India will send man to space by 2022, Modi says
PM ANNOUNCES NEW HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME WITH ANNUAL COVER OF RS500,000 FOR POOR PEOPLE
India will send a manned mission to space by 2022 and introduce health insurance for half a billion of its citizens, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged yesterday in a keynote speech ahead of an expected election campaign.
Modi, speaking from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort in New Delhi, told a crowd of supporters that “sleeping elephant” India had awakened and was ready to take its place in the global economy.
In a marathon speech, the nationalist leader promised India would soon become only the fourth country — after the United States, Russia and China — to get someone beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
“India will send into space — a man or a woman — by 2022, before that if possible,” Modi said adding that the chosen astronaut would be “carrying the national flag.”
The prime minister also announced a huge health insurance scheme — providing annual cover of Rs500,000 (Dh26,183) for 500 million Indians — would be rolled out next month.
“It is essential to ensure that we free the poor of India from the clutches of poverty in which they cannot afford health care.” The scheme — dubbed ‘Modicare’ — has been described as the world’s biggest government health insurance initiative.
‘Sleeping elephant’
Modi was speaking in the final Independence Day address of his five-year term, touting his economic credentials ahead of an election he is expected to call early next year.
“India is now the land of reform, perform and transform. We are poised for record economic growth,” the prime minister said.
“Today the world says that the sleeping elephant has woken up, is walking and has joined the race,” Modi added.
India has seen annual economic growth of around seven per cent since he took over — though the rupee is now under attack in the fallout from the Turkish lira crisis. India has invested heavily in its space programme in the past decade, stepping up a rivalry with China.
Space race
It is aiming to send an unmanned mission to the moon in January 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) announced last week.
The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter will aim to put a craft with a rover onto the moon’s surface to collect data. Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008, orbited the moon and sent a probe to the surface, in a controlled crash landing. India also launched an orbiter to Mars in 2013 which is still operational and in 2017 launched a record 104 satellites in one blast-off.
Businesses used to talk about red tape, now they talk about red carpet. They used to talk about policy paralysis, today they talk about reform, perform, transform.”
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee showed us the way for Jammu and Kashmir: humanity, democracy, the Kashmiri spirit. We want to go ahead on that road.”
By 2022, when India completes 75 years of independence, India will send a son or daughter to the space with the national flag in hand.”
—Narendra Modi | Prime Minister