How to get over a huge work blunder

An important article by:- (Devashish Chakravarty, Director, Executive Hiring, at QuezX.com) as published in The Economic Times Oct 24,2016 India.

So you messed up big time at work. The good news is that you are not alone. Most successful professionals admit to having messed up multiple times. 

The bad news is you have to deal with it. If your blunder gets you fired, start looking for a job and figure out how will you explain the situation to prospective employers. If your huge mistake does not get you fired, here’s how to recover your credibility and career. 

Keep your feet on the ground 

What could be the worst possible outcome? If you sent an inappropriate email to a client, will your company lose the account? What will it mean for your career? Will it cost you your reputation or job? Once you are mentally prepared for the worst, you can plan actions to reduce impact and initiate a recovery for your company and yourself. 

Don’t act ‘hyper’ 

Cut the drama. Stop saying ‘Sorry’ excessively and apologising repeatedly to everyone while seeking their help to solve your mistake. You may be expressing remorse, but for your colleagues, you are wasting their time and thus the company’s resources. To your boss, you are displaying an inability to handle pressure or take useful action. 

Don’t be ‘chill’ 

You made a mistake and you wish to avoid telling others because it will spoil your reputation. When they find out, you act as if it isn’t a big deal and have an excuse ready. This is a terrible idea. Your colleagues will believe that you do not care for consequences and are not truthful. Your team leader will decide that you lack judgement and cannot be trusted. By avoiding facts, you are denying yourself an opportunity to rectify the error and rebuild your reputation thereafter. 

Own up 

Come clean before someone else finds out about your error, advertises it and everyone makes negative assumptions about you. Figure out who you need to inform and apologise to. Usually this includes colleagues who are likely to be most affected and your boss. If it is a client who will suffer from your mess up, then the sequence of telling people matters. Discuss it with your manager and client facing people first to figure out the best communication, timing and actions required. Taking ownership for your mistake displays maturity, concern and reliability. 

Bring a solution 

Your colleagues and your manager expect you to do your own thinking and to bring possible solutions to the table to reverse the error. By presenting solutions, you save everyone’s time and they find it easier to trust your abilities to solve the problem. If it is an irreversible mistake, then solve for what can be done to compensate. First, identify the actions that need to be taken and the people whose help will be required. If you sent a faulty shipment to a client, then you may need a few permissions for a second shipment. Second, articulate the correct communication plan to smooth ruffled feathers. Finally, spell out how will you do things differently in future to avoid such situations. 

Allow for grief 

It is ok to feel terrible for a while after having blundered but it is not ok to continue wallowing in it for ever. If you goofed up on a team project requiring rework and fresh deadlines, you will be mortified and will find it difficult to face your colleagues every day. Permit yourself to feel wretched and guilty for some time. Thereafter forgive yourself, focus on your work and your positive contributions to keep your grief in check.No one has the time o remember your gaffes forever and neither should you dwell on them at the cost of performance. 

Slog it out 

When things go wrong, be prepared to dig deep and work really hard. Reach early to work and make sacrifices to deliver beyond expectations. Take on tasks no one wants to do, go the extra mile to exceed targets and put in effort to turn in the highest quality outcomes. Remember to make and keep promises to your team, manager and clients in output and deadlines. This rebuilds your credibility and marks you out as a person who works hard when there is a problem.

Accept micro-management 

If you have messed up a deadline that is critical for your boss or your firm, it is natural for them to be concerned for the future. Accept that your team leader may micro-manage your output until you prove your reliability once again. Have a positive attitude when you report your progress on an hourly or daily basis and help the person quickly audit and question your work. Be extra careful in meeting deadlines and quality standards and view this as an opportunity to rebuild trust. When things return to normal, you will know your credibility is restored. 

Find the gold

Turn your mistake into an opportunity for learning. Once you have taken immediate actions, get a good night’s sleep. After the initial agony, reflect on what went wrong and what attitudes, thoughts, communication and actions caused the error. Identify what needs to change. Most big mistakes offer solid takeaways for you to strengthen your career and join the league of the successful. 

HOW TO AVOID MISTAKES 

Process is critical 

If you are focused on concrete goals, chances are you will forget to take the right steps and miss your goal by a mile. Though you may have a deadline and numbers to achieve, keep your mind focused on building and getting processes right. 

