Ready to join others to form panchayat boards: Bengal BJP
Kolkata, Aug 26 : West Bengal's BJP unit on Sunday said the party was ready to join hands with other political outfits in the state at the grass roots level to stop the Trinamool Congress (TMC) from forming gram panchayat boards.
Accusing the TMC of intimidating their winning candidates in the state rural body elections, state Bharatiya Janata Party President Dilip Ghosh said the BJP has decided to work together with other state opposition parties to form boards in all the hung panchayat boards.
"The BJP will form the panchayat boards wherever we have the majority. Even in most of the hung bodies, the panchayat boards are being formed with our support. We have decided to join hands with rest of the political parties if necessary, to keep Trinamool away from power," Ghosh told the media here.
"The Trinamool is trying to intimidate our winning candidates in several places to make them switch to their party. Police and local administration is not taking any action against the miscreants. But the common people who have voted for us, do not want Trinamool to form the panchayat boards."
TMC had swept the rural body elections in May by winning more than 20,000 gram panchayat seats while the BJP emerged as a distant second with close to 6,000 seats.
The saffron outfit, however, managed to perform well in two western districts -- Purulia and Jhargram.
Ghosh claimed that his party will be able to form at least 300 panchayat boards in its own capacity.
"The BJP will form close to 300 panchayat boards, based on its own calibre. At least 100 other boards can be formed with our support elsewhere in the state," he added.
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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.
