, Na Ranong, President of the Thai Venture Capital Association (TVCA), emphasized: 'Global partnership is the heart of modern investment. It increases business expansion opportunities and leads to higher value exits, particularly in hot sectors like AI and Deep Tech, which are drawing attention from global investors. Today's investors are looking for startups that can truly connect to the global network.' Mr. Thanawit Tonkanya, President of the Thai Startup Association (TSA), said: 'Thai startups must dream big, embrace international perspectives, and develop pitch skills that appeal to investors. SITE 2025 is a real-world arena for testing, connecting, and growing global networks.' 'Be part of the global change! and connect with innovators, creators, and investors shaping the future at SITE 2025.' The event will take place from July 4–6, 2025, at Paragon Hall, 5th Floor, Siam Paragon. Free entry! Register at: For more updates, follow on Facebook: NIA - National Innovation Agency Thailand, and Startup Thailand Hashtag: #NIA #SITE2025 #StartupThailand #InnovationThailand #DeepTech #AI #Sustainability #GlobalInnovationPartnership The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Global News
20-06-2025
- Global News
B.C. government earmarks more money to target repeat offenders, violent crime
The B.C. government is providing more money to police departments throughout the province to help target repeat offenders and disrupt cycles of crime. Garry Begg, the minister of public safety and solicitor general, announced on Friday that the province is investing an additional $6 million in the Special Investigation and Targeted Enforcement (SITE) program. According to the province, the program has already helped target repeat offenders, and led to 2,676 charges recommended. 'We are ensuring SITE remains available to help police agencies expand their abilities to crack down on repeat violent crime more effectively and keep dangerous people off our streets,' Begg said. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy SITE launched in March 2023 and has supported 148 police operations in 28 communities throughout the province. SITE funding has facilitated 5,425 investigations of individuals, 177 of whom were supported by the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative (ReVOII). Story continues below advertisement Police have also seized various weapons, drugs and other items such as stolen merchandise and cash that was proceeds of crime. 1:12 B.C. releases details of program to keep communities safe 'We all count on police officers to keep our communities safe, and our government is committed to supporting them with the resources they need that are making a real impact on the ground,' Terry Yung, minister of state for community safety and integrated services, said in a statement. 'SITE has proven to be an essential tool in protecting British Columbians from violence, and we will continue to make historic investments in policing to ensure our Province remains strong and resilient, so that everyone has the opportunity to build a good life in a safe, secure community.'
