Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Jan 28: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed here today that Indian StartUp “Botlab” , funded by Technology Development Board (TDB) under Union Ministry of Science & Technology and led by IIT Delhi alumni, will fly 1,000 Drones during “Beating Retreat” ceremony tomorrow evening, as a part of the Light Show marking the conclusion of nearly week long programmes related to Republic Day.
This will make India the fourth country, after China, Russia and UK, to carry out such a large-scale show with 1,000 drones, he informed.
At a demonstration of the Drone presentation today, the Minister interacted with the “Botlab” StartUp team members including Tanmay Bunkar, Sarita Ahlawat,Sujit Rana,Mohit Sharma, Harshit Batra, Kunal Meena and others. The Managing Director and Engineers of Botlab Dynamics Private Limited were visibly excited by the thought of being the first in India to light up the sky with 1,000 Drones, in one go.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the StartUp, Boatlab Dynamics was given an initial seed fund of Rs One crore rupees for R&D by Department of Science & Technology (DST) and subsequently Rs 2.5 crore for scale up and commercialisation by Technology Development Board to develop first of its kind technological project in India. The Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to support more of such innovative and sustainable Start-ups to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making India a Global Hub of Start-up Ecosystem.
Dr Sarita Ahlawat, MD of Boatlab Dynamics said that the Drone Project could become successful only due to full financial support provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology, as Private Sector was reluctant to hand-hold the hardware Start-up. She also thanked the engineers associated with the project for letting go the lucrative MNC offers and owning up the idea.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Botlab in association with the Ministry of Defence has conceptualized the novel ‘DRONE SHOW’ to commemorate the 75th year of Independence. He said, the drone show will be of 10 minutes duration and will showcase government achievements @75 through many creative formations in the dark sky.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the success of this project is a perfect example of inter-Ministerial coordination wherein everyone from Senior Officials to the last executing official of MoD, DST TDB and IIT Delhi all worked together to make this program a success and supporting the company in demonstrating the accomplishment of Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission.
The Minister said, the Technology Development Board, a statutory body of Department of Science and Technology has been instrumental in building conducive ecosystems by bringing in new opportunities and horizons for various ecosystems in India. TDB’s belief is that, new technologies have an essential role to play in the future decade, contributing to country’s economic, scientific and technological growth.
Rajesh Kumar Pathak, IP&TAFS, Secretary, TDB stated that, “Due to paucity of time, the project came as a challenge to TDB but considering the innovation involved and contribution it would make to nation building. TDB took this up and we are glad that we could provide the assistance on time. Also, I would also like to thank Prof.Ashutosh Sharma (Former Chairperson, TDB & Former Secretary, DST) for his timely support for the project and my predecessor Dr.Neeraj Sharma (Former Secretary, TDB) for understanding the project’s national importance.”
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