Can a satellite spot me walking on the road? Can the terrorists in the hills be spotted? Can the pirates who captured the ships off Somalia/Malacca be spotted or the ships be located?... these are some of the questions that any one delivering a popular lecture on remote sensing in community centers inadvertently faces. The next line of questioning is generally about environment protection rule violators- be it illegal tree felling or illegal land reclaimation along the coastal regulation zones: can these violations be monitored? and finally the most popular question: Isn't our privacy/security etc. compromised by data from these remote sensing satellites ? all these questions except the first and the last have a big 'YES' as their answer. Blurt out that 'yes' and you will get a chorus of 'then, why isn't it being done?' Given the all pervasive nature of satellite imagery, we often wonder about the 'slip between the cup and the lip'... why do we not act ? There are a few instances where such monitoring has actually been carried out but it cannot be said that such vigilance is commensurate with the quality and quantity of data available today. The success of the 'Empire Challenge' will finally depend on '..what gets done' looking beyond petty political issues.

In the last week of the year, we generally see a steep drop any worthy news and happenings. Last week was rather different -Rolta acquired two companies further strengthening its knowledge base in the oil and gas sector.