Kerala CM's call to donate month's salary gets good response
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 27 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's appeal to people to contribute a month's salary in the wake of the flood disaster has elicited a good response.
Governor P. Sathasivam said on Monday that the appeal was reasonable.
"As the first citizen of the state, I have decided to do it and will hand over the cheque to the Chief Secretary," said Sathasivam, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
He had contributed Rs 1 lakh earlier to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund. On Monday, he handed over a cheque for Rs 250,000 as the balance amount towards his contribution of one month's salary.
Vijayan's appeal, made through Asianet TV channel, on Sunday has gone viral on the social media. He has suggested that those interested in contributing a month's salary can do it over a period of 10 months.
Advocate General C.P. Sudhakara Prasad said: "I had already handed over Rs 1 lakh when the CM made his call asking everyone to contribute. Now, heeding to his call to hand over a month's salary, I will do it when I get my next month's salary."
Kerala Police chief Loknath Behra told the media that he would pay his one month's salary in one instalment.
"I have got numerous calls from my colleagues who too have promised to contribute one month's salary. Kerala will bounce back very quickly," said Behra.
Senior Congress legislator and former Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said he had also decided to hand over his one month's salary too.
"But the state government should ensure that they stop all extravagance," he said.
Mohammed Hanish, a senior bureaucrat who heads the Kochi Metro, also promised to donate a month's salary. Many other officials and Ministers have also made the pledge.
The social media has welcomed Vijayan's call.
Ever since monsoon rains began lashing Kerala on May 29, a total of 417 people have died. The flood fury this month has caused unprecedented destruction and forced more than one million people to take shelter in relief camps.
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Indian startup's 'Drishti' satellite launched aboard SpaceX rocket
New Delhi (PTI): Bengaluru-based space start-up GalaxEye's Mission Drishti satellite was launched on Sunday aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from California.
Mission Drishti is the world's first OptoSAR satellite, integrating electro-optical (EO) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors into a single operational platform, according to the company.
While EO sensors capture high-resolution images during sunlight and clear skies, SAR sensors provide all-weather and all-time images, using radar pulses.
In a statement, Suyash Singh, founder and CEO of GalaxEye, said, "With the satellite (Mission Drishti) now successfully in orbit, our immediate focus is on completing its commissioning. As we move through this phase, we are already witnessing strong global interest in the differentiated datasets enabled by our OptoSAR payload."
The satellite will help address long-standing limitations of conventional systems and enable more reliable and consistent data acquisition across diverse environmental conditions, the company said.
As a dual-use Earth observation satellite, the mission will support use cases across defence, agriculture, disaster management, maritime monitoring, and infrastructure planning.
The satellite is also expected to complement India's broader initiatives, including the 29 active Earth Observation satellites outlined in ISRO's recent annual report.
The launch came after five years of indigenous research and development, and extensive environmental testing and performance validation of the Mission Drishti.
In a statement, Lt Gen AK Bhatt (Retd), director general of Indian Space Association (ISpA), said, "GalaxEye has achieved what only a few global players have, which is seamlessly combining optical and SAR capabilities on a single platform to enable persistent, all-weather intelligence."
What stands out is not just the technology, but its broader impact on how downstream applications will increasingly define value in the space economy, particularly in Earth observation, where timely, decision-grade insights are critical," he added.
ISpA is the premier industry association of space and satellite companies in the country.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh also took note of the Mission Drishti launch, saying the development marked a significant milestone in India's space journey.
In a post on X, the minister said, "The successful launch of the world's first OptoSAR satellite, and the largest privately-built satellite in the country, reflects the immense potential of our young innovators driving nation-building."
GalaxEye aims to scale up Mission Drishti to a constellation of 10 satellites by 2030, developing a robust and sovereign Earth observation infrastructure for India.
