Excelsior Correspondent
SURAT (GUJARAT), Sept 30: The first-ever exhibition to be put up in this Gujarat town, highlighting the achievements of India’s Space Research Organization (ISRO) was inaugurated by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, on the concluding day of his extended tour of the State.
The exhibition was held under the aegis of Municipal School Board with participation by a large number of school children. Local MP from Lok Sabha C.R. Patil, local MLA Sangitaben R. Patil and senior Scientists from ISRO were present on the occasion.
Speaking after formally inaugurating the exhibition, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the founding-father of India’s Space Programme, Dr Vikram Sarabhai was a son of Gujarat and therefore, this is the right place and location to celebrate the vindication and realization of Sarabhai’s dreams. He told the children that when his generation was in the same age group as they are, their only relationship with Space and the Moon was through poetry and songs on the theme of “Chanda Mama”. But today, not only has India taken over other nations, but the Indian Space Scientists are the first to discover the presence of water on the moon.
While India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on the threshold of becoming a world power in the next few years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the field of Space Technology, India has already emerged as a front-line nation after having overtaken countries like US and Russia which had started their Space Programmes several decades before us. He said, when Sarabhai and his colleagues began India’s Space Programme over half-a-century ago, the world laughed at them because they had no resources and not even a laboratory. But today, because of their efforts, we have reached a stage where the pictures and the visuals sent by our Mangalyan Mission are being procured even by the world’s most advanced centres like America’s NASA, he said.
The story of Vikram Sarabhai, Dr Jitendra Singh said, holds a moral for all the youngsters that they should never hesitate to dream big, but more important, at the same time, is to build up within ourselves the capacity and ability to realize our dreams, and this can happen only through consistent effort and hard work.
During the informal interactive session with the children, when Dr Jitendra Singh asked a student how much fare a three-wheeler would charge to carry him home from the school which is about two kilometers away, the boy replied, it would be about Rs.15/-. In response, the entire student crowd applauded with amusement when Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that if they travel by Mangalyan, it would take only Rs.14/- because the running cost of Mangalyan is just about Rs.7/- per kilometer, which is even lesser than the average fare normally charged by a three-wheeler in India.
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