The risk of there not being enough water in the stream — the ‘hydrology risk’ — is the “single largest risk” that a small hydro project faces, says a study of the rating and analysis agency, ICRA.

The study went into the question of why small hydro projects — projects of less than 25 MW capacity — have not been happening on a scale consistent with the potential in India. It found out that after ‘hydrology risk’, the risk of ‘containment of capital cost’ was the second biggest stumbling block.

With a view to improving the fertility of soil after ascertaining the minerals and micronutrients it lacks, the agriculture authorities have issued 16,000 soil health cards to farmers in Sirsa. Samples of soil taken from the fields of 16,000 more farmers have been collected and the authorities hope to issue cards to them by next month.

“The agriculture department has set up a laboratory in the district where the soil is tested for NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) culture,” said the Deputy Commissioner J Ganeshan.

SHILLONG, May 10 – The Central Silk Board (CSB) and State Space Application Centres has taken up a project to extend the silk cultivation area in the State to meet the growing demand of silk in the country thereby provide employment in the rural areas of the State. The current demand for silk is 30,000 ton but the country produces about 23000 ton, according to the CSB. The board is trying to extend the cultivation of silk in non-traditional areas like Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, etc.

India today successfully launched its first indigenous day-night and all-weather radar imaging satellite RISAT-1. It is slated to boost country's remote-sensing capabilities and facilitate agriculture and disaster management. Till now, India depended on images from a Canadian satellite as existing domestic remote-sensing spacecraft cannot take pictures of the earth during cloud cover. "The satellite can give valuable data like soil moisture, glacier positions and other details," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Radhakrishnan said.

It took years of dreaming and planning, and in the end, it all boiled down to a tension-filled 18 minutes for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to successfully place the first indigenous radar imaging satellite, RISAT-I, in its predetermined orbit after a perfect lift-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Thursday.

Sriharikota Achieving yet another milestone in its space programme, India on Thursday successfully launched its first indigenous all-weather radar imaging satellite RISAT-1 that will boost its remote sensing capabilities and facilitate agriculture and disaster management.

The perfect launch of the satellite catapulted India into a select band of countries having indigenous radar imaging technology. “Only the US, Canada, Japan and the European consortium have the technology so far,” PS Veeraraghavan, director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, said.

New Delhi The country’s wasteland declined more than 5 lakh hectare during 2005-2008, a national wasteland atlas released on Wednesday has noted.

The atlas prepared by the National Remote Sensing Centre under the Indian Space Research Organisation has stated that wasteland during 2005-08 declined by 3.2 million hectare while increase in wasteland was to the tune of 2.7 million hectare.

SRIHARIKOTA (ANDHRA PRADESH): India's second Moon mission Chandrayaan-2, slated for 2014, will have to wait till the country's space agency flies two of its heavy rocket - Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) - successfully, a top official said Thursday. Speaking to reporters after the successful launch of indigenously built Radar Imaging Satellite I (Risat-1) from here, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan said: "We plan to fly two GSLV rockets at an interval of six months before the Chandrayaan-2 mission."

SRIHARIKOTA (ANDHRA PRADESH): India's first indigenous all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1), whose images will facilitate agriculture and disaster management, was on Thursday launched successfully on board the PSLV-C19 from here. The 1,858 kg spacecraft, the country's first microwave remote sensing satellite, was injected into orbit by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle about 19 minutes after a perfect lift off at 5.47 am at the end of the 71-hour countdown from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, around 90 km from Chennai.

More than two decades after India's first operational optical remote sensing satellite went into orbit, the country's space capabilities are poised for a big technological leap now with the launch of an entirely indigenous radar imaging satellite, RISAT-1. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing to send the satellite into space aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle that is scheduled to lift off from Sriharikota early this Thursday.