Feelings are not important 

Giving importance to how you feel is unproductive. When you dwell excessively on temporary feelings, output suffers and you make bigger mistakes. Focus on the present and the small tasks you are engaged in. That leaves no space to think about negative stuff. 

Life plans are not fixed

Obsessing about your life plan and how your career is doing leads to loss of attention and mistakes in the present. Plans are based on past information while circumstances change. Review your plan every few months and focus on doing well at work every day. 

Don’t seek acceptance 

Do not be concerned of what people think of you. Your colleagues are too busy worrying about their own careers. Seeking popularity and acceptance leads to mistakes at work. Choose to work on what makes you happy and in doing it really well. 

Guilt wastes energy, time 

Observe the inner voice criticising what you are doing and the guilt that follows a blunder. Both prevent you from taking corrective actions and right decisions. Get going with a task to restore your energy levels and to make productive use of your time. 

Read more at:

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Huge challenges for CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS after GST implementation:

By PTI | Updated: Oct 22, 2016, 06.37 PM IST

HYDERABAD: Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said Chartered Accountants in India will have huge opportunities and challenges when the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is implemented 

Addressing the ICAI International Conference 'Jnana Yagna' here, the Urban Development Minister said Chartered Accountants should play a vital role in addressing issues such as curbing black money. 

"Introduction of GST (Goods and Services Tax), which is round the corner is one of the pioneering and game changing transformative initiatives taking shape in our country. GST introduction is a huge challenge and opportunity for the Chartered Accountants and you need to get ready for enabling this change in a smooth and seamless manner," Venkaiah added. 

This is a huge opportunity for all of you to be partners in the progress of our nation," the Minister said.

further said, it is a matter of pride that in none of the scandals or scams any Indian CA firm is reported to have been involved and it is the international accounting firms which were reportedly involved in different frauds and scams in India. 

3.2 million debit cards compromised; SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI, YES Bank and Axis worst hit

An important information for all Indians as reported by:-

By Saloni Shukla & Pratik Bhakta, ET Bureau | Updated: Oct 20, 2016, 04.47 PM IST 

Banks in India will either replace or ask users to change the security codes of as many as 3.2 million debit cards in what's emerging as one of the biggest ever breaches of financial data in India, people aware of the matter said. Several victims have reported unauthorised usage from locations in China. 

Of the cards, 2.6 million are said to be on the Visa and Master-Card platform and 600,000 on the RuPay platform. The worst-hit of the card-issuing banks are State Bank of India, HDFC BankBSE -0.25 %, ICICI BankBSE 4.72 %, YES Bank and Axis Bank, the people said.

The breach is said to have originated in malware introduced in systems of Hitachi Payment Services, enabling fraudsters to steal information allowing them to steal funds. Hitachi, which provides ATM, point of sale (PoS) and other services, couldn't be reached for comment late Wednesday.

A forensic audit has now been ordered by Payments Council of India on Indian bank servers and systems to detect the origin of frauds that might have hit customer accounts. NPCI Managing Director AP Hota said: "We have received complaints from banks about debit cards being used in China which aroused suspicion."

"Though most of the suspected fraudulent transactions happened in the Visa and MasterCard network, we thought a whole a forensic audit of the entire network will help us find out where the compromise happened," he said. 

HDFC Bank said it had already taken action in the matter a few weeks back. "Besides advising those customers who we know have used a non-HDFC Bank ATM in the recent past to change (their) ATM PIN, we are advising our customers to use only HDFC Bank ATMs as we  believe security controls at some of the other bank ATMs may not be at par with HDFC Bank ATMs," a spokesperson said. "We take this opportunity to reiterate that it's always prudent to change ATM PINs from time to time. It prevents misuse." 

*Here are some very interesting facts about Sensex compiled exclusively for Indian Stock market Investors

The term 'Sensex' was coined by the Pune based stock market analyst Deepak Mohoni.

The BSE Sensex was launched on January 1st, 1986.

On the launch day, the index closed at 549.43 points.

It's lifetime intraday high was 30,024.74 logged on March 4, 2015 while the closing high was 29,380.73 on the same day.

The Sensex has seen 7,203 trading days since its launch till June 30, 2016.

There were 3,768 up days and 3,434 down days for the index.

Historically, Tuesdays were the worst performing day of the week for the benchmark, while Fridays were the best.

The Sensex first passed 
1,000 points on July 25th, 1990. 
10,000 points in February, 2006 20,000 points in December, 2007.

