Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 20: Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh stated that ever since the Modi Government came to power, in the last two to three years,over 30 Space missions have been launched, which is a record of sorts in itself. In addition, 49 foreign satellites from nine countries were also launched during this period.
In a detailed reply, Dr Jitendra Singh gave the chronology and description of the various Space events during the last two to three years. He said, ‘innovation’ is an integral part of the activities carried out by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and the present Government has given it an impetus to move forward on a fast-track.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, just before the present Government took over, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) had been initiated to put into space a series of seven satellites, but this process was expeditiously carried forward in the last two years and just after one month of the Government having taken over, an IRNSS satellite was put in space on 30th June 2014.
Insertion of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) into orbit was a historic event carried out in 2014, said Dr Jitendra Singh and added that this was the first Indian Spacecraft to have the facility of on-board management of crucial scientific operations.
The year 2015, said Dr Jitendra Singh, witnessed the involvement of academia and research institutions of country in the realization of instruments and around the same time, NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) was developed indigenously for all weather and day / night imaging. The recent feet of putting 20 satellites together in Space has been hailed by the Parliament as well, he added.
Meanwhile, a Sikh delegation led by former Minister Sardar Harsharan Singh Balli today met Dr Jitendra Singh and discussed the follow up on the cases related to 1984 Sikh riots.
The delegation also presented a memorandum stating that FIR 67/87 related to the case against Congress Leader Sajjan Kumar is still pending for further action. They requested that the concerned agencies may be issued instructions to reopen the case and pursue it expeditiously.
The members of delegation lauded the BJP Delhi State Unit for constantly standing by them and following up the cases against the accused in 1984 riots. They informed the Minister that under the leadership of BJP National Secretary Sardar R.P. Singh and Delhi BJP State President Satish Upadhyaya, a five-member committee, including Rajiv Babbar, Advocate Sardar Surpreet Singh Malhotra, Sardar Impreet Singh Bakshi and Sardar Tejendrapal Singh Bagga had been constituted to look into the issues related to pending cases of 1984 riots.
Dr Jitendra Singh gave a patient hearing to the delegation and said, he will put forward the inputs incorporated in the memorandum for examination and appropriate action.
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