The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu will confer the prestigious National Geoscience Awards – 2023 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre, New Delhi tomorrow in the august presence of Union Minister for Coal & Mines Shri G. Kishan Reddy and Minister of State for Coal & Mines Shri Satish Chandra Dubey.
The National Geoscience Award (NGA) is one of the oldest and most prestigious national award in the field of geosciences, instituted by the Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India in the year 1966. Before the year 2009, these awards were called as National Mineral Awards. The objective of these Awards is to honour individuals and teams for extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in various fields of geosciences i.e. mineral discovery & exploration, Mining Technology & Mineral Beneficiation, fundamental/ applied geosciences. Any citizen of India with significant contribution in any field of geosciences is eligible for the award. The Ministry of Mines confers National Geoscience Awards every year in three categories:
- National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement
- National Geoscience Award
- National Young Geoscientist Award
For NGA 2023, 240 nominations were received under different award categories and examined through a three-stage screening process. After detailed deliberations, the Ministry of Mines has finally selected 12 awards which include 09 individual awards and 03 team awards. The 09 individual awards also include the 01 award for National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement and 01 award for the National Young Geoscientist Award. These 12 National Geoscience Awards will be presented to 21 Geoscientists by the President of India in the august presence of distinguished geoscientists, scholars, policymakers and industry leaders.
The National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement will be conferred upon Prof. Dhiraj Mohan Banerjee, Emeritus Scientist, INSA and the National Young Geoscientist Award will be presented to Dr. Ashutosh Pandey, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram. The final list of awardees for the National Geoscience Awards 2023 to be conferred by the Hon’ble President of India is given below.
|
NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT 2023 |
|
|
Prof. Dhiraj Mohan Banerjee, Emeritus Scientist, INSA
|
|
|
NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARD 2023 |
|
|
SECTION- I – Mineral Discovery & Exploration |
|
|
Field (i): Mineral Discovery & Exploration (excluding fossil fuels) of economic and/or strategic importance and application of innovative techniques. Out of two awards in this field, at least one award shall be given for critical minerals.
|
Team Award
Team Award |
|
Field (ii): Coal, Lignite and Coal Bed Methane Discovery & Exploration of economic and/or strategic importance and application of innovative techniques and Oil, Natural Gas, Shale Gas and Gas Hydrates Discovery & Exploration (including project development and planning leading to exploitation of resources and reservoir management)
Dr. Pawan Dewangan, Senior Principal Scientist CSIR- National Institute of Oceanography, Goa
|
Individual Award |
|
SECTION- II – Mining, Mineral Beneficiation and Sustainable Mineral Development |
|
|
Field: (iii) Mining Technology including development and application of new methods and technologies, research & development. Conservation of mineral resources, systematic mine planning, mine safety, mine fires, mine hazards, mine reclamation & rehabilitation.
Dr. Harsh Kumar Verma, Senior Principal Scientist, CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Bilaspur
|
Individual Award |
|
Field (iv): Mineral Beneficiation (including mineral processing, project development for utilization of low-grade ores & production of value-added mineral products and mineral economics) and Sustainable Mineral Development (including mine closure, project development, institutional development and capacity building)
Prof. Narasimha Mangadoddy, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad |
Individual Award |
|
SECTION- III – Basic Geosciences |
|
|
Field (v): Basic Geosciences including Stratigraphy, Structural Geology, Paleontology, Geodynamics, Geochemistry, Geochronology and Isotope Geology, Ocean Development (Oceanography and Marine Geology), Glaciology and Arctic & Antarctic Research including Geo-Scientific Expeditions; and science surveys/baseline geoscience data collection including Geological and Geochemical mapping & survey, and Systematic Thematic mapping.
Scientist F, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa
|
Individual Award
Team Award |
|
SECTION- IV – Applied Geosciences |
|
|
Field (vi): Applied Geology: Engineering Geology, Geothermal Energy, Seismotectonics, Geostatistics, Remote Sensing and Geo-Information System (including spatial data management applications and data integration); Groundwater Exploration (including project development, hydrogeological studies and management of groundwater resources; Geo-Environmental Studies relating to mining, urban, industrial, coastal and desert management, paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, medical geology, climate change and studies related to their impact on ecosystem.
Prof. Vikram Vishal, Department of Earth Sciences IIT Bombay
|
Individual Award |
|
Field: (vii) Geophysics / Applied Geophysics: New technologies in geophysical exploration, application of geophysical methods, geo-magnetism, geophysical survey techniques and instrumentation. Dr. Bantu Prasanta Kumar Patro, Chief Scientist, CSIR, National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad
|
Individual Award |
|
Field (viii): Natural Hazard Investigations including scientific studies related to natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, floods and tsunamis. Prof. Srimath Tirumala Gudemella Raghukanth, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai |
Individual Award |
|
NATIONAL YOUNG GEOSCIENTIST AWARD– 2023 |
|
|
Dr. Ashutosh Pandey, Assistant Professor School of Earth, Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram |
|
*****
ST
