The Hindu Business Line : Cabinet clears Insat, spacecraft projects

THE Union Cabinet has approved the INSAT 4A and 4B spacecraft projects, involving a total outlay of Rs 1,354 crore including a foreign exchange component of Rs 1,011.05 crore. These satellites are the first two of the seven satellites in the 4th generation series.

The INSAT system is one of the largest satellite systems in the South East Asian region having 92 transponders from five satellites. These transponders are providing essential services to variety of users — Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Doordarshan, All India Radio, India Meteorological Department, private VSAT operators and public sector undertakings.

While the total cost of INSAT-4A spacecraft project is estimated at Rs 237.75 crore (Rs 169.40 crore in foreign exchange), the total cost of INSAT-4B spacecraft is estimated at Rs 201.75 crore (Rs 141.65 crore in foreign exchange).

The launch services for the two spacecrafts would involve a cost of about Rs 700 crore (Rs 700 crore in foreign exchange). The cost of insurance is estimated at Rs 175 crore.

Conversion of engineering colleges: The Cabinet has also approved the conversion of 17 regional engineering colleges in the country into National Institutes of Technology (NITs). These institutes would now enjoy deemed to be university status and would be fully funded by the Central Government.

The funding would result in an additional liability of Rs 70 crore annually (which is the State Governments' share of recurring expenditure at present) under the non-plan head.

There will also be an annual 10 per cent increase in liability for a period of five years from 2002-03 onwards.

"Making National Institutes of Technology fully central-funded would enable them to become national centres of excellence and help produce quality manpower comparable to those produced by other national level institutions like Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). In short, the country will have 17 IIT-level institutions with meagre investments", Ms Sushma Swaraj, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, told newspersons here.

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