Union minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said that India is fast emerging as a frontline nation in scientific innovations.

Delivering the keynote address on the occasion of ‘National Science Day’ in the University of Jammu, Jitendra Singh said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last few years, government has taken some revolutionary and programmatic decisions to give fillip to indigenous scientific innovations which will be a key to “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”.

In this context, he made a special mention of the decision to “unlock” India’s Space Technology to private players for the first time after independence and the approval given by the union Cabinet to go ahead with joint ventures in the field of Atomic energy and nuclear energy in order to promote the setting up of new nuclear installations.

The theme ‘Future of Science Technology Innovations…’ chosen for this year’s ‘National Science Day’, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, is most appropriate considering the rapid strides being made in contemporary India and being followed by other countries of the world.

He cited the example of Covid vaccine which India is not only among the first countries to prepare indigenously but also to export to other countries.

Jitendra Singh said, it is a remarkable coincidence that on the morning of ‘National Science Day’ today ISRO achieved another glorious landmark by successfully launching the PSLVC51/Amazonia-1. While India began its Space journey much after several other countries, today we are in a position to provide inputs from Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan to the premier institutions of the world like the NASA of the USA, he added.

He said, it is to the credit of PM Modi that he promoted the extension of applications of space technology to different sectors and areas in order to bring ‘ease of living’. He said, whether it is railways or smart cities, agriculture or disaster management, highways or defence, space technology is contributing in a big way.

In his concluding remarks, Jitendra Singh said, this year’s ‘National Science Day’ is being observed at a time when India is on the verge of entering the 75th year of Independence and we would be planning for the next 25 years when India celebrates 100 years of Independence. This is the period when India will be a world superpower and the journey of ascent has already started, he said.