Muralidhar Koteshwar

From IIT Madras classrooms to orbit—GalaxEye has launched Mission Drishti, the world’s first OptoSAR imaging satellite, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. Incubated at the IITM Incubation Cell, this breakthrough fuses optical and SAR imaging in one pass—delivering clear, all-weather, day-and-night insights when they’re needed most. A milestone recognised by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, who congratulated the team, calling it a major step in India’s space journey and a reflection of youth-driven innovation. As highlighted by Analytics India Magazine, Mission Drishti removes the trade-off between clarity and consistency—unlocking faster, smarter decision-making from space. With on-board AI enabling real-time intelligence, this is India’s deep-tech story reaching new heights—built in India, for the world. Watch here: youtube.com/watch?v=YZKea9… @iitmadras @GalaxEye @IITMIC @PMOIndia @narendramodi @EduMinOfIndia @Analyticsindiam #MissionDrishti #IITMadras #SpaceTechIndia #InnovationIndia

‘I am in touch with imams, rabbis and leaders across the world’: @Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Read: theweek.in/theweek/cover/… @ArtofLiving (Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, interfaith dialogue, global peace) #TheWeek #GurudevSriSriRaviShankar #GlobalPeace #Interfaith

⚠️ Urgent Warning for All AC Owners in India! Local AC service walas are often filling cheap/wrong gas like R-152a, Propane (R-290), Butane or LPG mixes instead of proper R-410A / R-32 / R-22. These flammable gases can leak + spark = FIRE or EXPLOSION 🔥 Real case: Navy ship blast killed 3 sailors due to wrong flammable refrigerant. ✅ Always use authorized brand service ✅ Demand branded gas + invoice ✅ Never let cheap “local wala” refill blindly Your AC can literally become a bomb. Stay safe this summer! #ACSafety #RefrigerantScam #IndiaSummer #StaySafe

Let me explain what just happened today because it deserves so much recognition. GalaxEye is a Bengaluru startup founded in 2021 by IIT Madras engineers. Today they launched Mission Drishti on a SpaceX Falcon 9. It is India's largest privately built satellite at 190 kg. And it carries a technology that no commercial satellite has ever carried before. Normal satellites take photos of the Earth using optical cameras. Like your phone camera, but from 500 km up. The problem is obvious. Clouds. Night. Fog. Smoke. If any of these are in the way, the photo is useless. India has monsoon cover for 4 months a year. That is 4 months where optical satellites are partially or fully blind over large parts of the country. The alternative is SAR. Synthetic Aperture Radar. Instead of taking photos with light, it sends radar waves down and reads what bounces back. Radar goes through clouds, through darkness, through smoke. A SAR satellite can image a flooded village at 2 AM during a cyclone when no optical satellite can see anything. The problem with SAR is that the images look nothing like photos. They look like grainy black-and-white radar maps. A military analyst or a trained geospatial engineer can read them. A farmer, a disaster response team, or a city planner cannot. Until today, if you wanted both optical and SAR data for the same location, you needed two different satellites, passing over at different times, at different angles. Then someone had to manually align and fuse the two datasets. Expensive, slow, and the data never perfectly matched because the satellites saw the same spot minutes or hours apart. GalaxEye put both sensors on one satellite. Optical and SAR, fused into what they call OptoSAR. Three times more information than a single sensor. Processed onboard by an NVIDIA AI chip at 1.8 metre resolution. Now in practice, during the next cyclone hitting Odisha, one satellite pass gives you a clear image of which villages are flooded, which roads are cut, and which buildings are standing. Day or night. Cloud or clear. In near real-time. For defence, it means you can monitor a border area 24/7 regardless of weather. For agriculture, it means tracking crop health across an entire monsoon season without a single cloud gap. For infrastructure, it means monitoring construction progress on highways and bridges without waiting for a clear day. GalaxEye tested their SAR tech on ISRO's POEM orbital platform. The satellite was tested at ISRO facilities. IN-SPACe provided regulatory clearance. NSIL, ISRO's commercial arm, will distribute the imagery globally. And it launched on SpaceX because ISRO's PSLV doesn't have the right orbit slot for this mission. Yes, four IIT Madras graduates built a world-first satellite in 4 years in Bengaluru. Take a bow!