In just 17 trading days, between September and October 2007 the Sensex gained nearly 3,000 points.

Out of the original 30 companies only six are in the index now Reliance Industries, ITC, Hindustan Unilever (HLL then), Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Steel.

by Navneet Singhal

US elections: Whoever wins, will Americans lose?

October 15, 2016, 6:46 PM IST Economic Times in ET Commentary | India | ET

An important article By Mukul K Gupta as published in the Economic times for USA Citizens.

In a few weeks from now, the world will be spared from the uncivil and ugly US Presidential election campaign that it has been witnessing since the start of the year. Unfortunately, whichever candidate wins on November 08, chances are that the common American may well turn out to be the ultimate loser

Uncivil and ugly, as displayed by the conduct of the two key candidates during the entire election campaign, more so in the recent Presidential debates wherein more time was spent on emitting personal attacks on each other rather than discussing substantial issues – jobs, healthcare, security, climate change. Use of phrases such as Crooked Hillary, Little Marco, Racist, Sexist, Xenophobic, Islamaphobic, Buffon, Basket of Deplorables, mark the current election campaign making it different from all earlier Presidential campaigns held in the US. Name throwing and mudslinging in the current campaign is a reminder of the election campaigns usually witnessed in the Indian Subcontinent. This Presidential election campaign is also unique in another way – both candidates have certain uniqueness – if elected Trump, having completed the age of 70 years would become the oldest president to take office. Clinton at 69, anyway is the first female Presidential candidate ever nominated in America

Of the two key candidates, Donald Trump a rich businessman and reality television personality, came from “outside” the political establishment and soon muscled his way through to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, defeating all his challengers who were far more experienced in politics

Trump’s unprecedented popularity seems to flow primarily from his offensive and protectionist utterances, which he started making from early on in his election campaign. Utterances such as “building a wall along the Mexican border” and his call for a “total and complete shutdown of American borders for people of a particular religious community” seem to have resonated well with the middle class Americans, catapulting him as the Republican candidate. His erratic temperament though a subject of much debate, has not deterred his large group of followers

Trump’s pledge to make America “great again” has many racist and xenophobic connotations; his campaign laced with nationalistic and sexist jingoism has left many people even in his own GOP party frustrated. What’s, difficult to judge clearly is his strategy for job creation in America other than his usual rhetoric of bringing back jobs from other countries and decreasing taxes which would result in trickle down benefits. What’s, also not clear are his specific policies on foreign affairs, trade, security, climate change etc. His general belief seems to be that America needs to reassert itself by showing greater hegemony among the world powers and renegotiate existing trade and security deals with other countries, in putting America’s interest first. What seems apparent is that if elected he may find it tough to execute most of his election rhetoric and may well alienate some of America’s allies

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, a career politician, who has been in public service as a Senator and Secretary of State. While she has the necessary experience and seems more qualified to take over the role of the President, her credibility has taken a severe beating in the “email” imbroglio – for sending official communications thru private email servers while heading the State Department. She claimed that she used her private email account for official use only for convenience and later apologized for the same. What has caught the public eye is her cavalier attitude of not only sending emails containing highly classified information thru her private email account but subsequently denying that any classified information was ever sent or received thru her private email account. Subsequent FBI investigations showed that several statements made by Hillary to the American public regarding the usage of her private email account were inaccurate. The FBI further went ahead to say that there was sufficient evidence that Hillary had been extremely careless in the handling of very sensitive and highly classified information, though they did mention that no evidence was found suggesting any intention of violating any laws, governing the handling of classified information

Another controversy plaguing Hillary revolves around the vast donations collected by the philanthropic charity set up by her family – Clinton Foundation; millions of dollars collected from across the world, from countries, individuals and foreign groups. Large contributions collected over the years, including the years when she was the Secretary of State. While there is no evidence yet found of any wrongdoings, it has given ample opportunity to her critics to slam her for alleged pay-to-play practices while heading the State Department and incites Trump to demand an investigation

According to many US economists, policies of both the candidates could well be harmful for the US economy. According to a detailed study recently conducted by researchers of a non-partisan institute (Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA) Donald Trump’s proposed economic plan including protectionist trade policies could send the country into recession and result in loss of almost 4.8 million private sector jobs. The same study also offers a skeptical view of Hillary Clinton’s trade policies particularly her opposition to the Trans-Pacific-Partnership, a new trade pact that US has recently negotiated with 11 other economies

