Lok Sabha to hold special discussion on the impact of Astronaut Shukla’s space mission

After a near wash-out over the Opposition’s demand for a debate on the Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Bihar — which the government rejected — during the last four sittings of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the government has now listed a “special discussion on India’s first astronaut aboard the International Space Station and the critical role of the space programme for a Viksit Bharat by 2047” in Monday’s (August 18, 2025) Lok Sabha agenda.

The discussion has not been listed in the Rajya Sabha. Normally, before a special discussion is decided for either House, it is taken up at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC). However, no BAC meeting was held last week.

The Opposition has not yet decided whether it will participate in this discussion. “We will take a call at the Monday morning meeting of the Opposition floor leaders,” Congress’s Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha, Kodikunnil Suresh, told The Hindu.

Astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla returned to India in the early hours of Sunday (August 18, 2025), after his visit to the International Space Station. Mr. Shukla is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. During his address at the 79th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort on Friday (August 15, 2025), Prime Minister Modi said India was developing its own space station and highlighted Group Captain Shukla’s return from a space mission.

“Our Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has returned from the space station. In the coming days, he is returning to India,” Mr. Modi said.