The President of India to Confer National Geoscience Awards 2024 on 26th September 2025 in New Delhi

The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu will confer the prestigious National Geoscience Awards (NGA) 2024 at a ceremonial function to be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre, New Delhi, on 26th September 2025 at 1100 hrs. The event will be graced by the presence of Shri G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Coal & Mines and Shri Satish Chandra Dubey, Minister of State for Coal & Mines.

Instituted in 1966 by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India, the National Geoscience Awards (formerly known as the National Mineral Awards until 2009) are among the country’s oldest and most prestigious honors in the field of geosciences.

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. The Ministry of Mines presents the National Geoscience Awards annually under the following three categories:

(i) National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement

(ii) National Geoscience Award

(iii) National Young Geoscientist Award

For the year 2024, the Ministry received 208 nominations across the three award categories. Following a rigorous three-stage screening process, 12 awards have been finalized under these three award categories, which include 09 individual and 03 team awards. These 12 National Geoscience Awards will be presented to 20 Geoscientists by the President of India.

The National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement will be conferred upon Prof. Shyam Sundar Rai, Senior Scientist, Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and Visiting Professor at IISER Pune, in recognition of his exemplary career and contributions to geosciences.

The National Young Geoscientist Award will be presented to Shri Susobhan Neogi, Senior Geologist, Geological Survey of India, for his outstanding work in the field of geosciences.

The awards ceremony will be attended by eminent geoscientists, scholars, policymakers, and other key dignitaries from across the country. The complete list of awardees for NGA 2024 is enclosed herewith.

List of Awardees:

NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT 2024

(Single Award)

Prof. Shyam Sundar Rai

Senior Scientist, INSA &

Visiting Professor, IISER, Pune

NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARD 2024 (10 Awards)

SECTION I: Mineral Discovery & Exploration (3 Awards)

Field (i): Mineral Discovery & Exploration (excluding fossil fuels) of economic and/or strategic importance and application of innovative techniques. Out of the two awards in the field, at least one shall be given for critical minerals. (2 Awards)

Geological Survey of India (GSI) team comprising of

Shri Haraman Mahanta, Senior Geologist,

Shri Utpol Kumar Das, Senior Geologist,

Shri Syam Kumar Sangamreddi, Senior Geologist, and

Shri Sai Kumar Samala, Geologist

Geological Survey of India (GSI) team comprising of

Shri Navjeet Singh Nayyar, Director,

Shri Amit Kumar, Senior Geologist,

Ms. Tripti Baba, Senior Geologist, and

Dr. Sandeep Kumar, Geologist

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 resource and reservoir management). (1 Award)

Geological Survey of India (GSI) team comprising of

Smt. Sradhanjali Subhadarshini, Superintending Geologist,

Shri Supriya Chakraborty, Senior Geologist, and

Shri Jaydip Mukherjee, Director

Team

Award

SECTION II: Mining Technology, Mineral Beneficiation & Sustainable Mineral Development (2 Awards)

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. (1 Award)

Dr. Jai Krishna Pandey

Chief Scientist,

CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad

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). (1 Award)

Dr. Ranjeet Kumar Singh

Principal Scientist,

CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur

Individual

Award

SECTION III: Basic Geosciences (2 Awards)

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 Geoscientific Expeditions: and science surveys/baseline geoscience data collection including Geological and Geochemical mapping & survey and Systematic Thematic mapping. (2 Awards)

Dr. Vedula Venkata Subrahmanya Srinivasa Sarma

Chief Scientist, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography,

Regional Centre, Visakhapatnam

Dr. Mekala Ram Mohan

Chief Scientist,

CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad

Individual

Award

Individual

Award

SECTION IV: Applied Geosciences (3 Awards)

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. (1 Award)

Prof. Ghulam Jeelani

Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences

and Dean, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences,

University of Kashmir

Individual

Award

Field (vii): Geophysics / Applied Geophysics: New Technologies in geophysical exploration, application of geophysical methods, geo-magnetism, geophysical survey techniques and instrumentation. (1 Award)

Prof. Sanjit Kumar Pal

Professor & Head,

Department of Applied Geophysics, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad

Individual

Award

Field (viii): Natural Hazard Investigation including scientific studies related to natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, floods and tsunamis. (1 Award)

Prof. Mukat Lal Sharma

Professor, Earthquake Engineering

and Head, International Center of Excellence for Dams, IIT-Roorkee

Individual

Award

NATIONAL YOUNG GEOSCIENTIST AWARD 2024 (Single Award)

Shri Susobhan Neogi

Senior Geologist,

Geological Survey of India