India no longer a poor country: ISRO chief

GORAKHPUR: With the highest growth rate in the World, India can no longer be called a poor country, said ISRO chairman K Sivan at the thirty-seventh convocation ceremony at DDU Gorakhpur University here on Friday.

“We rank first in remote sensing satellite. We are the second largest producer of wheat and third largest producer of rice. In 2018, India’s growth rate was highest in the world . India is no longer a country with the largest number of poor people in the world. In fact, a survey in June 2018 indicates that about 44 Indians get rid of extreme poverty every minute, which is the fastest poverty reduction rate in the world.” said the man credited for launching a record 144 satellites into space last year.

Talking about challenges, he said the country is grappling with hunger, poor sanitation and health services, clean drinking water and quality education. He also said that rising import was a risk to the country’s current account deficit.

“At $4.4 billion, import of electronics was more than gold at $3.8 billion in April 2018. Import of electronics is projected to touch $ 400 billion by 2022, while the estimated domestic production will rise to $104 billion, creating a gap of $296 billion, which has to be met through import. The rising trend in import is also one of the factors of devaluation of rupee.”

Discussing ISRO projects he said the Government of India has earmarked Rs 10,900 crore for 30 PSLVs and 10GSLV Mk3 in the next four years. Talking about Chandrayan 2,he said the indigenous robotic unmanned spacecraft will be made in India unlike its predecessor and is likely to be launched in January 2019.

He reiterated that under the Gyan Ganga Program launched by PM Modi, ISRO has set a target to launch humans into space and bring them back to earth before the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence in 2022.

Extending greetings to the newly-graduated students he told them not to get upset by failure. “When something is denied to you, something better awaits.” he said.