The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today attended a special session at the National Meet on Promoting Space Technology based Tools and Applications in Governance and Development, in New Delhi.
The Prime Minister was given a series of presentations over nearly two hours, by senior officials, on the outcomes of various theme sessions during the meet.
In his remarks at the special session, the Prime Minister emphasized the need for new initiatives in all areas of governance, using space technology applications. He recalled his visit to ISRO in June 2014, when he had urged ISRO to work on this, and expressed satisfaction that the number of Government departments using space technology had gone up substantially since the time of that visit.
The Prime Minister called upon all Ministries of the Union Government to identify at least one space application in their work within the calendar year 2015.
The Prime Minister recalled the eminent space scientist Vikram Sarabhai's words on the costs of India's space programme, who had said that no effort should be spared in the objective of fulfilling the needs of India's common man. The Prime Minister said he was happy to note the high degree of enthusiasm among government departments to use space technology in their respective areas of governance. He emphasized on the need to make use of all available resources and data, to derive best results.
The Prime Minister gave a number of illustrations on possible applications of space technology for the benefit of the common man: location of fish catches for fishermen, irrigation infrastructure for Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, tracking of illegal mining etc.
Shri Narendra Modi said technology is the most powerful medium that the Government has to ensure good governance, transparency and accountability. He emphasized that there should be no "space" between the common man and space.
