The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu presented the National Geoscience Awards-2023 at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre today (August 20, 2024). 

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that to achieve India's goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047, it is important to achieve self-sufficiency in mineral production. She was happy to note that the government is taking many steps like integration of geoscientific data through National Geoscience Data Repository Portal, use of AI and emerging technologies in exploration and mining of mineral resources. She expressed confidence that these steps will enable us to understand our natural wealth better and utilize it properly.

The President said that moving towards sustainable development, India is committed to achieving Net Zero Carbon Emission. Our efforts to adopt clean energy on a large scale are in line with this goal. She emphasised that green transition requires greater focus on minerals such as critical minerals and rare earth elements.  She expressed confidence that the establishment of National Critical Minerals Mission will help India become self-reliant and strengthen value chain of critical minerals required for economic development and green transition.

The President was happy to note the establishment of National Landslide Forecasting Centre in Kolkata which will issue an early warning bulletin for all landslide-prone states. She stressed upon to make our systems so foolproof and accurate that disasters like landslides and floods cause minimum damage.

The President said that India's geological history is recorded in its rocks, plains, fossils and marine beds and we can call it our geological heritage. She urged the youth to understand the importance of geo-tourism and geo-heritage sites. She stated that geo-tourism can be medium to encourage people to join the field of geoscience.

The National Geoscience Award is instituted by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India with the aim to honour individuals and teams for extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in various fields of geosciences.

Please click here to see the President's Speech - 

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MJPS/SR