9-Dec-2020: Cabinet approves Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (KLI Project)
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (KLI Project).
The Project envisages provision of a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) between Kochi and 11 Islands of Lakshadweep viz. Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Agatti, Amini, Androth, Minicoy, Bangaram, Bitra, Chetlat, Kiltan & Kadmat.
Financial implications: The estimated cost of implementation is about Rs. 1072 crore including operational expenses for 5 years. The Project would be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund.
Impact: It is evident that the growth of telecom infrastructure is closely linked with the economic and social development. Telecommunication connectivity plays vital role in employment generation. The present approval for Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity will vastly improve telecommunication facility in the Lakshadweep Islands by providing large bandwidth.
The submarine connectivity project will have vital role for delivery of e-Governance services at the doorstep of citizens, potential development of fisheries, coconut based industries and high-value tourism, educational development in term of tele-education and in health care in terms of telemedicine facilities. It will help in establishment of numerous businesses, augment e-commerce activities and provide adequate support to educational institutes for knowledge sharing. The Lakshadweep Islands have the potential to become a hub of logistic services.
Implementation Strategy & Targets: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has been nominated as Project Execution Agency and Telecommunications Consultant India Ltd. (TCIL) as the Technical Consultant of the Project to assist Universal Service Obligation Fund, Department of Telecommunications. The ownership of the asset under the project will rest with USOF, the funding agency, under DoT. The project is targeted to be completed by May 2023.
Background: Union Territory of Lakshadweep comprising a number of Islands is situated in the Arabian Sea and of immense strategic significance for India. Provision of secure, robust, reliable and affordable Telecom facilities is of utmost importance for the people living in these islands as also from a strategic point of view for the whole country.
Presently only medium of providing telecom connectivity to Lakshadweep is through satellites, but the bandwidth available is limited to 1 Gbps. Lack of bandwidth is a major constraint in providing data services, which is a pre-requisite for providing e-governance, e-education, e-banking etc. for inclusive growth of society.
Government is accordingly committed to provide tele-communication facilities in Lakshadweep Islands Planning for laying the submarine optical fibre cable to Lakshadweep Islands has been under consideration for some time. High bandwidth communication facility to the Lakshadweep Islands is also in consonance with realising the national objective of strengthening e-governance services and achieving the vision of Digital India.
10-Aug-2020: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launches submarine cable connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands (CANI)
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today launched and dedicated to the nation, the submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Andaman &Nicobar Islands to the mainland through video conferencing. The foundation stone for this project was laid by the PM on 30th December 2018 at Port Blair.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said the connectivity would now enable endless opportunities in the islands. He said the laying of the 2300 KMs submarine cable and completing it before the set target is very praise worthy. The Prime Minister said that the service had begun today on a major chunk of the islands from Chennai to Port Blair, Port Blair to Little Andaman and Port Blair to Swaraj Island. The Prime Minister admired the laying of cables for about 2300 kilometers under the sea as surveying in the deep sea, maintaining the quality of the cable and laying of the cable with specialised vessels is not an easy task. The project also had to overcome challenges such as high waves, storms and monsoons and the tough times owing to Corona Pandemic.
The Prime Minister said the Andaman & Nicobar Islands felt the need for years but no steps were taken to fulfil it. Shri Modi expressed his happiness for being able to deliver the project notwithstanding such major challenges. The Prime Minister said providing better and cheap connectivity to the people of Andaman & Nicobar Islands is the responsibility of the country. He congratulated all those who were associated with the project. Shri Modi said the Submarine Cable is one such effort to prove that A & N Islands are not far away from Delhi and from the Hearts of the Mainland.
Ease of Living to every Citizen: Shri Modi said that the Government is committed to provide modern facilities to every citizen and every sector so that there can be a better ease of living. He said this Optical Fibre Project which links A&N Islands with the rest of the country is an example of the commitment of the Government towards ease of living. He said the Government is committed to the speedy development of national security linked border areas and island states.
Increased Opportunities through Digital India: The Prime Minister said the Submarine Cable will help A&N in getting cheaper & better connectivity and all the benefits of Digital India, especially in improving online education, tele-medicine, banking system, online trading and in boosting tourism.PM said that the Indian Ocean has been the center of India's trade and strategic prowess for thousands of years and that Andaman & Nicobar is an important centre for India’s Economic-Strategic Cooperation. He said all the Islands of India would be playing an important role under India’s new trade strategy for Indo-Pacific region.
Shri Modi said under the Act-East policy, the role of Andaman and Nicobar in India's strong relations with East Asian countries and other countries connected to the sea is very high and is going to increase. He said that the Island Development Agency was formed 3 years ago to strengthen its role. He said that the projects which were not completed in Andaman and Nicobar for years, are now rapidly getting completed.
High Impact Projects & Better Land, Air and Water Ways: PM said that High Impact Projects are being expanded in 12 islands of Andaman and Nicobar. Apart from providing for better internet & mobile connectivity, he said the effort is to further improve physical connectivity through road, air and water.
The Prime Minister referred to the work on two major bridges and the NH-4 in order to improve the road connectivity of North and Middle Andaman. He said the Port Blair Airport is being enhanced to handle a Capacity of 1200 passengers. Along with this the airports are ready for operations in Diglipur, Car Nicobar and Campbell - Bay.
