The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented the National Geoscience Awards - 2016today(April 12, 2017) at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that India has a rich tradition of geo-scientific research, both at the institutional and at the academic levels. The National Geoscience Awards, instituted by the Ministry of Mines, is a laudable initiative to honour the contributions and years of dedicated work of geo-scientists. Over the last five decades, these Awards have emerged as the most coveted recognition in the field of geosciences. They have encouraged scientists to achieve higher levels of excellence.

The President said that it is incumbent on nations the world over to move in the path of sustainable growth. In this model, growth and development depends not only on the availability of mineral resources but also on their judicious exploitation. The near surface mineral deposits are depleting very fast. Hence, the geo-scientific community has to step up to meet the demand for future resources by finding deeper sources for the minerals we require. Special emphasis also has to be given for discovery of strategic and critical minerals to make the nation self reliant and reduce dependence on imports from external sourcesfor our strategic needs. While addressing the resource needs of the country, we have to also keep in mind the off-shore regions which hold enormous potential for phosphorites, gas hydrates and seafloor massive sulphides.

Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (I/C) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy & Mines; Shri Arun Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Mines; Shri Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology and Shri M Raju, Director General, Geological Survey of India.

This release issued 1600 hrs.