Folks please see. youtu.be/wiYQpO5aQr4

ICYMI: Companies that shift from employer-focused recruiting to a candidate-first approach are far more likely to attract, secure and retain the talent needed to drive long-term success. entrepreneur.com/growing-a-busi…

Ask your farmer friends to try this out..

On the #56thFoundationDay of @IndiaDST, Secretary Prof. @karandi65 reflects on the Department’s evolving journey & transformation over the past decade under the leadership of Hon’ble PM Shri @NarendraModi. By catalysing private sector investment in R&D, India is building a stronger, innovation-led ecosystem. This approach is opening new avenues for employment and entrepreneurship, while advancing the vision of an #AtmanirbharBharat. #DSTFoundationDay #56YearsOfDST @DrJitendraSingh @Dhana_Arumugam1 @DBTIndia @CSIR_IND @moesgoi @mygovindia @PIB_India

The drug "ORS" is still being used on the labels, in the branding, and in the marketing of beverages not complying with the WHO recommended formula ORS. c.org/4wzT58q4wN If each of you make your family sign the petition and share with your friends asking them to do the same, you can become a part of this great mission to ensure no company cheats parents once again in the name of ORS. Think about the poor ignorant parents atleast! Please! 5 MINS OF YOUR TIME FOR THIS PLS, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LOSE ANYTHING, BUT YOU MAY SAVE A CHILD'S LIFE. "Dear all, I Dr Sivaranjani Santosh want to clarify to you that I have not reached out to IAP to condemn the notice by Kenvue and J&J expecting them to provide me with some legal support etc. I am strong enough to face the companies by myself. I want IAP to ask Kenvue to rebrand in such a way that the new product doesn't have any semblance to ORSL which parents believed to be ORS for 2 decades, to ask them not to use ORSL in the marketing of the new product/eRZL, and to not promote any of these as daily hydration drinks for children, especially the ones containing NSS like Sucralose. If IAP doesn't do it atleast now, it won't have a face left to save. It's like backstabbing the children of this country for the funds and freebies from the companies!" I ask you all if this was an abusive message?! The president of IAP is taking pains to spread the message in the IAP circles that I am an abusive person and that I use derogatory language. Most IAPians at the ground level are supporting the cause and are supporting me, but the president and her coterie are hell bent on misleading the other IAPians that I have commercial interests in doing what I am doing, that I am earning money from social media, and that I am doing it for public attention. It's basic common sense that no one would fight for years with multinational companies, the government, and their own professional body for earning money/gaining public attention. It is also basic common sense that one doesn't earn money through social media if the channel is a social channel and/or if one doesn't do endorsements. You all have seen 1. How IAP president and her team refused to condemn the notice issued to me by Johnson&Johnson Pte Ltd and Kenvue 2. How the IAP president refused to condemn the Public notice by Kenvue that its ORSL drinks were scientific and that they were presented in PEDICON 3. The IAP's position statement on ORS and electrolytes emphasizing on the safety of Sucralose without talking about the other artificial sweeteners and without warning the parents about the risks of daily usage of Sucralose. 4. You also know that IAP conferences continue to be funded by Kenvue, and IAP had never asked them to remove ORS from the branding of Johnson&Johnson's/Kenvue's high sugar liquids inspite of my repeated mails. 5. Now, IAP president without knowing the ground reality sharing videos that anything which has ORS on it is ORS, after the FSSAI order. No. It is not so. Sharing the pics of 2 brands which are stilling using ORS in the branding/on the label, violating FSSAI order. eRZL is still being marketed as the new form of ORSL, again violating the FSSAI order. I wonder why the IAP president is going to such lengths to protect the company and pull down the one paediatrician who remained steadfast in her commitment to ensure 'ORS' is not used on the labels of any beverages or packs unless until it is WHO recommended formula ORS. You all know how important that was for the children, old people, people with diabetes, and all! @fssaiindia @docalok @MoHFW_INDIA @NMC_IND @NeetiiAayog #ORSL #eRZL #electrofit #ETORS #misbranding #IAPpresident

