Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh said that in the last 9 years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has traversed unlimited "Space". Addressing the India Defence Conclave 2023 in New Delhi, Dr Singh said, Prime Minister Modi has taken several policy initiatives in the past nine years to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment, thereby promoting Atmanirbharta in defence sector. He added that as a result, there is a quantum jump in Space sector in the last 9 years which surpasses the progress made in the preceding nearly six decades before that.<br />'' <br />'' Dr Jitendra Singh said, Defence and Space sectors are intertwined and both of them got an enabling milieu from the Prime Minister for its faster and indigenous growth by bridging the policy gaps. Referring to the strategic relevance of Space in view of recent global conflicts, the Minister said, Space, a dual-use technology domain, is emerging as an important multi-faceted enabler that provides unprecedented reach.<br />'' <br />'' Dr Jitendra Singh also pointed out that Union Cabinet approved the National Quantum Mission (NQM) at a total cost of over six thousand crore rupees from 2023-24 to 2030-31, aiming to seed, nurture and scale up scientific and industrial Research and Development (R&D) and create a vibrant and innovative ecosystem in Quantum Technology.<br />'' <br />''The Minister pointed out that India has joined the elite club of a handful of countries in Quantum Technologies and currently R&D works in quantum technologies are underway in the US, Canada, France, Finland, China and Austria, therefore all the countries are at par as far as initiation of the Mission is concerned.