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India's space research accomplishment on par with developed nations: ISRO chief
'With the success of SpaDeX mission, India has become the fourth country to successfully achieve docking and undocking in space,' said V. Narayanan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation and Secretary to Department of Space, Government of India.
Governor and Chancellor R.N. Ravi presided over the event and conferred degrees to the graduands.
While addressing students during the 36th convocation of Alagappa University here on Monday, Mr. Narayanan said that India, from being behind many countries in space research in around 1950s, has risen to the level of competing with many developed and developing countries.
Tracing the growth of Indian Space programme, he said that the first rocket was launched from India on November 21, 1963. Since then, India has launched 4,000 rockets and so far, the country has developed six generation of launch vehicles such as SLV3, ASLV, PSLV, GSLV, LVM3 and SSLV and has launched 102 launch vehicle missions.
Further, he added that through intensive research and various experiments the life of satellites has been increased from seven to 15 years and through that, a total of 133 satellites were serving in various applications. 'Also, about 400 satellites from 32 foreign countries have been carried by Indian space vehicles,' he added.
Mr. Narayanan referring to the success attained by the country in various domains since Independence, said: 'Movements like Green Revolution, White Revolution, Grey Revolution and Blue Revolution have also jointly contributed to making India the fourth largest economy in the world.'
In various aspects like education, health and connectivity, the feat achieved by the country could be claimed as exemplary.
The gradual growth of educational institutions starting from primary schools to institutions like Alagappa University to medical colleges have all played a key role in increasing the literacy level of the country from 12% to 79.7% in the last 78 years, he noted.
G. Ravi, Vice-Chancellor, delivered the welcome address and recounted significant events, achievements, activities and programmes of the university that happened in the last year.
Mr. Ravi handed over degrees to 314 candidates during the event. In total, 43,163 candidates were conferred with degrees.
Sivaganga District Collector K. Porkodi, District Superintendent of Police R. Shiva Prasad, among others were present during the event.
