Bhubaneswar, Sep 21: ISRO chairman K Sivan Saturday said the country is moving ahead to meet its target of sending man to space by December 2021.

He asserted that though ISRO's plan to soft land Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module on the lunar surface did not go as per script, it will have no bearing with on the 'Gaganyaan' mission.

Stating Chandrayaan-2's orbiter will give data for seven and half years, he all technologies of the moon mission have proved accurate except for the soft landing. "Is not it a success ?" he asked.

"By December 2020, we will have our first unmanned mission of human space plane. The second unmanned human space plane, we target for July 2021," Sivan said addressing the eighth convocation of IIT, Bhubaneswar.

"By December 2021, the first Indian will be carried by our own rocket ... This is the target ISRO is working for," he said amidst loud clapping by the audience.

The Gaganyaan mission is extremely important for India as it will boost the science and technology capability of the country. "Therefore, we are working on a new target," he said.

Sivan asked students to take calculated risks and innovate. "If you are not taking a chance, there is no chance of achieving anything significant in life. Take calculated risks. When you take calculated risks, you save yourself from problematic areas".

Stressing on innovation, he said it comes from high level of risk and failure. "I need not tell you how many times Edison failed in inventing the light bulb or how many times ISRO failed in the launch of our launch vehicles. But this failure did not become an obstacle. We (ISRO) use these failures as learning opportunities," the ISRO chief said.

Sivan told the gathering "Dr Kalam said your dream or idea must not make you sleep. Get inspired by great leaders, but do not try to emulate them. You have to come out with original solutions and not a copy of somebody else's idea.

If you want to become a Dr Kalam, do not chase his hair style.

You follow his idea and the message he gave".

The space scientist said while the country may be perceived poor by many people it occupies the first position in the world for sending remote sensing satellites.

Despite the progress made over the last half a century, there are many unsolved issues of poverty and hunger, health and sanitation and clean drinking water, he said and called upon IITians to come forward to help solve them.

"As Gandhiji said local problems need local solutions," Sivan added.

Prof R V Raja Kumar, Director of IIT Bhubaneswar presided over the function in which degrees were conferred to 32 Ph.d, 105 M Tech, 67 M Sc and 152 B Tech students.

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New Delhi, Nov 21: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday launched the Karnataka Milk Federation's (KMF) Nandini brand milk products in the Delhi-NCR market, pricing them marginally lower than competitors to gain a foothold in the region.

The cooperative will retail four cow milk variants, curd, and buttermilk from Friday, with competitive pricing that undercuts established players like Mother Dairy and Amul.

Cow milk will be sold at Rs 56 per litre, full Cream Milk at Rs 67 per litre, Standardised Milk at Rs 61 per litre, Toned Milk at Rs 55 per litre, and curd at Rs 74 per kg.

"We have surplus milk in the state. KMF along with Mandya Milk Union will market surplus milk of 3-4 lakh litres per day in Delhi-NCR," Siddaramaiah told reporters after launching the products.

The federation currently collects 100 lakh litres of milk daily, with local consumption at 60 lakh litres, leaving a surplus of 40 lakh litres for expansion into new markets.

However, the Chief Minister acknowledged the challenges of transporting milk over 2,500 km, which takes 50-54 hours.

There is a need to find new markets for surplus milk and gradually the KMF should be able to sell 5-6 lakh litres per day in Delhi-NCR, he added.

KMF Chairman LBP Bheemanaik assured that milk quality would be maintained during transit.

The federation has already partnered with 40 dealers in the Delhi-NCR region to facilitate sales, he added.

With a robust infrastructure of 26.76 lakh milk producers, 15,737 dairy cooperative societies, and 15 district milk unions, KMF has a turnover of Rs 25,000 crore and exports dairy products to over 25 countries.

State Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh and Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy were present at the product launch.