New Delhi: 'India’s G20 Presidency coincides with country’s glory in Space'

New Delhi : Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said India’s G20 Presidency coincides with the country’s glory in Space. At the same time, PM Modi’s mantra of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future,' at the core of its G20 Presidency, ready to lead the world in more ways than one. “And, all space-faring nations of the world would need to come together, move on collectively, because we are part of the global world,” said Dr Jitendra Singh in an interview with Doordarshan on the sidelines of the G20 meeting here on Friday.

“The G20 Summit is happening in India at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as the tallest leader in 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 and technology, including the pioneering R&D success story in Covid vaccines, 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, Dr Jitendra Singh said the world today acknowledges PM Modi’s mantra of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future.’ Dr Jitendra Singh said that 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 added.

“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.”

Pointing out that India’s Space programme is now at an equal pace with the world’s leading Space agencies, Dr Jitendra Singh said that NASA might have been the first to land on the moon. However, it was India’s Chandrayaan-1 that picked up possible evidence of water molecules on the moon. Now Chandrayaan-3, for the first time, has landed on the South Pole of the moon.

“Chandrayaan is being looked up 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.

He recalled that all the agreements signed during the recent visit of PM Modi to the United States were technology-driven - right from the Artemis Accords to the Joint Expedition to the International Space Station and India signing up to the Semiconductor Consortium. Dr 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.

“India’s overall Space economy today stands at about $8 billion, viz 2 per cent of the global (market share) but the entire world is recognizing increased pace and that’s why the conservative projections are $40 billion by 2040, but later we had the ADL (Arthur D Little) Report, which has projected India’s Space economy to grow up to $100 Billion by 2040. So, we’ve started moving very fast, we are still conservative in our evaluation of ourselves, but the others’ assessment is much, much more, which means that we have indeed arrived,” he said.

Dr Singh said Space Applications is being utilised in almost all sectors, such as Smart City project, Railway Tracks and management of unmanned Railway Crossings, Roads and buildings, Telemedicine, Governance, and most importantly, the ‘Svamitva’ GPS land mapping.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that 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. “Applications of Space Research in Disaster Forecasting and Management have helped save more than the investments made in the Space Missions,” he said.