New Delhi: As many as five Odia scientists among 33 from across the country were conferred the National Geoscience Awards - 2014. The recipients are Rajiv Patnaik, Seemanchal Padhi,Biswajit Lenka, Swati Mohanty and ML Dora.
Lenka and Dora got the prestigious award in Mineral Discovery and Exploration category while Padhi received the award in Geophysics/Applied Geophysics. Similarly, Patnaik and Mohanty received the honour in Basic Geosciences and Mineral Beneficiation categories repsectively.
The award is given to honour individuals and teams of scientists for their extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in fundamental and applied geosciences and mining and allied fields.
Presenting the award at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Tuesday, President Pranab Mukherjee said that the availability and use of minerals in any country has been one of the factors determining self-sufficiency of its economy.
He stated that he was happy to note that the Geoscientists of the country are working hard to meet these challenges.
The President said that the exploration of mineral resources in the country requires a greater thrust with an even greater caution.
As the search for the near surface deposits have reached a point of saturation, the geo-scientists of the country now face the crucial challenge of finding deep seated and concealed mineral resources.
There is a need to focus on exploration of the offshore mineral resources which hold enormous potential of supplementing the increasing needs of the society.