Indian language email IDs are quietly igniting a massive leap towards true digital inclusion. This pioneering Indian technology is transforming 'Digital India' by breaking down linguistic barriers right now. 🧵 1/5

A truck driver on his phone rear-ended our car (A Hyundai Tucson) on a NH44. My 4-year-old was in the car. We walked away. Barely! This isn’t just our story. This is every Indian highway, every single day. And nobody in power seems to care enough to fix it. Here’s what’s killing people on our national highways and what we demand changes: [LLMs have been used to for better phrasing] 📵 CELLPHONE DISTRACTION Phone use while driving = driving drunk. Same reaction time, same lane drift, same inability to brake. The fine is a joke — paid, forgotten, back on the phone. This needs criminal-level deterrence, not a challan. 🚛 TRUCKS IN THE FAST LANE Every highway trip, a truck crawling in the rightmost lane, forcing everyone to overtake dangerously from the left. Keeping left is LAW under the Motor Vehicles Act. Not a suggestion. Where is the enforcement? 🔀 LANE CHANGES WITHOUT INDICATORS No signal. No mirror check. Just a sudden swerve at speed. This causes side-impact crashes and pile-ups that nobody sees coming. Fine and suspend. No exceptions. ⛔ WRONG-SIDE DRIVING Tractors. Autos. Trucks. Even cars — driving on the wrong side of a 4-lane highway because turning around is “too far.” This is not a traffic violation. This is attempted murder. Head-on collisions at highway speeds are almost always fatal. 🚶 JAYWALKING ON HIGHWAYS Pedestrians crossing 6-lane highways on foot because there are no underpasses, no footbridges, no lighting. My anger isn’t at them. It’s at a system that collects toll at every plaza and still can’t build basic pedestrian infrastructure. Very common on ORR in Hyderabad. 🛠️ WORKERS ON LIVE LANES WITH ZERO PROTECTION Road repair / landscaping with no cones, no barriers, no advance warning signs, no reflective gear. Workers crouching in a live lane with vehicles flying past at 100 kmph. This is institutional recklessness with human lives. 🚚 UNFIT TRUCKS ON HIGHWAYS Overloaded. Bald tyres. Broken tail lights. No reflective tape. Invisible at night until it’s too late. Vehicle fitness certification is a rubber stamp. Bribes are cheaper than compliance. We need automated testing with zero human interface. 🌑 ZERO ENFORCEMENT AFTER DARK Every highway driver knows the truth - after dark, the rules don’t exist. No patrol. No cameras. No consequences. Highway patrol must be 24x7. Non-negotiable. ━━━━━━━━━━ What can save you: ✅ 5-star safety rated car: crumple zones held, cabin stayed intact ✅ Toddler car seat: IsoFix is better. ✅ Seatbelts - every passenger including rear seats ✅ A good 2-channel dashcam — rear footage is now our key evidence. Front-only would have been of little help. Before buying a car, check its safety ratings. Use a car seat. Belt up. Get a 2-channel dashcam. Thanks to @HyundaiIndia @Hyundai_Global for making a car which saved us. ━━━━━━━━━━ A special thank you to @AnantapurPolice for filing the FIR promptly and treating this with the seriousness it deserved. This is what accountability looks like. Also tagging @arun_bathula who has been doing some great work in #hyderabad to bring awareness and educate drivers in the city to thank him for his efforts in making the city roads safer. @nitin_gadkari @ncbn @AndhraPradeshCM @revanth_anumula @TelanganaCMO @NHAI_Official @MORTHIndia @APTrafficPolice @APPOLICE100 @TelanganaCOPs enough talk. Fix this. #RoadSafety #IndianHighways #DistractedDriving #PutThePhoneDown #HighwaySafety

#WATCH | Mumbai, Maharashtra: On attending the Yashraj Bharati Samman (YBS) 2026 Gratitude Ceremony, Indian-American economist Abhijit Banerjee says, "...What is development? I want to start with the same question, which is, what makes development? I think there are two very standard views you hear all the time, and there's, of course, some truth to them. One of them is that we need to have resources, and essentially, if we have resources, we can solve the problems... The other is that we need self-reliance, and that people need to help themselves and solve their problems... The real problem in education is not the lack of technology, that's not the lack of sophisticated material, it's not the lack of infrastructure. It was the simple fact that teachers don't teach the child; they teach the curriculum. By promoting the opposite, by promoting the idea that you should teach the child and not the curriculum, it's been shown that all over the world, education can improve very fast..." (03.05)

