Ministry of Earth Sciences conferred National Award on B. L. Deekshatulu & R. N. Keshavamurthy

The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) conferred its national awards for outstanding lifetime contributions on the foundation of MoES which is on 27 July. The award was conferred upon the former Director of the Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Agency, B. L. Deekshatulu, and the former Director of the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, R. N. Keshavamurthy.

Dr. Deekshatulu won the award for his work in ocean science and technology while Dr. Keshavamurthy received it for his contributions in atmospheric science and technology.
The awards conferred by Union Minister for Earth Sciences Vilasrao Deshmukh carry a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh each and a citation.

The nominations for the award are normally recommended by heads of universities, national institutes and scientific departments of the Centre. A high level committee of distinguished scientists then selects the winners.

The Minister also presented certificates of merit to eminent scientists and engineers like P. John Kurian of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (Goa), C. Patanjali Kumar of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (Hyderabad), R. Saravanan of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (Chennai), John P. George of the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (Delhi), C. Gunaseelan of IITM and D. R. Pattanaik, A. D. Tathe and Ravi Kant Singh of the India Meteorological Department.