Two imperfect candidates; one an inward looking Protectionist, an anti-immigrant Crusader who allegedly has not paid any income tax for nearly two decades; the other who amongst other things has often been criticized for her coziness with Wall Street. With both candidates mired in controversies and vague on key policy issues, the American folks seem to have little to choose from. Hillary will bring with her part continuity of the existing administration; Trump on the other hand will bring lots of change – changes, which have the potential of bringing about a new world order

With both Presidential candidates having high unfavorable ratings, victory is likely to go to the least unfavorable

(The above are personal views of the author. He can be contacted at mukulism1@gmail.com). Also on Twitter @mukulkg)

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

India-Russia defence deals: Six things India got from old friend Russia

OCT 15 2016 THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called out to India's "old friend" Russia in a joint address at the sidelines of the BRICS Summit before holding wide-ranging talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which covered the entire expanse of bilateral engagement. The engagement witnessed 16 agreements being signed between the two countries. 

Here are the key agreements the two nations signed: 

1   1) Deal for S-400 Triumf air defence systems from Russia worth over $5 billion. The long-range air defence missile system has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. India and Russia have been in talks for over a year for the purchase of at least five systems of S-400 that will be a game changer in the region. 

2    2) A $500 million push into the Indian infrastructure space, along with an equal investment by the newly formed National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF), to form a $1 billion 'Russian Indian Investment Fund'. Announcements were also made to boost ties in sectors like trade and investment, hydrocarbons, space and smart cities. Modi said this will help advance infrastructure Partnership.

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     3)  A joint venture to build Russian Kamov helicopters in India. The plan is to build at least 200 helicopters the defence forces need, and is part of Modi's drive to build a defence industrial base in India. 

4) Joint agreement on shipbuilding and specialist training in Andhra Pradesh. 

5) The two leaders also dedicated the unit two of Kudankulum nuclear power plant and witnessed foundation laying of its Unit 3 and 4. Modi said the dedication of Kudankulum 2 and laying of foundation concrete were examples of tangible results of India-Russia cooperation in the field. 

6) Zero tolerance policy towards terrorism and setting up of a Science and Technology Commission.

Another important deal was for four Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356) guided-missile stealth frigates.

Today's other important agreements included:

► A memorandum of understanding to develop transport logistics system

► An agreement on education and training

► An MoU on urban development and smart city projects 

► A pact on cooperation between Indian and Russian railways

► Announcement in relation to successful execution of documents between Rosneft and Essar for oil

► Space cooperation between Russian space Corporation and ISRO 

Reading out a statement to the media in the presence of Putin, the Prime Minister appreciated Russia's understanding and support of India's actions to fight cross-border terrorism, an oblique reference to India's surgical strike across the LoC targeting terror launch pads. 

"Russia's clear stand on the need to combat terrorism mirrors our own. We deeply appreciate Russia's understanding and support of our actions to fight cross-border terrorism, that threatens our entire region," Modi said. 

The Russian President, on his part, said that both India and Russia have close cooperation in fighting terrorism. Modi said both he and Putin noted the similarity of views on the situation in Afghanistan and turmoil in West Asia.

On trade ties, PM Modi said both countries continue to expand, diversify and deepen economic engagement. 

"Businesses and industry between our two countries are connected more deeply today. Trade and investment ties are on the upswing." 

"And, with President Putin's backing, we hope to fast track India's association with Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement," he said. 

"We also agreed to work closely to respond to the challenges posed by the unsettled nature of the global economic and financial markets. Our close collaboration at the United Nations, BRICS, East Asia Summit, G-20 and Shanghai Cooperation Organization makes our partnership truly global, both in its scope and coverage," Modi said. 



Read more at:
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CA exam to be tweaked to stand test of time; ICAI may introduce new subjects

Published In The EconomicTimes --- of India Oct 14,2016.

The country’s toughest examination is about to change with the changing times. After a decade, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) which conducts the CA exam, has approached the ministry of corporate affairs to improve the curriculum, introduce new subjects, electives, and open book tests in a few papers. 

In a complex world where tracking financial crimes calls for special skills like forensic audit and lower trade barriers along with free flow of capital emphasise the importance of transfer pricing rules, an updated course for CA students, it’s felt, could better prepare future Indian auditors, accountants, finance executives and CFOs. 

