Minister Jitendra Singh says Deep Ocean Mission can drive future economy, hails tech-powered citizen services

India sharpened its climate resilience strategy with the launch of 14 major scientific tools and services by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) on its 19th Foundation Day in New Delhi on 28 July 2025. Union Minister of State, Jitendra Singh, said these innovations mark a decade of transformation in science led governance and citizen centric delivery.

“In the last 10 years, this Ministry has transformed from a research centric institution to a people-centric service. We are now at a stage where even a casual user can access live weather alerts, cyclone warnings, air quality updates, and ocean forecasts on their mobile phones,” said Jitendra Singh.

The new introductions included rainfall and crop weather calendars, the Bharat Forecast System, Extended Range Prediction, updated wave atlases, seismic microzonation reports, marine biodiversity data, and air quality forecasting tools. A documentary titled Life Saving Impact was also released.

Highlighting infrastructure growth, Singh said the number of Doppler weather radars has increased from 15 to 41, while “seismic and weather stations, upper-air systems and rain gauges have all more than doubled.”

The Minister also pitched the Deep Ocean Mission as India’s next frontier. “Just as we aim to send one Indian into space through Gaganyaan next year, we may soon see Indians diving 6 km below sea level with Samudrayaan. One up, one down that’s the vision,” he said.

He noted that the ministry’s budget rose from Rs 1,281 crore in 2014 to Rs 3,658 crore in 2024, enabling bigger ambitions. Emphasising awareness, he added, “Many people still don’t know about the tools we’ve developed. We must communicate in the language people understand best.”