Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh, Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, said, “We expect to see an exponential growth in the area of desalination plants in the coming years. Addressing the Earth Sciences Day Celebration here today the Minister said, “The greatest challenge before both urban, and rural populations is that of drinking water. The Ministry of Earth Sciences has developed low temperature Desalination technology for converting sea water into drinking water. We have a plan to cover all coastal power plants in the country under this facility following success of a one and half lakh litre desalination plant set up in Chennai at a coastal power plant. In Lakhsdweep islands 2 plants have been set up, each of which is producing one lakh litres of water per day and other 7 islands of Lakshadweep are also being covered with this technology. This technology has stabilised and the first plant at Kavaratti in Lakshadweep is running without closure for the last 6 years.”
Shri Deshmukh said that every pure science research must have its end goal as service to mankind. Shri Deshmukh explained that the world of science is challenging which should not lie in merely discoveries. Referring to the Food Security Mission, launched under the aegis of the Planning Commission,- he elaborated that India’s total demand for food grains is projected to touch 280 million tonnes by the year 2020-21.For this improved monsoon rainfall predictions and associated enhancements to the agro-advisory services have been identified as priority activities. The Ministry of Earth Sciences’ role is very crucial here. The MoES has plans to establish the National Monsoon Mission to address these challenging issues relating to the monsoon rainfall in India. They not only provide fairly accurate monsoon forecasts but also issue weather related agro advisories to farmers so that the ‘kisan’ can plan his farming and increase the productivity of his soil.”
Talking about another priority area of the Ministry he said Science Ministries will facilitate the building of joint projects with Indian research groups and global research community, both of Indian origin or otherwise, to address critical and priority issues so that advances of S & T can contribute to national development.
Delivering his keynote address on Energy Technologies, Energy Securities and Climate Chang, Dr R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India and DAE-Homi Bhabha Professor, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, said, “ BARC has established a 6300 m3/day (6.3 MLD) Nuclear Desalination Demonstration Plant using hybrid Multi-Stage Flash-Reverse Osmosis (MSF-RO) technology integrated to existing PHWR at MAPS (Kalpakkam). It is the largest nuclear desalination plant in the world based on hybrid technology.”
Dr R. Chidambaramsaid, “ The Human Development Index (HDI) is directly dependent on two main parameters: Per Capita Electricity Consumption and Female Literacy. For India to become a ‘developed’ country, the per capita electricity consumption has to increase manifold. Nuclear has to play an important role in this increase as India looks for a low-carbon path for its electricity production growth. There should not be any fear related to nuclear energy. Lessons will be learnt from the recent Fukushima accident and more stringent security measures are being taken in the country and all over the world.”
Explaining the Indian Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR-Pu) and other aspects of it he said, “ Closing the nuclear fuel cycle is essential if nuclear is to be a sustainable mitigating technology in the context of the climate change threat. This is in coherence with India’s three-stage nuclear programme. ‘
Referring to Eight Missions outlined in the National Action Plan on Climate Change, he clarified that Nuclear Energy is not in the group of eight missions because the Department of Atomic Energy is itself a Mission – oriented Agency. He disclosed that a new, 9th Mission on Clean Coal (Carbon) Technologies is being considered.
Referring to The Prime Minister’s announcement of the present decade as the ‘Decade of Innovation” and the year 2012-13 as the year of Science, Dr Chidambaram said, research and innovation are strengthened by collaboration, particularly between scientists who have mutual respect. Also any international collaboration is sustainable only if it is mutually beneficial. We need connectivity – both physical and electronic. Today’s India seeks international scientific and technological collaboration on an ‘equal partner’ basis e.g. LHC, ITER.
Complimenting the Ministry of Earth Sciences Family on the occasion of celebrating 31st Foundation Day, Dr. Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Earth Sciences, Science & Technology & Planning said India is now venturing to make Tsunami Warning Service to generate street-level inundation maps with the details of depth, duration and extent of inundation all along the vast Indian coastline of about 7500kms. A world class Tsunami Warning System is successfully being operated in a globally competitive real time Tsunami Warning System fully customized to meet the tsunami requirements of the Indian Ocean region.Referring to global outreach Dr Ashwani Kumar said, “ The Ministry has started working towards establishment of an India-Africa Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting. The proposed institution will harness satellite technology for the agriculture and fisheries sectors as well as contribute towards disaster preparedness and management of natural resources of the African region.”
The Ministry is working on priority basis to generate all necessary spatial, topographic and thematic data infrastructure.The designated dedicated team set has successfully completed a pilot phase proof of concept initiative for the Nagapattinam District of Tamil Nadu, where up to locality/street level people can be evacuated. This will now be extending cover the entire coastline of India. He gave details of indigenously built research stations –Dakshin Gangotri, in Antarctica, Maitri, and the Arctic Station HIMADRI at the Norwegian location of Svelbard. To meet high performance computing (HPC) requirements for the Earth System Science Modeling, MoES has developed a strategic plan that outlines a roadmap for its institutions to become leaders in the field of weather and climate forecasting in the next 10 years. HPC infrastructural upgradation is strategized to be accomplished in two stages. The short term plan is to upgrade the total HPC capacity to 1-3 petaflops level within next 5 years together with appropriate storage and archival. The long term plan is to increase this capacity to exaflop range in next 10 years.
National Awards for Ocean Science and Technology and Atmospheric science and Technology were given today to Dr Bulusu Lakshman Deekshatulu and Prof R N Keshava Murthy respectively. Certificate of Merit were also conferred.
