Jagdeep Dhankhar: Pained to see few people can't digest India's progress

New Delhi, Sep 16 (PTI) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said India has reached the moon but it is painful to see that there are a few people who cannot digest the country's progress.

Speaking at the Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Awards ceremony, Dhankhar criticised the previous governments for not recognising artists who should have been honoured with Padma Awards long ago.

Dhankhar hailed the success of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Moon mission -- Chandrayaan-3 -- saying, "What we achieved on the moon, there were some aspects that happened for the first time in the world, including the landing on the south pole of the moon." "There was a time when our neighbour was sending satellites from its own land and we were sending from other countries. Today, European countries, Singapore and others are using ISRO to send their satellites. This is no small feat," Dhankhar said.

The World Bank chief praised India for its digital development and said that "it managed to achieve something in the last six years that it couldn't in the last 50", he said.

"At such a point it pains me, it makes me sad that there are a few people, they are very few in numbers, why can't they digest India's progress?" the vice president remarked.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi constituted the Amrit Awards to recognise a total of 84 artists above the age of 75 who have never been given any awards for their work.

"Look at the selection, all of them are above 75 and nobody recognised their contribution till now. Why did this happen? We had a culture of recognising artists with Padma awards, but who were they given to and how? "The people who received the Padma Awards in the last 10 years had never expected to get it. Never in the history of this country, there has been such massive approval of Padma Awards after they have been given," Dhankhar said. PTI MAH RHL