We’re hiring! Science Gallery Bengaluru is hiring for multiple roles! If you’re passionate about working at the intersection of science, technology, and culture, we’d love to hear from you! Head to our website for more information: bengaluru.sciencegallery.com/jobs @JahnaviPhalkey

Sailing in India had always belonged to a certain kind of person. Suheim Sheikh knew this firsthand — as a boy in Hyderabad, he could barely afford sailing shoes. Years later, after building a career in financial technology, he came back to the sport with a question: what if talent didn't have to depend on money? In 2009, he started the Yacht Club of Hyderabad with three boats and a handful of coaches. The early years were slow. But in 2014, when the club won its first national championship, something shifted. Today, the club has produced 86 national champions and seen over 150 young athletes compete across 20 countries. Many of the girls training here had never seen a boat before they arrived. Beyond medals, the club addresses nutrition, fitness, mental health, and education — because Sheikh saw early on that training alone was never going to be enough. One of his former students now earns over Rs 2 lakh a month. His family's income was Rs 8,000. "Talent exists everywhere," Sheikh says. "Access can change everything." Read the full story — thebetterindia.com/changemakers/i… #InclusiveSports #SportsForAll #YouthEmpowerment #Changemakers #IndiaStories [Inclusive Sports Training, Accessible Sports India, Hyderabad Sailing Academy, Youth Empowerment Through Sports, Suheim Sheikh Yacht Club]

Meet Anima Anandkumar (Every time AI predicts the weather faster than supercomputers, she made that possible) > Born in Mysore, Karnataka > Her grandfather was a mathematician. Science ran in the family. > Studied Bharatanatyam for years alongside engineering > B.Tech from IIT Madras, 2004 > PhD from Cornell University, 2009. > Postdoc at MIT. > Principal Scientist at Amazon AWS. > Helped launch Amazon SageMaker. > In 2017 became Bren Professor at Caltech > The youngest named professor in Caltech's history > Joined NVIDIA as Senior Director of AI Research in 2018 > Invented Neural Operators, AI models that solve complex physics 1000x faster than traditional methods > Built the first AI based high resolution weather model > Now running at premier weather agencies around the world > IEEE Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, NSF Career Award Faculty fellowships from Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Adobe. All four. > Cited over 69,000 times in research papers worldwide A girl from Mysore who danced Bharatanatyam is now teaching machines to understand the laws of nature. "AI is not just about language. It is about understanding the physical world." She built that belief into reality. Equation by equation.

For four years, #WesternGhatsLitFest was a event that was completely free for the attendees. But as we have no govt or institutional or CSR support to run an event of this scale, we are introducing visitor packages for the 5th edition. Do share and support! @GhatsLitFest @jaggu916

I always knew I would come back to India ! (Rajesh Gopakumar, IIT-JEE Rank 1) After doing PhD at Princeton under Nobel Laureate David Gross and Postdoc at Harvard. He could have built a career at any top university in the US but he chose to came back Because his education at IIT was subsidized by the Govt of India, he decided to return to help build new institutions in an evolving India and give back to the country. Today, as Director of ICTS, he is creating a truly open, cutting-edge intellectual environment and mentoring next generation of students right here in India

India has handled the situation well and has maintained a balanced approach. Prime Minister @narendramodi has handled it well. This neutrality is important. If we take sides, we cannot act as a bridge for peace: @Gurudev theweek.in/theweek/cover/… @TheWeekLive

Seeing flaws drives action. But to truly rest, see everything as perfect. Intelligence is balancing activity with rest.

I think India will get solved with just 2 things: 1. Cleanliness: Clean the streets. Punish the litterers. 2. Respect: Treat the citizen with respect. FIRs are lodged. Complaints are addressed. Every government official has a body cam. Just two things. Can be done in two years.