Development and Educational Communication Unit is an arm of the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...

which aims at planning and imparting training the personnel for usage of satellite based communication systems for societal needs. The main objective of the organisation is to plan and envisage satellite usage for the general population in domains such as education and medicine, as well as many others.

History

Established in 1989, the Development and Educational Communication Unit of the

(ISRO) has been involved in societal research with the objective of bringing India's indigenously developed space technology back to the people of rural India. The

Space Applications Centre Space Applications Centre (SAC) is an institution of research in Ahmedabad under the aegis of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is one of the major centres of ISRO that is engaged in the research, development and demonstration ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

provides the necessary technical support to the unit. Between 1975 and 1990, this unit implemented the Kheda Communications Project in the

Kheda Kheda is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kheda was known as Kaira during the British Raj. It was the former administrative capital of Kheda district. The city is known for tobacco farming. The nearest railway statio ...

village of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

to bring satellite-based communication to the village residents. This project would go on to receive the IPDC-UNESCO Prize for Rural Communication. In 2023, the Development and Educational Communication Unit merged with the Space Applications Centre.

Projects

Kheda Communications Projects

Started in 1975, KCP was India's first rural communication project. KCP aimed at providing television broadcasting and allied communication services to the targeted rural areas. KCP was a joint collaboration between the Government of India, the United States Government and the United Nations. The

United Nations Development Program The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries Poverty reduction, eliminate poverty and achieve Sustainable development, sustainable economic growth and Human development (economics), hu ...

(UNDP) donated low cost transmitters and satellite earth stations to this project. About 650 television sets were distributed to nearly 400 villages in this project. The project received the 1985 IPDC-UNESCO Prize for Rural Communication. The project was subsequently taken as a reference for implementation of the GRAMSAT pilot project. The Kheda Communication Project continued its operations until 1990.

Jhabua Development Communications Project

Jhabua Development Communications Project had evolved out from Kheda Communication projects. Watershed management, health, education and panchayati raj are the mission purpose of this project. The JDCP has 2 components: *Broadcasting of information and *Interactive training programmes JDCP along with the kheda and EduSat have proven to be successful means to communicate to the remote areas of the country and to provide them an information medium at a reasonably cost.

EduSat

DECU supported the implementation of the EduSat project by installing devices for audio-video data transmission. EduSat is the flagship project of the

Department of Science and Technology (India) The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is a department within the Ministry of Science and Technology (India), Ministry of Science and Technology in India. It was established in May 1971 to promote new areas of science and technology an ...

which aims at providing education to the masses by using a satellite-based transmission system.

References

External links

Official ISRO DECU
Space programme of India Research institutes in Ahmedabad 1989 establishments in Gujarat Research institutes established in 1989 {{India-org-stub