India's first manned space mission to send 3 persons
New Delhi, Aug 28: India's first manned space flight - Gaganyaan - is expected to send three persons into the space for seven days and the spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km.
Giving details of the programme at a press conference here, Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said GSLV Mk III, the three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle, will be used to launch Gaganyaan as it has the necessary payload capability.
He said two unmanned Gaganyaan missions will be undertaken prior to sending humans.
"The total programme is expected to be completed before 2022 with the first unmanned flight within 30 months. The mission will aim to send a three-person crew to space for a period of seven days. The spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km. The programme is expected to cost less than Rs 10,000 crore," Singh said.
The Gaganyaan mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address. He had said that by 2022 or even before that, some of the young boys and girls will unfurl the Tricolour in space.
Sing said the complex programme will truly be a national endeavour with the participation of ISRO, academia, industry as well as other government and private agencies as stake holders.
"The mission will make India the fourth nation in the world to launch a Human Spaceflight Mission," Singh said.
To accelerate the programme, ISRO may consider seeking collaborations with space agencies from friendly countries and advanced space programmes, he said.
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Railways earned additional Rs 8,913 crore in 5 years by withdrawing senior citizens' concession: RTI
New Delhi (PTI): The Indian Railways has earned an additional revenue of approximately Rs 8,913 crore in five years by withdrawing concessions for senior citizens, according to replies from the Centre for Railway Information Systems on a Right to Information Act applications.
CRIS functions under the Railway Ministry and develops as well as maintains ticketing and passengers data besides offering various other services.
The question of restoring concessions on train tickets for senior citizens was raised in the parliament by members on several occasions, however, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the Railways already pays 46 per cent concession on an average to every passenger.
Males and transgenders over the age of 60 and females over the age of 58 used to avail 40 per cent and 50 per cent discounts respectively on train tickets for all classes before March 20, 2020, when the Railway Ministry withdrew it due to the onset of the Covid pandemic.
The data of passengers as well as revenue generated from them, accessed under the RTI Act, suggested that between March 20, 2020, and February 28, 2025, 31.35 crore senior citizens (male, female, transgenders) travelled paying an additional amount of Rs 8,913 crore due to suspension of concessions.
"I filed multiple applications under the RTI Act from March 20, 2020, onwards with the Railway Ministry and the most recent one was in March 2025. When I analysed the data, I found that approximately 18.279 crore males, 13.065 crore females and 43,536 transgender passengers, all senior citizens, travelled between March 20, 2020, and February 28, 2025,” Chandra Shekhar Gaur, an RTI activist from Madhya Pradesh said.
Calculating the gender-wise breakup for the overall revenue from senior citizens, Gaur said that according to the Ministry's response, it was approximately Rs 11,531 crore from male passengers, Rs 8,599 crore from female travellers and Rs 28.64 Lakh from transgender passengers.
He added, "The total revenue generated from all these passengers was Rs 20,133 crore. Considering the removal of 40 per cent discount for male as well as transgender passengers and 50 per cent for female on train journeys, the additional income that Railways earned was Rs Rs 8,913.”
The Railway Ministry has countered the demand for restoring senior citizen concessions on multiple occasions in the past.
"Indian Railways strives to provide affordable services to all strata of the society and gave subsidies of Rs 56,993 crore on passenger tickets in 2022- 23. This amounts to a concession of 46 per cent on average, to every person travelling on Railways,” Vaishnaw said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on March 19, 2025.
He added, “In other words for easier understanding, if the cost of providing service is Rs 100, then the price of the ticket is Rs 54 only. This subsidy is continuing for all passengers.”
According to the Railway Minister, concessions beyond this subsidy amount are continuing for many categories like four categories of Persons with disabilities (Divyangjans), 11 categories of patients and eight categories of students.
Gaur demanded the restoration of the concession and questioned, “A common citizen pays various taxes throughout his life and on entering the age of senior citizen, can’t he expect the facility of concessional railway tickets from the Railways?"
"On what ground does the government call itself a welfare state?" he added.
