STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided enabling leadership for Chandrayaan-3 and other Space missions with his foresight, increased allocation of funds and engaging private participation, said Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister.
“We are offering them funds when they require it, we are offering them environment when they require it, we are offering them freedom when they require it, we are offering them synergy when they require it and we have liberated them from those self-imposed shackles and this has happened in the last nine years,” said Dr Jitendra, participating in the Discussion on “India’s Glorious Space Journey marked by successful Soft Landing of Chandrayaan-3” in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The Minister said PM Modi hiked the Space budget manifold and opened up the Space sector with the result that the number of Space StartUps have gone up from just 4 in 2014 to 150 now.
“If you see the Space Budget alone, there is a 142% increase in the last nine years,” he said, pointing out that there has been a three-fold or more hike in related budgets like Dept. of Science & Technology and Dept. Atomic Energy.
Dr Jitendra said India’s quantum leap in the Space sector has only been possible after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the courageous decision to “unlock” this sector from the “veil of secrecy”.
“…And this is what has given the outcomes, – a multiple, manifold investment; so there is a huge synergy now between Research, Academia, Startups and Industry,” he said.
Dr Jitendra said, out of the 424 foreign satellites launched by ISRO since 1990s, more than 90% – 389 were launched in the last nine years. “The world today has recognized the quantum jump that India has undertaken,” he said.