Space programme must remain as publicly funded, managed: Congress

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said Chandrayaan-3 is a public system's success and the country's space programme must always be publicly funded, managed and executed.

Ramesh, who heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, made the statement on X'(formerly Twitter) as the members of the panel visited ISRO headquarters here.

"India's space programme over the past 60 years has been a publicly funded, managed and executed endeavour and it must remain that way," the Rajya Sabha member said.

"Chandrayaan-3 is a public system's success whatever the hype may be around startups and unicorns," he said.

The panel, on a five-day visit to Bengaluru, Bandipur, Kabini and Mysuru congratulated ISRO Chairman S Somanath and his entire team for the success of India's third lunar venture, and the launch of the Aditya L-1 mission.

Ramesh said the committee members had a "very educative interaction with its (ISRO's) engineers and scientists, many of whom are women.