Wednesday, August 22, 2012

51st Meeting of the Central Geological Programming Board
The Secretary, Mines & Chairman, CGPB, Shri Vishwapati Trivedi will chair and address the 51st Central Geological Programming Board (CGPB) meeting of the Geological Survey of India which will be held on 24 August 2012 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

CGPB is an important platform where the review of the progress of work by GSI during the Field Season 2012-13 will be carried out. The outcome of the 12 CGPB Committee (Group I-XII) meetings held during the period June - July 2012 will also be circulated.

The Ministry of Mines, vide a notification dated 13th March 2009 has reconstituted the CGPB Committee into 12 theme-based groups. The main objective of this reconstitution is to enable the States and other Stakeholders to accrue benefit from wider participation and interaction with GSI to further their activities and avoid duplication. It was felt that it would provide a forum for better coordination between Central and State level stakeholders by encouraging the regular functioning of State level Geological Programming Boards, set up by the State Governments. It was decided that the 12 Committees for the various sub-sectors would comprise members and invitees from the concerned States and Agencies engaged in activities in the field relevant to that particular sector. It was also decided that the CGPB Committee meetings would be held twice in a year in order to facilitate greater interaction among the members.

GSI was founded way back in 1851 with the prime task of locating coal resources of the country. But over the years, this organization has evolved into not only a Central Government. institution of high standing but also a National asset, which has profoundly augmented the natural resource reserve of the country. It has, thus, reduced the dependence on import of minerals and the import bill on the exchequer.

Today, with the technological advances world over, Earth Sciences are progressing at a rapid pace. In this context, GSI’s endeavor in taking up hyperspectral mapping of the country besides the national geomorphological mapping programe, is a matter of pride. Further, with the operationalisation of the heliborne survey and acquisition of blue water ocean-going vessel by GSI, the search for mineral resources both on shore and offshore is all set to gain momentum.

Search for minerals is a long drawn exercise, which starts with regional geological mapping and exploration, followed by detailed exploration. The Mining Industry is, thus, dependent on the exploration agencies for economic exploitation of mineral deposit. India, currently, is at a critical juncture and poised for a quantum jump. For global participation in search and exploitation of minerals, India has opened up this industry in the early nineties, policies and acts are being continuously reviewed and being made more industry friendly.

The Ministry of Mines and GSI have entered into a number of MoUs with a host of other countries like Canada, Republic of Columbia and Saudi Arabia for international cooperation in the fields of mineral exploration, geosciences involving societal issues, transfer of technology and capacity building. Revival of several old MoUs is also taking place. It is expected that with the implementation of these MoUs, adoption of the best international practices and the transfer of latest technological know-how to GSI will get a tremendous boost.

It may be underlined that over the past 160 years GSI has been dedicatedly collecting vast amounts of field and laboratory generated data. In order to make this invaluable data available for societal benefit, GSI Portal, the winner of the Best Public Choice Award for Government to Government Enterprise Portal conferred by e-world forum in 2011, is now active as the gateway for dissemination of geospatial information. 

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