Indian Navigation satellite system Up NAVIC- But will it be useful for the masses?

NAVIC the new Indian Regional Satellite Navigation system is now complete and will be activated by June. But even if this regional satellite navigation system will only track India and 1500 km beyond its boundaries, Will it be really useful?

Of course it will be useful for Indian military and its equipment as it will give them the accuracy they need to target their opponents and also reduce their reliance on US build GPS and Russian Build GLONASS systems. 

But for ordinary users it will be only useful if ISRO, DRDO or private vendors develop Navigation tools compatible with the system. ISRO is also asking manufacturers of mobile phones to incorporate the navigation chip into their mobile handsets. ISRO must also market the system to local car manufacturers and make it mandatory for them to install the system in their cars.

Indian government is making GPS guided mobile phones mandatory from 2018, If instead of GPS, if NAVIC aided system is used in these mobile phones it will be also cheap and reasonable and will save government millions of dollars. Indian government should give incentives to local chip manufacturers to make the required micro chip and processors in India under the "Make in India" campaign.

So finally its great to have a Indian Navigation satellite system in place, but unless it is properly marketed it wont benefit the common users. 

Konkan Gondhal in Asrondi

7.1 quake rocks Kathmandu, parts of India

Tremors were felt across major swathes of North India, including Delhi, and parts of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam in the east and Gujarat to the west. The quake occurred at 12.40 pm today. 


Tremors were also felt in Kathmandu in Nepal and Afghanisan. Kathmandu was devastated just weeks ago by a  massive earthquake in which nearly 7,700 people were killed. Tremors were also felt across Northern India at the time, with nearly 50 people killed in Bihar.


Pic: An excavator digs rubble to search for bodies after Nepal was hit by an earthquake last month. 

Why Indian Airlines are facing the heat? Why they fail?

Why Indian Airlines are facing the heat and going bankrupt? Why when airlines like Singapore airlines and Thai are earning good profits, No airlines in India except Indigo is in blue?

Why Gulf airlines are taking over Indian skies?

The all reasons lead too one answer: Indian Airlines are poor in Service!

Indian airlines are always given poor reviews by their passengers (including Indians) for lacking service, be it on the part of their staff or anyone. They are unhappy over service and general cleanliness of the airlines as is expected from them. Even if they are low cost it wont cost a bomb for their staff to give excellent service for which they are paid.

Just check the reviews about Indian airlines at airlinequality.com and you will understand the problem facing the aviation sector.

So its not the government or the oil cost which is killing Indian airlines its their quality of service. An improvement in the same will lead to better revenues in the future.

China, France, UK and 3 more in e-visa list; India sees 421.6% jump in tourists

China, France, UK and 3 more in e-visa list; India sees 421.6% jump in tourists


NEW DELHI: Citizens from China, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy and Malaysia will soon be able to get online visas to India, expanding the number of countries that can avail this facility to 50. India had introduced electronic visa for 44 countries in November last year.

"The six countries recommended by the ministry to the department of home affairs for issuance of e-visa are China, the UK, Spain, France, Italy and Malaysia," tourism secretary Lalit Panwar said. He was speaking at the India Heritage Tourism Conclave by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.

Countries that already have the electronic visa authorization or online visa facility include the US, Australia, Japan, Israel, Germany and Russia.

India has already issued 65,000 e-visas in the last 75 days and, on an average, 1000 electronic visa authorizations are being issued a day. There was a 421.6% jump in tourist arrivals during December 2014 compared to the previous year. India had issued 2,700 visas in December 2013 whereas the number of ETAs issued during December 2014 was 14,083.

Online visa facility is applicable for visitors traveling to India for recreation, short duration medical treatment and business visit for a stay of 30 days. It is available at nine airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Thiruvanathapuram.

Panwar also spoke about expecting a "windfall bonanza" on budget allocations for the tourism sector as it was categorized as a priority developmental sector for the economy by PM Narendra Modi.

"The tourism ministry has been consistently pitching for higher allocations with the finance ministry to protect, preserve, promote and restore its rich heritage of over 5,000 years of Indian history and indications are suitably impressive and, therefore, the aspirations and expectations of the tourism ministry have already enlivened so that with the higher allocations, the tourism ministry is able to implement the prime minister's vision for developing its tourism and heritage," Panwar said.

Mumbai-Dubai busiest route in 2014, Delhi-Dubai 2nd

Mumbai-Dubai busiest route in 2014, Delhi-Dubai 2nd

NEW DELHI: The Mumbai-Dubai sector was the busiest international city pair for travel to and from India last year. With as many as 17.5 lakh people flying between these two cities, closely followed by 13.6 lakh between Delhi and Dubai, the Emirate emerged as the destination most frequented by Indians.

Dubai saw a whopping 84.5 lakh people flying to and from India last year, way ahead of the second spot of almost 44 lakh occupied by UAE — of which it too is a part. London, Bangkok, Singapore and Kathmandu were the other major destinations or transit points for Indian globetrotters last year.

India is an important market for all airlines as international travel has been constantly growing in the past few years. Forget metros, even small towns are generating huge volumes of traffic. For instance, 4.5 lakh people flew between Sharjah and Kochi last year. Trivandrum and Dubai saw 4.7 lakh people flying between them last year. Pune, Varanasi and Amritsar also saw substantial numbers flying to overseas destinations last year.


While domestic air travel has seen its share of ups and downs in past seven years, international air travel has been constantly growing at almost 10%. The next round of growth is expected from small towns. The aviation ministry is allowing new airlines to take shape and is focusing on promoting regional connectivity. It is also planning to make it easier for new airlines to fly abroad.

With these moves, it hopes to counter the dominance of foreign, especially Gulf, carriers.

Dubai's dominance comes from the fact that its airline, Emirates, rules Indian skies and is the third largest carrier in India in terms of international market share. All Indian carriers that fly abroad — Jet Airways, Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet — also fly to Dubai. While they offer only point-to-point connectivity between India and Dubai, Emirates offers connectivity to rest of the world for Indian flyers from its hub, making it a virtual Pied Piper for Indian travellers.

"Star Alliance accepted Air India into its fold mainly to counter the onslaught of Gulf carriers. Emirates is already known as the de facto national airline of India. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad's tie-up with Jet Airways means that Jet will feed that hub from 23 cities in India. Together, Gulf carriers pose the biggest challenge not only for Indian carriers but also other airlines that fly into India," said an airline official.

With Jet going the Gulf way, Indian aviation has pinned its hopes on AI weaning away long-haul traffic from them with its new-found Star Alliance membership and the joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines, Vistara. "IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir, when it starts flying abroad, will go only to nearby international destinations. Vistara has the capability to quickly mount long haul flights if the rule for Indian carriers to fly abroad is relaxed," said an airline official.

With Russia in trouble can India help?

Russia is facing a long crisis due to its involvement in Ukraine and corresponding sanctions from US and Europe, The currency "Ruble" with was 30-32 to a US$ has now sunk to 68/USD and its credit rating is turned to junk. All the important groceries and vegetable imported from Europe and US are now touching the roof.

In such position India can present itself as a better alternative to purchases from the US or Europe. Indian currency is now nearly equal to the ruble and thus the trade can be conducted in Rupee/Ruble denominated manner. During the Soviet Union times the Russians used to take Rupee as an accepted medium of payment and similar lines can be used for Rupee/Ruble swap if required. Indian Rupee is now quite stable and can provide an anchor to the falling Ruble and other currencies of CIS countries.