It's new India's ascent: Cabinet resolution on Chandrayaan-3

New Delhi, August 29

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday hailed ISRO for landing Chandrayaan-3 near the lunar south pole, in a first for any country. It described the development not just as a victory for the national space agency but also as a bright symbol of India’s progress and ascent on the global stage.

Welcoming the christening of August 23, the day Chandrayaan-3 landed on lunar suface, as “National Space Day”, and also the naming of two points on the moon —Tiranga Point (footprint of Chandrayaan-2) and Shiv Shakti Point (Chandrayaan-3’s landing spot), —- the Cabinet adopted a resolution that hailed PM Narendra Modi’s leadership for vibrancy in the Indian space sector.

“Prime Minister has always encouraged science and innovation. In the last 9 years, a series of reforms have been ushered in which have made research and innovation easier,” said the resolution mentioning the opening up of the sector for private participation.

The resolution said India’s advancements in the space sector were more than just monumental scientific achievements and “represent a vision of progress, self-reliance, and global leadership”. This is also a symbol of the rising new India, the Cabinet led by PM Modi said, hoping that India would solve development challenges through strides in satellite communication, meteorology, agriculture and disaster management.

“We should work to ensure that our innovations have direct applications on the ground, enhancing our infrastructure, boosting our digital economy, and providing critical data to various sectors,” said the Cabinet, praising the PM for dedicating Chandrayaan-3 success as the success of entire humanity. The Cabinet especially lauded women scientists’ role in the lunar mission and said the success of Chandrayaan-3 was one of the greatest testimonies to the PM’s clarion call of “Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan”.

BJP, Cong spar over moon mission credit

The Congress and the ruling BJP continued to indulge in a war of words over taking credit for the successful launch of Chandrayan-3 with AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh today saying that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had invited her opponent NT Rama Rao after the successful launch of the SLV-3-D2 on April 17, 1983, and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar reacting to it by saying that “he has forgotten minor issues like Emergency…”.