Author: S.K. Das
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 257
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143102168
Description
A book that introduces us to the other side of the Indian Space Programme and shows us that ISRO is not just rockets.
Touching Lives is not merely a chronicle of the community outreach of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is the story of journeys to far corners of India meeting people whose lives have been transformed by technology. It is the account of people who have forged a different destiny for themselves, breaking the cycle of poverty and helplessness, with a little help from ISRO.
Throwing light on some of the million tiny revolutions sweeping the country, the book takes us from Jhabua to interior Karnataka, from the Sundarbans to Chamoli in Garhwal. It is our chance to meet everyday revolutionaries like Muni Raj, a farmer from Jaunpur who is reclaiming and treating unusable land with ISRO technology, like Suresh in a rural Karnataka school studying and dreaming big with lectures that are beamed to him through ISRO’s EDUSAT or like Girijavva Ganigar, a scheduled caste woman who was empowered to take leadership initiative in her panchayat after attending training programmes conducted by ISRO. We learn of celebrity cardiac surgeons treating poor patients for free from thousands of miles away through telemedicine and overhear what the fishermen of Lakshadweep, who are fishing smarter and better with ISRO maps, have to say.
These simple accounts and little triumphs show us that this is the real shining India, the India resurgent and hopeful, resolutely making its way towards a more ecologically and economically sustainable tomorrow.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
In Alirajopur: TV Travails and Development
Communication
In Koraput: Finding Drinking water
In Chamarajanagar: Educating Children
Lakshadweep: Helping Fishermen
In Tripura: Providing Healthcare
In Orissa: Helping Flood Efforts
Karnataka’s Panchayats: Empowering
Grass-Roots Representatives
In Jhabua: Watershed
The Himalayas in Garhwal: Pilgrims’ Progress
In The Gangetic Plains: Reclaiming Sodic Land
In God’s Own Country: Automatic Weather
Station
In Thyagaraja’s Land: The Village
Resource Centre
Index