India can peep into Pak homes: Jitendra Singh

India is now capable of even peeping into Pakistani homes through its Integrated Comprehensive Border Management System (CIBMS), currently on a pilot in Jammu and Punjab. This declaration of India's tech-driven prowess came from Union Minister of State for Space Department, Jitendra Singh.

At the launch of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)'s UNNATI project here on Thursday, Singh said the System allows India to look into the verandahs and rooms of people's houses across the border in Pakistan.

In the wake of the Pathankot attack, the Centre had green-signalled CIBMS to stop infiltration along the 2,900 km Indo-Pak border. The plan was this: Anyone attempting to enter India from Gujarat to Jammu & Kashmir could be tracked through multiple technologies.

The system incorporates round-the-clock surveillance, thermal imaging, night-vision devices, battlefield surveillance radars and underground monitoring sensors.

Exclusive Isro satellite

Isro has announced that a satellite will be launched exclusively for the Home Ministry to help it further strengthen its frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh. A task force had recommended the use of space technology to boost border management.

Jitendra Singh made a link with space technology and the grounded need for toilets, by recalling a question actor Amitabh Bachchan posed to him years ago: Can space tech be used to map toilets? The matinee idol would often get stuck in traffic and was forced to go to strangers' houses in search of a toilet.

Singh claimed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Space Department had received more attention than ever before. Isro was out of sight, and Sriharikota was a 'godforsaken' place. “But now, we are using space tech in infrastructure, construction of roads, manning of railway crossings and MNREGA,” he noted.

Neil Armstrong vs Chandrayaan

Neil Armstrong, Singh reminded, had landed on the Moon in 1969 with that famous statement about a small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind. Yet, he could not see water. “But Chandrayaan, our unmanned mission from India found what the man could not,” the Minister pointed out.

Dubbing India as a frontline nation in space technology, he said the country has surpassed many others with its Gaganyaan project.