India's high-flying space diplomacy

India’s space diplomacy has taken regional cooperation into a higher orbit. On Friday, Indian Space Research Organisation’s GSLV rocket hurled into space a 2,230-kg GSAT-9, a geo-stationary communications satellite that will benefit India’s smaller neighbours by making available to them space technology applications in tele­communication and broadcasting, internet services, disaster management, weather forecasting, tele-medicine and tele-education, e-governance, etc. South Asia, a region which has some of the worst socio-economic indicators in the world and is routinely hit by natural disasters, can expect to address at least some of its problems with the South Asia Satellite beaming back vital data. Many of our problems are shared and a cooperative effort towards tackling them would lighten burdens of individual countries. That is what the South Asia Satellite has set out to do. This should provide a boost to regional cooperation. The India-built and funded satellite will directly benefit Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka as well as Afghanistan, when it signs on to the initiative.

India was keen to have Pakistan on board, too, and had invited it to collaborate in the project. Unfortunately, Islamabad pulled out saying that it had its own space programme. Cooperation in space is possible even for countries that are hostile towards each other on the ground. It may be recalled that in the 1970s, the US and Soviet Union collaborated in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Relations between Washington and Moscow have gone through several ups and downs since. But their collaboration in space remains steadfast. Pakistan must shed its suspicions and inhibitions to participate in projects like the South Asia Satellite.

The success of India’s space diplomacy will depend on how fully its neighbours use the satellite’s potential. Several of them already have advanced communication satellites of their own in space or are in the process of getting them. Sri Lanka, for instance, will have a second China-built satellite launched sometime next year.  Will it be willing to invest in the necessary ground infrastructure for use of a few transponders in the South Asia Satellite when it already has its own satellite? It has already spent several millions to purchase the Chinese satellite. There is some concern, therefore, that China, which moved swiftly into South Asia with offers to launch satellites, already has the first-mover advantage and could render the South Asia Satellite a white elephant. Apparently, the idea of a South Asia Satellite predates the BJP government; the UPA was reportedly mulling over it for years. The delay in making it a reality gave space for China to swoop in with its satellites. This is a lesson for India. Coming up with useful initiatives aren’t enough. They must be implemented swiftly as well.