Held at 12.30 pm on Juy 20, 2002 at Satish Dhawan Auditorium, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore

Attendance : The annual general body meeting was attended by 106 members, thus meeting the required quorum. The meeting was chaired by Dr. K.Kasturirangan, President, ASI.
Homage to Prof. S.Dhawan :Dr. K.Kasturirangan, President, ASI paid homage to Prof. Satish Dhawan who passed away on January 3, 2002. Prof. Satish Dhawan was remembered for his extra-ordinary achievements in Science and Technology. Dr. K.Kasturirangan, President, ASI lauded Prof. S. Dhawan as one amongst very few personalities who have contributed significantly to the growth of Science & Technology in the post independent India and advised that all of us should re-dedicate ourselves to the ideals of Prof. S.Dhawan in taking India to greater strides. A homage to Prof. S.Dhawan was read and GBM adopted the resolution unanimously
Welcome : Sri. V.A.Thomas, Executive Secretary, ASI welcomed ASI members and Executive Council Members to the Annual General Body Meeting. He requested Dr.Kasturirangan, President, ASI to steer the AGM.
Opening remarks by the President, ASI: Dr. K.Kasturirangan, President, ASI in his presidential address noted that the reporting period of one year had been an year with eventful scientific and technical achievements in the areas of Astronautics. He mentioned that the second technology demonstration model of LCA is very close to cross the supersonic barriers and it has been a singular success achieved by the LCA team which will place India in a unique place in Aircraft Design. Dr. K.Kasturirangan, President, ASI mentioned that new version of Agni missile has been successfully tested which had incorporated several meaningful technological changes. He congratulated all the scientist/engineers associated in LCA and missile programmes for their unique achievements. On the Space front, Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) launched during the current year, demonstrated the capabilities of generating high quality remote sensing pictures and earned a place in the 1 metre resolution domain. INSAT 3C satellite, which carried large number of communication transponders, was successfully commissioned adding to the much needed transponder capacity. Satellite based navigation system activities are progressing very well and preliminary studies on multi wavelength observatory viz., Astrosat is shaping very well. Telemedicine facility to remote areas is established using the spin off from space technology to serve the people with the state of the art medical counselling otherwise a dream in the past. The telemedicine facility is presently covering north-east region, Andaman and other remote villages providing connectivity with professional medical facilities on the main land. Indigenous development of cryogenic engine has achieved a significant milestone where in a successful full duration test was conducted. He also made a mention that the design work on the advanced GSLV viz., MKIII has started and the work on the lunar mission is progressing satisfactorily. He congratulated all the scientists/engineers involved in the Space for their outstanding achievements.
Special Resolution: Dr. Kota Harinarayana, Vice President, ASI read out a congratulatory resolution on the occasion of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Hon.Fellow, ASI getting elected to the highest post of the Country, President of India. He brought out the appreciation of the Society on his singular achievement of becoming the president of India. AGM unanimously adopted the resolution and requested the Executive Secretary, ASI to send the congratulatory resolution to Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam.
Confirmation of the proceedings of the Annual General Body Meeting held on May 25, 2001 at ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore: The proceedings of the Annual General Body Meeting held on June 3, 2000 at ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore were confirmed by the General Body without any modifications.
Annual Report: Sri. V.A.Thomas, Executve Secretary, ASI presented the annual report for the year ending March 31, 2002 to the General Body. In his report, Sri. V.A.Thomas, Executive Secretary, ASI highlighted the major achievements of the Society in conducting two technical seminars namely, “Satellite Communication for the 21st Century” held on May 25, 2001 at ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore and “ University Initiatives on Micro Satellite Development” held on March 9, 2002 at Anna University, Chennai. The seminars were well attended by the scientists/engineers from various institutions and academia involved in the field of Astronautics. During the Seminar on “Satellite Communication for the 21st Century” at ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore few of the members of the Society were felicitated for winning important awards.
During December 2001, the Society also had annual awards presentation ceremony in Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram where Aryabhata and ASI awards, for the years 1997 and 1998 and Space Gold Medal for 2000 were presented to the distinguished scientists and technologists. Dr. Chidambaram, Scientific Advisor to PM was the Chief Guest and Dr. K.Kasturirangan, President, ASI presided over the function. The details of the awardees are as under :
ARYABHATA & ASI AWARDS – 1997 & 1998

  SPACE GOLD MEDAL - 2000

Further, he mentioned that notifications for inviting nominations for all three awards viz., Aryabhata & ASI awards for years 1999 and 2000 and Space gold medal for the year 2002, have been issued.
Annual Accounts : Sri. K.R.Sreedharamurthi, Treasurer, ASI presented the audited annual accounts as on March 31, 2002 and the accounts were adopted unanimously by the General Body
ASI Web Site : Dr. K.Kasturirangan, President, ASI inaugurated the official web site of the Society which was launched on the day and the address of the site is www.asi.ernet.in. While inaugurating the site he indicated the members and non-members can have useful exchange of information about the activities of society as well as other important information about Astronautics.
Amendment to the bye-law: Sri. P.Suryanaryana Rao, Life Member ASI proposed an amendment to the bye law on Membership. The nomenclature of one of the types of membership namely, Honorary Fellow to be amended as Distinguished Fellow, AGM unanimously approved the resolution and adopted the same
Dr. Kota Harinaryana, Vice President, ASI indicated that ASI should involve students from IITs, IISc and other leading technical institutes wherein young budding scientists can also participate in the activities. Further, he made a mention that ASI and AeSI should join hands in conducting some seminars, workshop, studies in common areas of interest. He also appreciated the growth in ASI membership and suggested that the membership drive should be initiated to achieve 1500 members in the next one year.
Sri. G.Ramesh, Member, while appreciating the ASI Technical Session that was arranged in the morning, suggested that ASI should start such lectures in the name of Prof. S.Dhawan. He also indicated that all the members should be given membership cards. The AGM meeting concluded with thanks to the chair.

Bangalore
July 20, 2002