India News | Govt Has Created Enabling Atmosphere for Success of Space Programmes: Jitendra Singh

New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday the government has created an enabling atmosphere for the success of space programmes, rejecting Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's assertion that these achievements should not be used as "an instrument of muscular nationalism".

Lauding scientists for the Chandrayaan-3 mission, Rajya Sabha adopted a unanimous resolution with the thumping of desks.

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Reading out from the resolution, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar said, "This House recognises and appreciates the scientists, including the women scientists, for achieving this arduous feat with the successful soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the unconquered south pole of the Moon. This accomplishment, along with the other space missions, will usher in long-lasting economic and social upliftment."

Participating in the discussion on 'India's Glorious Space Journey Marked By Successful Soft Landing of Chandrayaan-3", minister Jitendra Singh accused previous Congress governments of "regimenting" the space department and debarring the common man and industry from it.

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There are 150 space sector startups today against only four prior to 2014 which was "embarrassing", he said.

He also said the space budget in the last nine years has increased by 142 per cent.

Earlier, Congress MP Ramesh accused the government of attempting to "airbrush" milestones achieved in the space sector since 1960s, and said space programmes should be looked at as an instrument of development and "not an instrument of muscular nationalism".

Hitting back at Ramesh, Singh said the common man was earlier debarred from even peeping inside the premises of space institutions.

Lauding the Chandrayaan-3 mission, Ramesh said there is a need to recall people who have contributed so far to it rather than falling to this new impression that this entire accomplishment is the result of only one individual.

The success is based on the competencies, capabilities and capacities that have been created over 60 years, he said.

"We need to give our scientific and technological institutions full freedom. We need to give our scientific and technological institutions full independence and professionalism and we need to free our scientific and technological institutions of any political patronage and political interference and intervention," Ramesh said.

"Even though the prime minister and the Leader of the House may choose to airbrush them away from history, they are a fact of life. They cannot be erased from history. They are very much part of our space journey," he said.

Responding to him, the minister said the common man was earlier debarred from even peeping inside the premises of space institutions.

"Why they were kept away. You had kept the space department behind a veil of secrecy. You had regimented it. You had disallowed it to be synergised with all the stakeholders. You had disallowed the industry to indulge in this and that is why the progress halted," he told the House.

"Before 2014, there were four startups in space and it is embarrassing to say," he said.

"What is important is that when we started our programme in the early and mid-1960s, on one hand you had (Vikram) Sarabhai devoid of transport and on the other hand you had Soviet Union and United States preparing to land a human on the surface of Moon. That was the gap and the difference distance between the two. Still this group of young scientists had that courage," Singh said.

He also mentioned Veeramuthuwel, the project director of Chandrayaan-3, who was sitting in the gallery, with the House lauding him with the thumping of desks.

Asserting that the House is sitting to celebrate science and scientists, the minister said our scientists never lacked capability and courage but there was lack of an enabling atmosphere at the time and cited the picture of Vikram Sarabhai carrying the launcher vehicle of space programme on a bicycle in the early days.

"Who was the prime minister and which government was there at that time?" he asked. "There was lack of an enabling atmosphere. And that shortcoming has now been removed now."

Asking what has led to this quantum leap in space sector and whether one possessed a magic wand now, Singh said something might have happened that we started tasting success.

Singh claimed the country has earned 174 million USD from the launch of foreign satellites, out of this USD 157 million has been earned only in the last nine years.

Intervening in the debate, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on lunar south pole is going to have a very big impact on India's industrial and technological ecosystem.

She said the country's space journey has been "spectacular" since starting in 1975 with the launch of the Aryabhatta Satellite with the help of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

It is going to have a positive impact on satellite system, telecommunications and many other related fields, she added.

Responding to Jairam Ramesh's remark that the Indian space programme should not be looked as "an instrument of muscular nationalism", she said the prime minister stood with the scientists not only during the success of Chandrayaan-3 but during the failure of Chandrayaan-2.

"This was a bit of perversion which I think somebody from Jairam Ramesh's experience, I would not expect," she said.

Opposition members criticised the government over low spending on scientific research while calling for increasing the salaries of scientists.

They also called for the need to use science to solve the problems of the common people and improve their lives.

Tiruchi Siva (DMK) said Chandrayaan-3 had a smooth landing on the Moon but there is turbulenmce in the new Parliament building. He said he is "proud to be the citizen of India and not Bharat".

K Ravindra Kumar of the TDP) congratulated ISRO scientists.

Others among those who participated in the debate were Sandeep Kumar Pathak (AAP), Prakash Javadekar (BJP), Shantanu Sen, Jawahar Sircar (both TMC), Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, Anil Jain (BJP), YSRCP's V Vijayasai Reddy, M Mohamed Abdulla of DMK, Ashok Kumar Mittal of AAP, V Sivadasan CPI(M), Abdul Wahab (IUML), Kapil Sibal (Independent), AD Singh (RJD), KR Suresh Reddy (BRS). PTI NKD PRS MSS KRH MJH RKL ANZ SKC

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