New Delhi, June 5: “Out of 424 foreign satellites launched till date by India, as many as 389 were launched in the last nine years of the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dr Jitendra Singh on Monday in an exclusive interview with DD News.
He added, “Out of 174 million US dollars earned, 157 million came in the last 9 years and similarly out of 256 million Euros earned so far, 223 million came during the 9 years of the Modi regime.”
The minister said India’s Space sector is fast gaining a pre-eminent position in the world. “The countries which started their Space programmes long before us, today increasingly seek our services and our facility to launch their satellites,” he said.
Apart from the core functioning of Rocket launching, India’s Space Applications have become a big source of livelihood opportunities through 130 odd startups after opening up the Space Sector by PM Modi in June 2020, he said. Moreover, in the academic field, technical institutes in Trivandrum, Jammu and Agartala have 100 percent placements for students and about 50 percent of them go to NASA to pursue higher studies, he added.
Referring to applications of Space Technology to different sectors like Railways, Highways, Agriculture, Water Mapping, Smart Cities, Telemedicine and Robotic Surgery, which brought ‘ease of living’ for the common man, Dr Jitendra Singh said the space tech has touched virtually every household in India.
“Recently ISRO launched a record 104 satellites aboard PSLV-C37 from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota of which 101 belong to international customers, signifying India’s increasing presence in the global space industry. Moreover, the indigenous human space mission Gaganyaan is almost ready to carry Indians into space. If successful, India will be the fourth country to have sent a human to space, the other three being the US, Russia and China,” he added.
The union minister exhorted the youth of the country that this is the “Best of the Times” for India and they should not become prisoners of their own aspirations.
“Modi Government in the last nine years has created many new avenues, where the youth of the country have the luxury to change their goalposts as there are enough outlets waiting to be seized upon,” he said, adding that the National Education Policy-2020 is also in tune with “Naya Bharat” and there is a need for a change of mindset.