Shri Modi said the Passenger Terminal in Swaraj Dweep, Shaheed Dweep and Long Island along with Water Aerodrome Infrastructure like Floating Jetty will be ready in the coming months. He said that the 4 Ships being built at Kochi Shipyard shall be delivered soon to improve the Water connectivity between the islands and the mainland.
Port Led Development: He said Andaman & Nicobar will be developed as an hub of Port Led Development as it is at a Competitive Distance from many ports of the World. Prime Minister said a country which has better network of ports and their connectivity will be able to provide a boost to trade in the 21st Century.
He said that today, when India is moving forward with the resolve of self-sufficiency and is establishing itself as an important player in the Global Supply and Value Chain, it is very important to strengthen our network of Waterways and our Ports. Shri Modi said that the legal bottlenecks in the development of Port Infrastructure are also being removed continuously.
International Maritime Trade: PM said that the Government's focus is also on promoting Ease of Business in the sea and simplifying Maritime Logistics. He referred to the speedy construction of the deep draft inner harbor and the proposal to construct Trans-Shipment Port in Great Nicobar at an estimated cost of about Rs 10 thousand crores. Shri Modi said this would enable big ships to anchor and would increase India’s share in maritime trade, along with new employment opportunities.
He said that the blue economy like Fisheries, Aquaculture and Sea-Weed farming in the island will accelerate in commensurate with the modern infrastructure being developed in Andaman and Nicobar. He wished that the efforts of the Government will give Andaman and Nicobar, not only new facilities but also as a prominent place on the World Tourist Map.
9-Dec-2020: Quantum Communication between two DRDO Laboratories
Secure communications are vital for defence and strategic agencies world over and distribution of encryption keys from time to time is an important requirement in this context. Sharing of keys over the air or wired links requires encryption, which in turn requires encryption keys to be pre-shared. Quantum based communication offers a robust solution to sharing the keys securely. Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) undertook the project for development of this technology.
A milestone of this project was achieved today when DRDO developed Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology underwent trials in Hyderabad between two DRDO labs, DRDL and RCI, to show secure communication. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO team for successful demonstration of QKD communication.
The technology is developed by CAIR, Bengaluru and DYSL-QT, Mumbai. Quantum Communication using time-bin Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) scheme was performed under realistic conditions. The setup also demonstrated the validation of detection of a third party trying to gain knowledge of the communication. Quantum based security against eavesdropping was validated for the deployed system at over 12kms range and 10dB attenuation over fibre optic channel.
Continuous wave laser source was used to generate photons without depolarization effect. The timing accuracy employed in the setup was of the order of picoseconds. The Single photon avalanche detector (SPAD) recorded arrival of photons and key rate was achieved in the range of kbps with low Quantum bit error rate. Software was developed for data acquisition, time synchronization, post-processing, determining Quantum bit error rate and extracting other important parameters.
The work being done at DRDO will be used to enable start-ups and SMEs in the domain of Quantum information technologies. It will also serve to define standards and crypto policies that can leverage QKD system in a unified Cipher Policy Committee (CPC) framework for more secure and pragmatic key management for current and future military cryptographic systems.
6-Jan-2020: New data relay satellites to keep Gaganyaan crew in touch with Earth
India plans to ring in its own era of space-to-space tracking and communication of its space assets this year by putting up a new satellite series called the Indian Data Relay Satellite System.
The IDRSS is planned to track and be constantly in touch with Indian satellites, in particular those in low-earth orbits which have limited coverage of earth.
In the coming years, it will be vital to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), whose roadmap is dotted with advanced LEO missions such as space docking, space station, as well as distant expeditions to moon, Mars and Venus. It will also be useful in monitoring launches.
The first beneficiary would be the prospective crew members of the Gaganyaan mission of 2022 who can be fully and continuously in touch with mission control throughout their travel.
Work on the two IDRSS satellites planned initially has begun. The first of them will be sent towards the end of 2020. It will precede the pre-Gaganyaan experimental unmanned space flight which will have a humanoid dummy. A second one will follow in 2021. The two will offer near total tracking, sending and receiving of information from the crew 24/7.
Older space majors such as the U.S. and Russia started their relay satellite systems in the late 1970s-80s and a few already have around 10 satellites each. They have used them to monitor their respective space stations Mir and the International Space Station, and trips that dock with them, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope.
IDRSS satellites of the 2,000 kg class would be launched on the GSLV launcher to geostationary orbits around 36,000 km away. In such apparently fixed orbits, they would be covering the same area on earth. A satellite in GEO covers a third of the earth below and three of them can provide total coverage.
During the launch of the human mission and also when the crew craft orbits earth from a distance of 400 km, at least one ground station must see and track it. But with available ground stations, that would not be the case. Without data relay satellites, ISRO would have to create a large number ground stations everywhere or hire them globally and yet the crewed spacecraft would not be visible all the time.
Dr. Sivan said, we require the IDRSS system when our astronauts are in space. But the relay spacecraft should be in place even before the launch of unmanned mission.
While the U.S. is putting up its third-generation advanced fleet of TDRS (Tracking & Data Relay Satellites), Russia has its Satellite Data Relay Network and Europe is building its own European Data Relay System. China is into its second generation Tianlian II series.