'Space' in Parliament

Indian Space programme continued to attract attention of both the Houses of Parliament. During the year, 36 questions were answered in the Parliament as follows:

The questions pertained to launching of satellites, moon mission, international cooperation, remote sensing satellites, space applications, setting up of village resource centres, EDUSAT, global positioning system, etc.

The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on S&T, Environment and Forests held it's meeting on August 9, 2004 and reviewed the performance of the Department and considered the Demands for Grants of the Department for 2004-05. The Committee visited the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad on September 22, 2004 and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre as well as ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram, on September 26, 2004.

The Public Accounts Committee visited the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, on November 19, 2004.

A gist of the Audit Observation on the Department of Space included in the C&AG's Report No.5 of 2004 - Scientific Departments laid on Table of both the Houses of Parliament is given in the Annexure.