Man Who Advised on Chandrayaan-2 Didn’t Apply for NRC: Report

Scientist Jitendra Nath Goswami had reportedly decided not to apply for the inclusion of his name in the NRC list.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/DrHarshVardhan)

Renowned scientist Jitendra Nath Goswami, who was also an advisor on the ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 Moon mission, did not figure on the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam, an India Today report said.

Goswami had reportedly decided not to apply for the inclusion of his and his family members' names in the NRC list.

Since Goswami's family members had voting rights in Gujarat, so they opted not to apply for inclusion in the list, his brother and Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami told India Today.

"He is now a permanent resident of Gujarat where he along with his family has voting rights. My brother didn't apply for inclusion of his name in the NRC list. Actually, he didn't show any interest to apply for the NRC," Hitendra reportedly said.

He further told IT that "They (Jitendra's family) are living in Ahmedabad for the last 20 years. He is my brother and our lands are in Jorhat."

Jitendra Goswami had reportedly advised on India's recent lunar mission.

The Chandrayaan-2's Vikram module was located on the lunar surface and it must have been a hard-landing, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said on Sunday, in an admission that the planned soft-landing wasn’t successful.

"Yes, we have located the lander on the lunar surface. It must have been a hard-landing," Sivan told PTI.

India's bold mission to soft-land on the moon suffered a setback with the 'Vikram' module losing communication with ground stations, just 2.1 km from the lunar surface during its final descent in the early hours of Saturday.

Considered as the "most complex" stage of the country's second expedition to the moon, the lander was on a powered descent for a soft landing when it lost contact.

(With inputs from PTI and India Today)