HAL team among first to get Israeli visas from City centre

 Israel’s decision to open a visa centre is expected to see a significant flow of technical personnel from City.

The first indication being a four-member HAL team procuring visas, since the process began on July 15.

A PhD student too has procured visa to take up advanced courses in mathematics.
In the 15 days, 21 visas have been processed at the Israeli visa centre. Of the 21, a good many are from scientific and technical backgrounds.

HAL is collaborating with Israel on radar systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) apart from a range of military electronics like navigation.

Scientists and engineers working on Light Combat Aircraft’s electronic warfare systems have direct interaction with Israeli technical personnel both in Israel and at the HAL facility. Bangalore has a good number of Israeli engineers and scientists working with HAL and DRDO labs.

Mathematics too is a highly researched subject among Israeli scientists, deployed in fields as diverse as biology, prediction of financial markets, development of algorithms to ensure 100 per cent accuracy of electronic systems, and to aid neuroscientific medical interventions.

While Bangalore has strong connection to Israel, Karnataka has three other significant collaborations with Israel.

Three centres of excellence for advanced technology in agriculture have been set up at Kolar, Bagalkot and Belgaum to develop technologies that can be adapted to Indian conditions. Israel will help Karnataka and other states in building water re-charging and recycling technologies and conversion of sea water to saline, drinking water.

It is estimated that around 40,000 Indians travel to Israel every year, while 35,000 Israelis come to India.