Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Science and Technology, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that in the last 9 years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has traversed unlimited "Space".

Addressing the India Defence Conclave 2023 here, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Prime Minister Modi has taken several policy initiatives in the past nine years to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment, thereby promoting Atmanirbharta in defence sector. As a result, there is a quantum jump in Space sector in the last 9 years which surpasses the progress made in the preceding nearly six decades before that, he said.

It is pertinent to mention that India’s defence industry is now capable of manufacturing wide variety of high-end requirements e.g., Tanks, Armoured vehicles, Fighter aircrafts, Helicopters, warships, Submarines, Missiles, Electronic equipment, Special alloys, special purpose steels, and variety of ammunition.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, Defence and Space sectors are intertwined and both of them got an enabling milieu from the Prime Minister for its faster and indigenous growth by bridging the policy gaps. Referring to the strategic relevance of Space in view of recent global conflicts, the Minister said, Space, a dual-use technology domain, is emerging as an important multi-faceted enabler that provides unprecedented reach. He added that many nations are today focusing on developing their military space capabilities to ensure its safe, secure, and friendly use along with deterrence capability to deny it to adversaries, when necessary.

Dr Jitendra Singh also pointed out that Union Cabinet approved the National Quantum Mission (NQM) at a total cost of Rs.6003.65 crore from 2023-24 to 2030-31, aiming to seed, nurture and scale up scientific and industrial R&D and create a vibrant & innovative ecosystem in Quantum Technology (QT). This will accelerate QT led economic growth, nurture the ecosystem in the country and make India one of the leading nations in the development of Quantum Technologies & Applications (QTA).

The Minister pointed out that India has joined the elite club of a handful of countries countries in Quantum Technologies and currently R&D works in quantum technologies are underway in the US, Canada, France, Finland, China and Austria, therefore all the countries are at par as far as initiation of the Mission is concerned.

Referring to the Space Sector, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, similarly, Prime Minister Modi opened up the Space sector for private participation leading to more than 105 StartUps in the Space sector within just about three years. He said, starting from the SAARC Satellite Mission of 2017, five PSLVs are being domestically produced by L&T and HAL, while 104 satellites were launched in one go.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, India’s other flagship space programmes also include Human Space Flight Centre or what we call in India as Gaganyaan project under which we are planning to send our first crewed flight in space in 2024 after the two trial flights.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the strength and innovative potential of our young and private industrial enterprise will take a lead in the global space technology disruption in times to come. He expressed hope that India’s young technology wizards shall breach new barriers in the field of Space Technology while they set out to address the limitless opportunities offered by the Space Domain.

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