September 21, 2023
Pratima Mandal’s speech in LS on India’s space journey, culminating in the Chandrayaan-3 mission
Sir, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on the discussion on Chandrayaan-3. At the outset, I would like to pay my respect to Shri Vikram Sarabhai, Shri Homi Bhabha, scientist Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Shri Satish Dhawan and Shri U.R. Rao for their contributions in the field of science. Our country is grateful to Pandit Nehru for setting up ISRO in 1962 and to Shrimati Indira Gandhi for carrying the legacy. I am congratulating the Director, Shri Somanath and all other scientists of ISRO. Now, due to their efforts and hard work in the field of research, launching of Chandrayaan-3 became successful and thus, India has become a powerful country in the world. we have sent 150 satellites since 1975. This is the new one where the satellite had to change its course to go into the gravitational force of moon. We are successful in our soft landing. Our next programme is to go to Mangal and Shukra. We must make them successful. Space science has given us many benefits like weather prediction, communication, navigation, etc. We must multiply these benefits. Sir, my request to the Government is to increase the salaries of all the scientists of ISRO and the budget of the Ministry concerned also should be increased. Today, we started this discussion around 11.15 a.m. Now, it is 10.25 p.m. and we are still discussing this subject. But it is unfortunate that despite our repeated requests to the Government to at least give one hour for discussion on Manipur, but the Government denied it. It is good and we are proud that India has launched Chandrayaan-3.
