The 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 has lauded the valuable contribution made by Space Application Center (SAC) Ahmedabad in providing original inputs for enriching the India’s Space Programme and also performing the role of value addition to several of the prestigious Space missions launched from ISRO, Sriharikota. Currently on a two-day visit to Gujarat, Dr Jitendra Singh held a detailed review meeting with the scientists of Space Application Centre led by its Director, Dr Tapan Misra. Dr Jitendra Singh made a special note of appreciation for some of the advanced technology developed at SAC, Ahmedabad with regard to origami lens, indigenously developed MMIC, Airborne low mass x-band Mini-SAR for strategic applications and disaster management, optical trans-receiver satellite mobile radio etc. Referring to Ahmedabad Space Centre and other Space science programmes going on in the State of Gujarat, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the State was already ahead in terms of making maximum utilization of Space communication for education purposes.
However, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, he said, the same applications have been effectively extended even to the peripheral areas of Northeast and hill States. In this regard, he mentioned recent MoU signed by the Department of Space, Government of India with the Department of Education, Government of Jammu & Kashmir. Dr Jitendra Singh observed that India has already emerged as a world leader in the field of Space Technology. This has not only vindicated the noble initiative of the founding fathers like Dr Vikram Sarabhai and Dr Satish Dhawan, but has also set an example before other countries about how the Space Technology can be used effectively even for non Space Satellite Mission Programmes. During the three years of the Union Government, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Department of Space has entered into MoUs with a number of other Ministries. This has enabled the application of Space Technology in an effective manner for several important programmes of Government of India, including Smart City programmes, Geo-MNREGA, Tele-Education and Tele-Medicine. Director SAC Ahmedabad Dr Tapan Misra along with his team of senior scientists/officials including Dr Piyush Verma, Dr D.K. Das, Shri Rajiv Jyoti, Shri Sarkar S., Shri Raj Kumar and others were present at the review meeting.