Vaishnaw welcomes Musk's Starlink to India, says will help remote railway projects
New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI): Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday welcomed Elon Musk's Starlink to India and said it will help railway projects in remote areas of the country.
"Starlink, welcome to India! Will be useful for remote area railway projects," Vaishnaw posted on social media platform X.
Vaishnaw is also the minister for information and broadcasting, as well as electronics and information technology.
His comments follow two separate deals with Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms and Sunil MIttal's Bharti Airtel struck by SpaceX, the aerospace company led by Musk, to bring Starlink's broadband internet services to India.
The two deals follow months of bickering over how Musk's venture should be granted spectrum rights.
Over the past few months, rivals Jio and Airtel had come together to demand an auction for awarding spectrum for satellite services in India as they feared an administrative allocation would give Musk airwaves at a price lower than what they had paid via auctions in the past.
Jio will offer Starlink equipment in retail outlets and online stores and also support customer installation and activation on devices. Jio and SpaceX will also explore how they can boost each other's offerings.
Starlink is the world's largest low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellation operated by SpaceX.
On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel announced that it is entering into an agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink's high-speed Internet service to India on a non-exclusive basis. Bharti already partners with Eutelsat OneWeb, the second-largest LEO constellation.
Similarly, Jio Platforms has a joint venture with SES, another leading global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider.
Starlink can help Bharti and Jio provide connectivity to previously underserved areas, especially areas currently with limited to no coverage.
The deals by Airtel and Jio come weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Musk, seen as very close to US President Donald Trump, in Washington to discuss issues, including space, mobility, technology and innovation.
Modi was in the US to meet Trump, who in his second term as the US President upped the ratchet on tariffs against various countries, including India.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
