India's ambitious space programme Chandrayaan-3 is going to herald the country's quantum leap in the global arena, Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh said here on Thursday.

After the success story of the covid vaccine produced in India, the country has become an important global player to reckon with, the minister who is in charge of the Department of Space said, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 11th India Alliance Annual Conclave 2023.

India Alliance is a public charity funded by the GoI's Department of Biotechnology to do research in health and biomedical sciences.

Although India started its journey in space-related activities late compared to countries such as the USA and the former USSR, the minister pointed out, it is Chandrayaan-1 that picked up evidence of the presence of water on the surface of the moon, which became handy even for premier space agencies like NASA to conduct future experiments.

India is geared up for the launch of the third edition of the Moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, on Friday. The 25.30-hour countdown for the launch commenced on Thursday at the spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, the Indian Space Research Organisation said.

Singh said the entire credit for India's advances in the space sector goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who opened up space technology to private participants, as the move resulted in the formation of as many as 140 startups in the industry in 3-4 years.

Earlier, speaking at the conclave, the minister said under the aegis of Team Science Grants and Clinical and Public Health Research Centre grants, the organisation has further facilitated international and multidisciplinary collaborations, which are crucial to further strengthening the nation's research capabilities, an official release said.

He further said that during Covid, many of the India Alliance Grant holders participated in diagnosis and treatment as required by their respective institutions. To build clinical and public health research capacity, the organisation is offering Clinical and Public Health Fellowships, and more recently, has introduced the more generous Clinical and Public Health Research Centre Grants, the minister added.

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