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New Delhi: The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) celebrated its 15th Foundation Day at Prithvi Bhavan Headquarters in New Delhi today. The Ministry launched multiple societally beneficial initiatives in the presence of Dr Jitendra Singh, Honourable Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology;(Ind Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, PP/DoPT, Atomic Energy, Space, who was the Chief Guest at the event. He encouraged MoES to expand, enhance, and promote services to society, especially weather, climate, ocean, and seismology, bringing in more socio-economic benefits to the country.
Picture: MoES 15th Foundation Day celebrations with Honourable Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who was the Chief Guest at the occasion. He launched multiple social initiatives of the MoES.
The event was marked by a lecture by Dr Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), entitled ‘WMO, Disasters, Climate and COP-26’, that discussed the pressing issue of climate change and its impact.
The Union Minister Dr Singh launched the MoES-ESSDP (Earth System Science Data Portal), an integrated digital web portal of MoES institutes, which makes availabledata on various themes of earth system science for public use. The portal has been developed using the latest information technology tools and is available at https://incois.gov.in/essdp. The portal is aligned with the Digital India initiative of the Government of India to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It would facilitate search and retrieval of earth system science data (of atmosphere, ocean, poles, geosciences and seismology) for societal benefit in a big way.
Picture: Home page of the MoES-ESSDP, a one-of-a-kind digital platform bringing together data and information of earth system science on a single dynamic web platform.
Dr Singh also launched a new MoES website that would provide a more user-friendly interface and cyber secure experience to the public. With Dr M Rajeevan, Secretary, MoES, and other dignitaries, Dr Singh released a book entitled Hydrocarbon fluid inclusions in petroliferous basins. This book discusses new tools for oil exploration and is a valuable reference for researchers studying fluid inclusion and oil prospecting. The book is authored by Dr V Nandakumar, Scientist G/Group Head and Former Director of National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), Thiruvananthapuram, and Dr Jayanthi JL, Project Scientist at NCESS.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), MoES, introduced a new mobile app named ‘Pune Weather Live’,which would provide real-time and location-specific weather updates for Pune city. The app, released by Dr Rajeevan, captures live data from more than 80 weather stations, including information onrainfall.
Pictures: Pune Weather Live app introduced by IMD on MoES Foundation Day on July 27, 2021. The app would provide real-time and location-specific weather updates for Pune.
Winners of the MoES National Awards were also announced at the event. The MoESLife Time Excellence Award was conferred to Dr Satish Shetye, Former Director of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa and Former VC of Goa University for his exemplary workon Indian monsoons. Dr Sunil Kumar Singh, Director, CSIR-NIO, Goa, received the National Award for Ocean Sciences; Dr R Krishnan, ScientistG and Executive Director, Centre for Climate Change Research, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune,for Atmospheric Science and Technology; DrKalachandSain, Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology received the honour in the field of Geoscience and Technology; and Dr M V Ramanamurthy, Director, National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai, in the field of Ocean Technology. Dr Thara Prabhakaran, Scientist F, IITM, Pune and Dr Vandana Prasad, Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow,shared the Anna Mani awardrecognising woman scientists. Young Researcher awardswere presented to Dr WaliurRahaman, Scientist E, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa and Dr Kandula V Subrahmanyam, Space Physics Laboratory, ISRO.
Certificates of Merit were presented to Dr Supriyo Chakraborty, Scientist F, IITM, Pune; Dr O P Sreejith, Scientist E, IMD, Pune; Dr Sudheer Joseph, ScientistF, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad; Dr S BPranesh, ScientistE, National Institute for Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai; Dr Avinash Kumar, ScientistE, NCPOR, Goa; and Dr S Kaliraj, Scientist C, NCESS, Thiruvananthapuram.