“India will put a man on the moon by 2040,” said the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas as he shared the milestones of the space sector here on Friday.

In a media interaction, for the ongoing series showcasing the achievements of the ruling government, Puri said that the technology in monitoring developmental projects.

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Speaking to the gathering he said, “We have been using the technology to monitor the PM Awas Yojna, PM Phasal Bima Yojna, Urban Geo Special Data for master plan preparation and GIS monitoring for MGNREGA, Integrated watershed management project, and PM Gram Sadak Yojna. Space technology is receiving a boost and its application for our development projects.

Further he added, many political opponents have questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision and his reply was always that “we believe in small goals”. “So, if we look at 2014, and the period before that when we were not there the difference is very visible. We have reached the 5th position from 10^th in the economic scale. There are multilateral banks and outside agencies are putting their faith into India’s growth story” he added.

Elaborating further he said, “how space figures into all this? We have built Chandrayaan for Rs 600 crore. The ISRO launched a total of 430 satellites and earned 290 million euros from Europe and 190 million from the US. We have added two new launch vehicles to double the fleet size to 4.

Sharing details he said that the potential in the area of space economy is currently 8 billion dollars and this figure is expected to go upto 100 billion dollar. Around 45,000 people are employed in this sector.

“India in the global space economy is currently at 2 percent and will soon be 10 percent as per the projected growth rate” added the Minister.

 The aim is to use the technology to the optimum. “ There is a project that will train ‘Dorne Didi’ for agricultural projects. They will also be used for other purposes in different sectors. There are 195 start-ups in the space sector that are functional now. We are at 5^th position in the space companies.

“I am trying to convey that there is an ecosystem to be developed with budgetary support. The Prime Minister has offered that when we failed for the first time with the project Chandrayaan he offered a human touch to the whole issue. So the country achieves new heights.”

He however, brushed aside the questions on breach of security in the Parliament House. He said, “This is not my area. That is an area of the Lok Sabha speaker, brushing aside the recent breach”.