GSAT-9 diplomacy: The glue that is binding India's ties with its neighbours

Following the launch of the satellite in May 2017, signals from the various capitals around India are much more cordial, and several cross-border projects could now begin to intensify

Before January ends, Bhutan will get a ground station to communicate with the GSAT-9 satellite sent to space by India back in May 2017. Soon Nepal and Maldives will be assisted by Isro with similar facilities. They will join Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which have independent capacities to set up ground stations to track the so-called Saarc satellite that can provide all sorts of services to them, ranging from banking to agriculture and education. 

The satellite was up in the skies one and a half years before the neighbours got their ring of stations on the ground. It is an