Chandrayaan-3 success sparked aspirations of Indian students, says Union minister

Jitendra Singh was addressing a gathering at Amity University in Noida’s Sector 125 organised by S20, an engagement group vertical of the G20 Summit

Inaugurating a two-day science conference , Science 20 (S20), being held in the run-up to the G20 Summit in Noida, Union science and technology minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Monday said the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 has fuelled the global aspirations of Indian students.

Union science and technology minister Dr Jitendra Singh at Amity University in Noida’s Sector 125. (Sunuil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Dr Singh was addressing a gathering at Amity University in Noida’s Sector 125, which is hosting the conference on the topic ”Disruptive Science for Innovative and Sustainable Development”.

The S20 is an engagement group vertical of the G20, to offer science-based advice and recommendations to policymakers. It was co-hosted by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and Amity University.

“This is an auspicious year for India, as not only is the country presiding over the G20 Summit, but also celebrating the success of Chandrayaan-3. The successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 has sparked global aspirations of Indian students. The world is ready to be led by India and the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 is a testimony to the collective acumen of India’s incredible scientific temperament,” said Singh.

The G20 Summit is being held days after India’s lunar mission successfully landed on the south pole of the moon on August 23.

The minister said after the opening up of the space sector by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2020, the number of space startups sky-rocketed from merely four in 2019 to 150 in 2023 and most of them are being led by science students, researchers and entrepreneurs.

The conference began with a round-table discussion on ”innovation and sustainability through startups”, wherein entrepreneurs running science-based start-ups addressed the gathering.

“There were just around 350 startups before 2014, but after PM Modi gave the clarion call from the ramparts of the Red Fort in his Independence Day address and rolled out special startup scheme in 2016, there has been a quantum jump with over 1.25 lakh startups operational now and more than 110 Unicorns. Similarly, in the biotech sector, from 50-odd startups in 2014, we now have 6,000 such startups,” said the minister.

“It is the hard work and determination of scientists, researchers and scholars that India is now ranked among the top 3 nations in terms of publications and ninth in terms of patents. India’s global innovation index has also seen significant improvement in the past years moving up the ladder from 81st position to 40th position,” he said.

Prof Ashutosh Sharma, president, INSA, said, “The world can only be transformed through collaborative efforts and this conference will provide a platform for creating the road map to success.”

Following the inaugural event, Dr Singh visited the startup exhibition at the university, where students from schools and colleges presented several of their ideas and models. “I have created a wall climbing spy robot, with a unique feature of camouflage. Once developed, the robot can replace human spy operations,” said Nitesh Raj, a researcher at Amity University, Haryana.

Ashok K. Chauhan, Founder President Amity Education Group, said, “Science is the driving force behind economic expansion and human progress and the prestigious S20 Conference will play a major role in developing a scientific temperament among the youth who are the future leaders of the country.”