 “Globalisation,” said ICAI President M Devaraja Reddy, “has brought to the fore not only opportunities in areas of national and international financial reporting, taxation, finance and corporate laws but also challenges to the chartered accountancy profession.” The institute fs decision comes at a time the rules as well as the language of business are undergoing a change. Besides grasping the nuances of a new indirect tax regime like goods and services tax (GST),  chartered accountants will have to master the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) . the new, uniform global accounting order that is aimed at comparing financial statements and books of companies across borders. 

The institute has been conscious and proactive towards the ever-changing needs. We have proposed the revision of the curriculum after considering the views of various stakeholders. We are awaiting the views of the ministry, ICAI President M Devaraja Reddy said. 

Every year about a lakh students take the exam and only 10,000 clear it. 

Students planning to pursue CA as a profession may make a mental note of some of the changes that have been suggested by the institute: 

The entry-level exam, according to the proposed changes, would become comparatively more stringent as examinees would have to answer subjective questions over and above the regular objective (or multiple-choice) questions. 

Two new papers Business correspondence and reporting and Business and commercial knowledge . will be introduced at the Foundation level while a new subject, Economics for financ e, will be included at the Intermediate level. 

At the Final level, electives would be introduced as the eighth paper . wherein students will appear for an open-book examination to handle questions based on case studies. The electives offered include Risk Management, International Taxation, Financial Services and Capital Markets, Global Financial Reporting Standards, Economic Laws and Multi-Disciplinary Case. 

The paper on Information system control and audit has been renamed as Information system risk management and audit which will be part of the Advanced integrated course on information technology and soft skills . 

Instead of the current practice of registering for the CA course after clearing the Class 10 exam, it has been proposed that students will be allowed to register only after appearing for the Class 12 examination and can appear for the Foundation f exam following a four-month study period after passing the Class 12 examination. This may be aimed at helping students take a more matured and conscious decision and discourage private tutorials attracting students soon after leaving school. 

Till now, students had to register for three years of practical training on passing Group I (set of papers) or both groups of the Intermediate examination. The institute has proposed that students may register for three years of practical training on passing either or both groups of the Intermediate examination. 

As per the new programme, students going through the Foundation course will take roughly four-and-a-half years to become CAs while those qualifying for taking direct admission will take approximately three-and-a-half years. The institute will continue to allow students to appear for Final f exam in the last six months of practical training. 

LAWYER STORY OF THE YEAR, DECADE, AND POSSIBLY THE CENTURY!

This took place in Charlotte , North Carolina.

A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars,then insured them against, among other things, fire.
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.
In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.' The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued - and WON! 
(Stay with me.)

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.
Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires'.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!
With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This true story won First Place in last year's Criminal Lawyers Award contest.

Contributed by Navneet Singhal

Value of Doing Ph.D.

One day in a well known university, a senior professor started his class on a very serious topic. The moment he turned towards the blackboard, one of the students whistled. He turned, looked at the class and asked the whistler's name ............. As usual and as expected no one answered.

The professor peacefully kept the pen in his pocket and picked up his bag. Saying that, the lecture ends here and that was enough for the day, he started moving towards the gate of the class ........... Students were overjoyed to be free.

Then, he suddenly stopped and turned towards the class, kept his bag on the table and said, "I'll tell you a story to utilise the remaining time". Everyone became interested.

Yesterday night I tried hard to sleep, but it was miles away from my eyes, so I thought I'd better get petrol in my car, which will save my time next morning and might induce sleep. After having my tank full, I started roaming in that area, enjoying the peace of a traffic free ride.

Suddenly, on the corner I saw a girl who was as young and beautiful as the clothes she was wearing. Must have been returning from a party. Out of courtesy, I turned my car towards her and asked if I may be of any help. She asked me if I could drop her to her home, she'll be very obliged, to which I agreed.
(Who would deny a beautiful young company instead of a dry non sleepy need)

She sat in the front seat with me. We started talking, and to my amazement she was very intelligent, had control on many topics which many youngsters don't.

When we reached her address, she admitted my courteous nature and behavior and accepted that she had fallen in love with me.

I also admitted her intelligence and beauty and that I've also started liking her. I told her about my job as a professor in the university.

The girl asked my number, which I gave her willingly. Then she asked me a favor, to which i couldn't have denied naturally.

She said that her brother is a student in the same university, and asked me to take care of him, since we'll be in a long relationship now.

I asked the name of the student.She said that I'll recognise him with one of his very prominent quality.

