Amateur radio in India is practised by more than 16,000 licensed users. The
first amateur radio operator was licensed in 1921, and by the mid-1930s,
there were around 20 amateur radio operators in India. Amateur radio
operators have played an important part in the Indian independence movement
with the establishment of pro-independence radio stations in the 1940s,
which were illegal. The three decades after India's independence saw only
slow growth in the numbers of operators until the then Prime Minister of
India, and ham operator Rajiv Gandhi waived the import duty on wireless
equipment in 1984. Since then, numbers have picked up, and as of 2007, there
were more than 16,000 operators in the country. Amateur radio operators have
played a vital role during disasters and national emergencies such as
earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, floods, and bomb blasts, by providing
voluntary emergency communications in the affected areas. The Wireless and
Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC)—a division of the Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology—regulates amateur radio in India.
The WPC assigns call signs, issues amateur radio licences, conducts exams,
allots frequency spectrum, and monitors the radio waves. In India, the
Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI) represents amateur radio interests at
various forums, and represents India at the International Amateur Radio
Union.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_in_India
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1854:
At least 22 people were killed and 35 others were injured when rebelling
miners at the Eureka Stockade clashed violently with the police and the
military in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_Stockade)
1904:
The Jovian moon Himalia was discovered by astronomer Charles Dillon Perrine
at the Lick Observatory in San Jose, California, USA.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalia_(moon)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…
)
1967:
Cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human
heart transplant on Louis Washkansky at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town,
South Africa.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Barnard)
1984:
Bhopal gas disaster: The accidental release of methyl isocyanate over
Bhopal, India resulted in at least 20,000 total deaths and affected over
120,000 others in one of the world's worst industrial disasters.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster)
1999:
NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before it reached the
atmosphere of Mars and disappeared.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Polar_Lander)
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
effectually (adv) In such a way as to achieve a desired result;
effectively.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/effectually)
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Ultimately, leadership requires action: daring to take steps that are
necessary but unpopular, challenging the status quo in order to reach a
brighter future. And to push for peace is ultimately personal sacrifice, for
leadership is not easy. It is born of a passion, and it is a commitment.
Leadership is a commitment to an idea, to a dream, and to a vision of what
can be. And my dream is for my land and my people to cease fighting and
allow our children to reach their full potential regardless of sex, status,
or belief.
--Benazir Bhutto
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benazir_Bhutto)