Vice President addresses the silver jubilee celebrations of National Institute of Ocean Technology
New Delhi: The Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu today urged scientists to come up with innovative solutions to conserve water resources and tackle problems like climate change and pollution.
Inaugurating silver jubilee celebrations of National Institute of Ocean Technology, the Vice President said technology was needed for protection of coastal areas from negative impacts of climate change and for development of blue coastal infrastructure for the benefit of society.
While lauding NIOT for developing technologies like desalination plant to convert sea water into portable water, he said there was a need to ensure that such technologies were cost effective.
Talking about the importance of Blue economy in the overall progress of the nation, the Vice President expressed happiness that NIOT was working on six priority pillars of blue economy, including Fisheries and Aquaculture,Renewable Ocean Energy, Seaports and Shipping; Offshore Hydrocarbons, Seabed Minerals, and Marine Biotechnology.
The Vice President pointed out that blue economy includes intangible economic benefits such as carbon sequestration, coastal protection, cultural values and biodiversity.
Observing that Oceans already account for significant trade, commerce and offshore oil and gas, fishing, under sea-cables and tourism, he said the emerging industries such as aquaculture, marine biotechnology, ocean energy and sea-bed mining have the potential to create jobs and spur worldwide economic growth.
Shri Naidu also called for giving a strong thrust to research activities and innovation in the areas of ocean energy, marine biology and bio technology for India to become a leader in those sectors.
The Vice President conveyed his best wishes to the Ministry of Earth Sciences and NIOT for the success of their upcoming project–Samudrayaan, which envisages sending aquanauts to ocean depths with their manned submersible.
Shri Naidu declared that after assuming the office of Vice President of India, he has made it a mission to visit various scientific institutions across the country to understand first-hand the research being conducted by them. In this context, he recalled his visit to INCOIS and the National Tsunami Warning Centre in Hyderabad.
The Vice President said that he was extremely impressed with the work being carried out by scientists in areas of ocean observation and information and advisory services and making the coastal states Tsunami-ready.
The Vice President also launched Coastal Flood Warning System app for Chennai (CFLOWS- CHENNAI) developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology. He also released a commemorative postal stamp brought out on the occasion.
Earlier, Shri Naidu went around an exhibition which displayed cutting edge and socially-relevant technologies developed NIOT.
The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri Banwarilal Purohit, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology & Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Shri O.Panneerselvam, the Minister for Fisheries and Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, D. Jayakumar and Dr. M.A. Atmanand, Director, National Institute of Ocean Technology were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.