He whistles a lot.

The moment the professor said this, all eyes in the classroom turned towards the boy who had whistled.

The professor turned to that boy and said,

"Young man I didn't get my Ph.D by just sitting on my ass"

Contributed by Navneet Singhal

Indian Economy:-Understanding Repo rate and Reverse Repo rate.

Repo rate, also called repurchase rate, is the rate of interest that banks pay when they borrow money from the Reserve Bank of India to meet their short-term fund requirements. This is called repurchase rate because when they borrow money from the RBI, they keep government securities with the central bank as collateral. When they pay the money back to RBI, they take the collateral back. 

Reverse repo rate is the rate of interest that banks get when they keep their surplus money with the RBI. Repo rate is always higher than the reverse repo rate. Reserve Bank of India slashed key lending rates by 25 basis points in its monetary policy review on Tuesday.

Now, the repo rate or the lending rate stands at 6.25 per cent while the reverse repo rate stands at 5.75 per cent. 

By controlling these rates, the RBI controls the rate of interest in the Indian economy.

“Cut in small saving rates should encourage banks to reduce lending rates,”

Read more at http://www.thestatesman.com/mobi/news/business/rbi-cuts-lending-rates-by-25-basis-points/168982.html#a2gc4UKRoLApdTuW.99

ISRO ( the Indian Space Research Organisation) in service of the Indian soldier, Indian war machine

This article By Pallava Bagla published in The Economic times this week end is of utmost importance to let the world know  the  ISRO capabilities. 

The precision 'surgical strikes' that Indian soldiers carried out on terrorist camps across the Line of Control were ably assisted and facilitated by metallic birds flying high in the sky unseen by Pakistanis and at least half a dozen satellites helped prepare and execute them. 

India is fast developing a huge capability called 'C4ISR' or 'command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance'. The country has already put in place an Aerospace Command and experts who understand the nature of the 'surgical strikes' acknowledge that this new tri-services body played a key role in planning and execution of the midnight attacks. 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) evidently does not fight wars and is purely a civilian agency, but the capabilities it imparts to the nation are among the very best in world. From watching over with an eagle eye the terrorist and militant infra-structure in Pakistan to providing two way communications in desolate places to giving out accurate navigation signals, ISRO has built a formidable infrastructure that helps India protect its borders in day or night.

Not many Indians know of these deep capabilities that lie hidden within the portals of the space agency as ISRO's missions to Mars and Moon hog the lime light, but silently and steadily the 17,000 strong work force of ISRO contributes to keeping the lives of 1.2 billion Indians secure. K Kasturirangan, former chairman of ISRO, says "The space agency has a formidable suit of technologies and all are suitably deployed with each user agency utilising the assets to their best advantage." 

So a high resolution imaging satellite can help in urban planning while it can also monitor terrorist camps across the border. Kasturirangan says a satellite image does not distinguish between friend and foe that interpretation rests with the users. Nobody doubts that ISRO's eyes and ears facilitated 'surgical strike' in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) at the staging points for terrorists. In years to come the role of India's space assets will play a much bigger role if and when hostilities break out on our borders. 

Kiran Kumar, chairman of ISRO, says, "The Indian space agency will not be found lacking in helping secure India's national interests now and in future." Today, India has 33 satellites in orbit around the earth and one in the Martian orbit. These include 12 communications satellites; 7 navigation satellites; 10 earth observation satellites and 4 weather monitoring satellites. This is one of the largest constellation of satellites in the Asia-Pacific region.

Each bird is tailor-made for a specific purpose and each when needed helps protects India's supreme national interests. India has some of the sharpest eyes in the sky and to prepare for the 'surgical strikes' India's best bird in the sky, the Cartosat 2-series satellite launched as recently as June 22 played a key role. From its 526-km perch, this bird can peer at every object in Pakistan and can easily count the number of cars parked in the grand mansion of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. With its almost 0.65-m resolution as it rotates the earth every 90 minutes this formidable spy in the sky can count each and every tank, truck and fighter aircraft parked anywhere in Pakistan or for that matter anywhere India desires. Speaking about the capabilities of this ultra-sharp satellite, Kumar said "The Cartosat 2 series has a unique capability of capturing a 1-minute video, which despite its enormous speed of 37 km a second, is able to focus at a single point for a minute." In addition, there were three other earth imaging satellites Cartosat-1, Cartosat-2 and Resourcesat-2 that provide top class imagery during day time. Going further, ISRO seeks to develop satellites that have a resolution of 25 cm in the very near future. In contrast, Pakistan has no such capability as its space program has hardly lifted off. Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair says even China does not have such high resolution satellites, the best China has is about 5-m resolution. 

