Earth Sciences Ministry : Not ‘Glamorous’, but Critical to Lives and Livelihood

What does the Finance Ministry do? What role does the Home Ministry perform? What are the functions of the External Affairs Ministry? What is the purpose of the Defence Ministry? Put these questions to any lay citizen, and one can expect a fairly accurate enough answer. Now ask: What does the Earth Sciences Ministry do? Most ordinary citizens will give a blank look. Let alone knowing what the ministry is all about, many of them will have not even heard of earth sciences. This, when the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is so critical that it is headed by a Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, with independent charge. The fact is that the work of MoES directly impacts the lives and livelihood of every single person.

It is tasked to undertake a host of services, including in the areas of weather forecasts, climate, ocean and coasts, natural calamities, seismology, and hydrology. It overlooks the exploration of marine resources, the Arctic, the Antarctic and the Himalayas. The ministry’s functions therefore, affect a range of fields including environment, marine ecosystems, food, water, weather and natural hazards. In times when environmental degradation and climate change are leading to natural disasters in increasing numbers, the MoES’s role in predicting and mitigating the impact of such calamities has become critical.

The MoES came into existence in July 2006 after the Union government restructured the Ministry of Ocean Development. In the new ministry’s purview came the Indian Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorological Department, the National Centre for Medium Range Tropical Meteorological Department and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting. Another important step that was taken was the approval to set up an Earth Commission on the lines of the Space Commission and the Atomic energy Commission. The MoES’s footprint is today seen in all spheres of the earth system—hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere and biosphere.

The country’s success in innovating and improving its weather forecasting systems is evident in the fact that by 2018 the country was ranked among the world’s tops-20 nations in high performance computing (HPC); it was earlier ranked 368th. In dedicated HPC resources for weather-climate, it came in the fourth spot after Japan, the UK and the US. The ranking is a measure of the progress India has made in offering world-class weather forecast services to its people.

It is because of the constant efforts of the people associated with the MoES and affiliated institutions that India has been able to drastically reduce loss of lives and property during natural calamities. The Super Cyclone of 1999, that hit Odisha the hardest, had claimed nearly 10,000 lives. The country’s forecast mechanisms then were not sophisticated enough to properly foresee the disaster that was round the corner. Since then, Odisha has been hit by other cyclones or intense wind conditions, but the loss of lives was minimal due to timely forecasting that led to the evacuation of people from the danger zones.

The country’s forecast system was similarly ill-prepared for the tsunami of 2004, that battered a dozen countries including parts of coastal India. The total death toll was more than 2,25,000; more than 10,000 deaths were reported from India. Frantic efforts were made to meet the challenge of predicting the calamity in future. The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre was established at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), that works under the MoES. It developed a mechanism to predict the extent of risk, the height of waves and even vulnerable buildings, in real time once tsunami occurs. India became the first country in the world to achieve this breakthrough. The INCOIS centre has been designated as one of the Tsunami Service Providers for the entire Indian Ocean region by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. It has been offering advisories and related services to all countries in the Indian Ocean Rim.

The MoES has been working over the years to tackle another natural hazard: earthquakes. Over 59 per cent of India’s land mass faces the threat of moderate to severe seismic impacts, and this includes several major cities that fall in seismic zones. Experts have stated that it was not possible to accurately predict earthquakes, but their impact can be considerably reduced through identifying seismic hazard zones and having effective mitigation mechanisms. The MoES has been working in this direction, such as micro-mapping of vulnerable regions, but experts believe that a lot more needs to be done. Perhaps the MoES can take a leaf out of Japan, which has shown how effective mitigation measures can reduce the impact of earthquakes.

The MoES has taken several other technological initiatives in this regard. For example, scientists drilled a bore hole in Koyna that went deep down to where earthquakes happen. Instruments have been put in place go measure the happenings before, during and soon after an earthquake. This is an ongoing process, and the idea is to bore deeper and deploy more sophisticated equipment to get more accurate information and in more quick time.

Besides disaster forecast and mitigation methods, the MoES is involved in another important task that is usually associated with the external affairs ministry: Diplomacy. An article posted on the Indian Council of World Affairs termed the initiative as ‘polar diplomacy’, referring to the country’s exploration, environmental protection and scientific research drive in the Arctic and the Antarctic in collaboration with other nations. The article noted that several factors, including rapid economic growth, increased demand for energy and global warming have influenced India’s polar diplomacy. The country is actively involved in platforms such as the Arctic Council and the Antarctic Treaty System for research. As a member of the Asian Forum for Polar Sciences, India has been pushing for greater cooperation among Asian nations in promoting polar sciences. It has had various discussions with countries such as Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. It also had agreements with other countries such as Argentina to promote scientific and logistical cooperation in the Antarctic region.

Similarly, India has tied up with several nations to take forward research in the Artic. It has, according to the article quoted above, prioritised cooperation with Russia, and has been proactive elsewhere too; it became an observer in the Arctic Council in 2013. India has also been involved in important panels such as the Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee and the International Arctic Science Committee, which demonstrates its resolve to Arctic research and local collaboration.

There are of course many challenges along the way. India has to, for example, ramp up its research and development for the MoES to play a bigger role at international levels and enhance its capabilities domestically. Meanwhile, the MoES must engage in a public outreach by cutting through the technical jargons and making the people aware of the critical role it plays in seeking to create a better place for them to live in.

(The paper is the author’s individual scholastic articulation. The author certifies that the article/paper is original in content, unpublished and it has not been submitted for publication/web upload elsewhere, and that the facts and figures quoted are duly referenced, as needed, and are believed to be correct). (The paper does not necessarily represent the organisational stance... More >>