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{{{Ajay Singhal, G files Governance Award Winner}}}

G files Governance Award Winner , Ajay Singhal is an Indian Radio Regulatory Service (IRRS) officer working under Ministry of Communications Government of India. He is the man who has exposed gross violations in policy guidelines by private players in satellite industry across India. His fight against unauthorise use of satellite spectrum has brought him to the limelight. Singhal’s feat has already earned him the tag of ‘Spectrum Man and a place in Limca Book of Records. His low cost innovative initiative ‘Orbit Spectrum’ for ensuring violation free usage of satellite spectrum in India has already been nominated for Prime Minister’s Award in the year 2014. Currently , he is Head of International Satellite Monitoring Earth Station , Jalna Maharashtra. Born on February 21 , 1976 in Bhopal city of Madhya Pradesh India, Singhal completes schooling from Nalanda and Campion school. He is a 1997 batch Electronics & Communication Engineer from Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Bhopal and got selected through Union Public Service Commission at an early age of only 22 years. Coming from the family of Civil Servants , Singhal joined the Indian Engineering Services because he loves interacting with people in the field and working in the government. He joined the services in 1999 and was then posted in J& K state in the year 2000. Since the very beginning of his career , he initiated enforcement of regulation. He identified the problem of unauthorized dealing of wireless equipments and initiated process of registration for all wireless dealers with the help of local police authorities. He served in Jammu region for almost 7 years and played an important role in the implementation of Telecom Reform project assisted through world Bank National Radio Spectrum Monitoring & Management System (NRSMMS) project at Wireless Monitoring Station Jammu. In the year 2007 he was posted in Madhya Pradesh region as Head of Wireless Monitoring Station Bhopal.Singhal being the incharge of Wireless Monitoring in that region had highlighted the unauthorized use of wireless equipments by Madhya Pradesh Forest department. He was instrumental in permanent establishment of Wireless Monitoring facility at Bhopal In the year 2012, he was posted as Head of International Satellite Monitoring Earth Station Jalna, Maharashtra. Posting to Jalna was considered to be very unpopular in his cadre, but for Singhal it proved to be a blessing in disguise. The facility was in miserable condition when he was posted their. The earth station was established in the year 1993 with the help of ISRO but after that the technical set up was never upgraded as per requirements of present day digital technology based satellite services. Since the primary work of ISMES is to monitor the satellite spectrum beaming over India from satellites located in space, the non upgradation of the set up had resulted in a hopeless situation. Singhal’s initiative named ‘Orbit Spectrum’ came as a life line for this establishment. The important feature of this initiative was its low cost of implementation and innovativeness. Singhal and his team has revived the satellite earth station by developing low cost manual steerable dish antennae system named as ‘Small Wonder’ and software database named as ‘SAJAG’ which has find a place in Limca book of records 2017. Besides the revival of the station , Singhal’s initiative has witnessed unprecedented success in highlighting the cases of violation in the usage of satellite spectrum by service providers at national level. He exposed the cases of violations in license conditions in the usage of satellite spectrum by big named companies across India. For the first time in the history of satellite industry , as much as 60 cases of violations were highlighted in the first six months of 2014. The mission initiated by Singhal had started giving impact on the satellite industry. In April – May 2014 , the ministry of Communications & IT issued notices to 20 major service providers for compliance and remedial action. The companies were forced to revert back to their authorized technical parameters or to get new licenses as per revised parameters. The joint exercise of Ministry along with ISMES had provided unprecedented success. His ruthless approach in exposing the defaulters of spectrum usage has earned him the nick name of ‘Spectrum Man’. His efforts in fighting against unauthorise usage of spectrum has been already acknowledge at various levels in government as well as by media groups.

Awards & Recognition

1. He was conferred with Certificate of Appreciation by Wireless Monitoring Organisation Ministry of Communications &IT, Govt. of India on 15th August 2014 for outstanding initiative in the field of Satellite Spectrum Monitoring and Management.

2. He was nominated for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration by Department of Telecommunication for the year 2013-14 for his initiative ‘Mission Orbit Spectrum’ launched under his leadership as Head of International Satellite Monitoring Earth Station (ISMES) Jalna

3. He was awarded with G-files Governance Award 2015 for Exceptional Contribution in the field of Spectrum Monitoring & License Administration ensuring ‘Violation Free Usage of Satellite Spectrum in India’.

4. He has secured a place in Limca Book of Records for developing a low cost satellite spectrum monitoring facility which has successfully monitored various types of satellite based services in India.

5. He is also the member of National Working Group for International Telecommunication Union (Radio).