Nair says "India invested heavily in space imaging technology and is now reaping the benefits." In contrast, Pakistan has no such capability as its space program has hardly lifted off. Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair says even China does not have such high resolution satellites, the best China has is about 5-m resolution. India also flies some satellites that have day and night viewing capabilities called 'synthetic aperture radar satellites'. There are two in orbit, the RISAT-1 and RISAT-2. Nothing can hide from these mean birds as they can see through cloud cover and are not blinded at night. Especially RISAT-2 is among the best in its class and its revisit time is relatively short. Assessing damage on the camps that harboured the terrorists would be relatively easy using the radar satellites. It is not that these satellites do not help civilian activities, radar satellites help monitor floods and have even been deployed to search for crashed planes and helicopters. India has put in place a regional satellite navigation system called NAVIC as recently as April 28 -- the last of the seven satellites was launched -- and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on its huge benefits. 

This system gives better than 20-m accuracy for navigation signals akin to the American Global Positioning System (GPS) in an envelope which extends about 1,500 km from the border on all sides. The signals are being beamed down 24x7 all the year around. Only America and Russia have similar capability over the South Asian region, China is still putting in place its satellite navigation system. The restricted signal which is available to the Indian armed forces is supposed to be even more accurate than the American GPS in the Indian region. Experts say it is unlikely that the Indian special forces used the hand-held devices from NAVIC to guide them to the terrorist camps as the devices are still being fine-tuned. India's enemies should have no doubts that very soon these swadeshi GPS signals will be leading its commandos into the very den of masterminds who control the terrorists. In the event of an all-out war, signals from NAVIC will undoubtedly help India target its whole suite of missiles to unleash unprecedented punishment on the enemy. Since the satellite navigation system is in India's control there can never be any fear of someone switching the constellation off.

There is another over 2,000 kg bird that points towards the Indian region all day and all night and provides unprecedented capability to India's armed forces. This is a satellite called GSAT-6 and this unique satellite has multi-media capability as it can stream video in both directions. It has the largest antennae which is 6 m in diameter. This is one unique satellite which will play a crucial role in the network centric warfare of the 21st century. Using a hand-held device, individual soldiers can connect and will be able to transmit live pictures of what they can see from their helmet mounted cameras even as they engage in combat. Launched last year the users are still developing the handheld devices that can be made portable and compatible with this capability. Very soon this satellites twin GSAT-6 A may be flown which will have even more powerful capabilities. 

Nair says, "The government and ISRO should expedite development of GSAT-6 A to have special capabilities that the special forces need." If one recalls in 2011, it was shown that President Barrack Obama monitored live feeds of the surgical strike the US carried out as part of Operation Geronimo to eliminate Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. India's GAST-6 and GSAT 6 A both will in principle be able to help providing live signals from the remotest of remote places in India's neighbourhood. Sources in India's Aerospace Command confirm that they did have access to a live feed that was put in place using typical Indian 'jugaad' but with these satellites such capabilities will become common place. 

Nair says right now India relies heavily on using Thuraya handsets for satellite telephony but he hopes very soon the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be able to deliver Indian handsets that are compatible with the country's GSAT-6 satellite. 

In fact Nair insists that in the upcoming GSAT 6-A, satellite telephony should be made the bigger component. 

While understandably much of the resources are focused on land since India has hostile neighbours both on its western and eastern fronts. ISRO has not forgotten the deep blue oceans that surround India and they need to be protected as well. On a specific demand by the Indian Navy, the Indian space scientists have already deployed a satellite the Navy calls 'Rukmini'. This is a dedicated communications satellite which helps the Indian Navy talk to its ships when they are beyond the visual range, in a secure fashion. In coming years, ISRO will also deliver a dedicated satellite made for the Indian Air Force.

Modi is a known space buff who even monitors India's rocket launches even as he goes about executing his day to day parliamentary duties and he is well aware how and where to deploy India's space assets to make sure no one casts an evil eye on India.

Yet among all this one chink remains space infrastructure is very vulnerable to attacks of the star wars type. Hence having boots on the ground that can protect the boundary will always be necessary. 

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