New Delhi, Sep 08: India’s G20 Presidency coincides with India’s glory in space, said Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Space and Atomic Energy, Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday.
“The G20 Summit is happening in India at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as the tallest leader of the world. The Summit is taking place at a time when India’s flag is flying on the South Pole of the moon, the first time any spacecraft has landed on the farther side of the Moon and the nation’s achievements in Science & Technology, including the pioneering R&D success story in Covid vaccine, are being hailed across the globe,” the minister said.
True to the spirit of ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’, the theme of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, the world today acknowledges PM Modi’s mantra of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, he added.
The union minister said India is ready to lead the world in more ways than one. For any future science endeavour, including in the space sector, all the stakeholder nations of the world would need to come together, he said.
“If we have to go beyond this, we have to move on collectively, because we are part of the global world. So any further growth has to happen in a much, much extended integration. The main characteristic of the growth from here onwards would be that it would be largely technology-driven,” he said.
Pointing out that India’s Space programme is now at an equal pace with the world’s leading space agencies, Dr Singh said, “NASA might have been the first to land on the moon, but it was India’s Chandrayaan-1 that picked up possible evidence of water molecules on the moon and now Chandrayaan-3 has for the first time landed on the South Pole of the moon.”
“Chandrayaan is being looked up to by the entire scientific community across the globe because they expect some new inferences being gathered from there, most from Chandrayaan-3 because it’s gone into a virgin area. So obviously, the inputs, inferences that would be forthcoming from there would be of utility to all the other Space agencies as well for their future projects and planning,” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said ISRO has launched more than 380 foreign satellites, earning more than 250 Million Euros and more than 170 Million US Dollars by launching European and American satellites respectively.
“During PM Modi’s tenure of nine years, India’s disaster capabilities have become world-class and we are providing Disaster Forecasts for neighbouring countries as well,” he said.
