Embassy of India

Space technology is one of the fastest growing technology domains in present times, particularly applications of satellite data and communications; their processing; quality of earth imagery and their deployment in various fields.

In June 2020, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre or INSPACe as an autonomous agency in the Department of Space was an outcome of GOI decision in June 2020 to open up the space sector to private companies. It promotes, supervises, enables and authorizes space activities of private companies.

Last 4-5 years have shown rapid rise in space activities – launch vehicles, satellites, data analysis and solutions by Indian companies. I am glad that some of the leading Indian space companies are here today with us.

ISRO and IISST have been engaged with Bhutan through a number of activities – use of South Asia Satellite for broadcasting and communications with its ground station; launch of India-Bhutan SAT in November 2022 which provided useful imagery to Bhutan; engagement with CST, Phuentsholing, Bhutan on space science capacity and training opportunities.

This visit by INSPACe and some of the leaders in space applications in India marks a new beginning to expand the use of space technology as part of India-Bhutan cooperation.

Several applications by the visiting delegation seem apt for Bhutan such as:

- agricultural lending

- forest governance and other environmental solutions

- infrastructure management

- sustainability applications

- disaster-related uses of space technology.

Having been based in Bhutan for the last eight months, I have seen the relevance for Bhutan of hydropower and related hydrography applications; forest management including monitoring forest fires; agricultural applications; disaster monitoring (landslides, flash floods, GLOF); infrastructure – road and airport. All these areas have useful applications of satellite imagery and its processing.

I wonder if South Asia Satellite applications could also be examined by INSPACe members to optimize them beyond broadcasting.

To my Indian colleagues, GovTech is the Government Technical Department under the Prime Minister’s Office which deals with technology uses and their development. There is a space division under GovTech which is present here. We also have presence of various Ministries and agencies in areas such as NCHM-hydrology; Agriculture; and Education.

Druk Holdings and Investments is the Government of Bhutan’s investment arm and several start ups are also here. College of Science & Technology as leading engineering college in Bhutan that has engaged IISST is also here.

I would like to encourage all participants to identify and develop solutions in areas of interest to users in Bhutan and services by INSPACe members. Based on these complementarities, we could find modalities for their implementation, including support at the level of the two governments.

I thank Secretary, GovTech for facilitating the arrangements for this meeting and all participants for sparing time to participate. I will look forward to some actionable space applications by the Indian and Bhutanese partners after their engagements today.

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