Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Dr Harsha Vardhan inaugurated the new building Atal Bhavan and Atal Atithi Griha for International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography (ITCOocean) at INCOIS Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services here on Saturday.
ITCOocean has been set up to create trained man power in marine, coastal sustainability and response to marine natural hazards in India and other countries.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that India has made great strides in the field of Science & Technology. He said the Ocean State Forecasts provided by INCOIS are helping fishermen, ships, Indian Navy and Coast Guard.
The Search and Research Aid Tool ( SARAT) is helping in the planning and conducting of search operations for missing objects including fishermen at sea.
The Tsunami Early Warning Centre continues to perform better than other centres in issuing appropriate warnings and advisories.
Dr Harsha Vardhan said that Our country ranked 6 th in the world in science publications and 3rd in the Nano technology sector.
The minister said that there are about 1207 institutions like the CSIR institutes in the world and India ranks ninth , where technology for improving the lives of people is being developed. He said India is one country which is adhering to various agreements on climate change and taking steps to mitigate global warming.
India is proactively taking steps to protect Environment. The International Solar Alliance mooted by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been welcome and several nations joined the alliance, he said.
INCOIS has the mission to provide ocean information and advisory services to the society, industry, government and scientific community through sustained ocean observations and constant improvement through systematic focused research.
INCOIS has developed modern system to provide ocean state forecasts, potential fishing advisories, early warnings on tsunamis, storm surges etc.
ITCOocean , has been set up by the General Conference of UNESCO, approved establishment of ITCOocean as an Category 2 Centre to provide training opportunities in the areas of ocean science and management for the South Asian and African states bordering the Indian Ocean and small island nations of Pacific. (INN)