A Correspondent SHILLONG: Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO on Saturday said that the mission conducted by Chandrayaan II was close to a success but there was a small technological glitch. “But thats okay when you do a mission this large you will have small glitches like this. You will learn a lot from these problems that you have encountered,” Reddy said. The Chairman DRDO was speaking at the sixth convocation of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya. He also said that the ISRO is going to have a man in space in the coming two-three years. Urging the students to be visionaries like other great scientists the country has produced, Reddy invoked the names of Homi J Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. “The road map has been laid by individual scientists who are visionaries,” Reddy said. The DRDO Chairman also urged the students to work on new technologies and make new innovations. Making special mention of Dr Kalam, he said that he had the courage and vision. “He had the courage to go to the then PM Indira Gandhi saying that he wanted to build five missiles simultaneously. An ordinary person would say give me sanction for one missile I will show my capability I will also get confidence then I will come back later,” Reddy said. Dr Kalam built the Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash, Nag under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). The country did not have to look back after that and missiles after missiles were developed. The DRDO Chairman also said that Kalam had the vision and had envisaged to make India the number one nation in the world. But Reddy said that despite the technological marvels achieved by the country, one cannot yet pat themselves in the back since lots of equipment are still being imported from outside. “We need to emulate these achievements in all other areas if possible. Our country need to become completely self-reliant,” he said. Reddy also pointed out that till yesterday the country was technology follower. “Somebody develops, they make some system we come to know and we develop the same system. We should be technology leaders. We should develop first of its kind technologies. If the country has to be come prosperous we need to develop the technologies which are state of the art or first of its kind systems,” he added. Reddy also said that the country needs to supply technology not only to the army in the country, but to the entire world and that way the nation can earn foreign exchange. Meanwhile, in the convocation, 197 students were conferred their various degrees across programmes of the departments. Degrees were conferred to 107 B.Tech students, 45 M.tech students, 35 M.Sc students and 10 Ph.D scholars. The prestigious Presidents Gold Medal for the year 2019 was awarded to Shivam Prasad from the Department of Computer Science Engineering for his best overall performance in academic and co/extra-curricular activities. Also Read: National Institute Of Technology (NIT) Mizoram Jobs For Assistant Professor (M.Phil/Ph.D) Also Watch: 26 cartons of Arunachali made liquors seized in Biswanath | The Sentinel News | Assam News

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