Nominations for National Geoscience Awards 2025

F .No. 11 /13/2019-M.l[E] Ministry of Mines Government of India Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi Dated 04 November 2025 CIRCULAR Subject: Nominations for National Geoscience Awards 2025 -reg. . ' The Ministry of Mines invites nominations for the National Geoscience Awards 2025 for contributions in the field of mineral discovery & exploration, fundamental/applied geosciences, mining, and allied areas. The award scheme, instituted by the Ministry of Mines in the year 1966, is an initiative to encourage geoscientists to strive toward excellence. Nature of Awards The National Geoscience Awards are of three categories: National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement: Award for Lifetime 1. Achievement (Single Award) shall be given to an individual with an exceptionally high lifetime achievement for sustained and significant contributions in any of the disciplines mentioned in Clause 2 of NGA Regulation. The award carries a Certificate and a Plaque. . National Geoscience Award: National Geoscience Award (Ten Awards) shall 11. be given to individuals or teams in recognition of meritorious contributions in any of the disciplines mentioned in Clause 2 of NGA Regulation. Each award carries a Certificate and a Plaque. A nomination for a team award can comprise a maximum of FOUR members and the number of team awards shall not exceed FIVE. National Young Geoscientist Award: Young Geoscientist Award (Single 111. Award) shall be given for outstanding research work in any field of geosciences to an individual below 35 years of age as on the 31st December 2024. The award carries a Certificate and a Plaque. Eligibility Any citizen of India with a significant contribution in any of the fields specified in Clause 2 of the NGA Regulation shall be eligible for these awards. Last dates for receipt of Nominations I The nominations are being received online at the National Awards Portal (Rashtriya Puraskar Portal) i.e., https://www.awards.gov.in, from 15th November 2025 ..T he last date of receipt of nominations is 15th December 2025. Nominations other than online mode through the National Awards Portal shall not be accepted. For more details, please refer to the 'National Geoscience Awards Regulation' at the website https://www.awards.gov.in 1For more information, please contact Director (Technical), Ministry of Mines, Room No 306-D, Shastri Bhawan, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi - 110001, Telefax - 011-23385329, email: dirtech.mom@nic.in and ngawards-mines@gov.in j~I~~~ [Yogendra Si~gh Bhamboo] Director (Tech.) Ministry of Mines Tel./Fax. 011-23385329 2NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARDS REGULATION 2024 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINES NEW DELHI Page 1 of 10REGULATIONS GOVERNING NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARDS 1. PREAMBLE 1.1 The National Mineral Awards Scheme was instituted in the year 1966 by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India. The scope of the awards has been expanded and the name changed to National Geoscience Awards (NGA) from 2009. Further, in 2022, the awards have been rationalized as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and on-boarded on the National Awards Portal. The number of awards and award categories have been rationalized and revised. The objective of the scheme is to honour individuals and teams for extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in the field of mineral discovery & exploration, fundamental / applied geosciences, mining and allied areas. Any citizen of India with significant contribution in any field of earth sciences is eligible for the Award. 1.2 There are three categories of awards under National Geoscience Awards: i. National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement ii. National Geoscience Award and iii. National Young Geoscientist Award 1.3 Nominations for the above three categories of awards are invited. 2. BROAD DISCIPLINES SECTION - I: Mineral Discovery & Exploration (3 Awards) Fields: i) Mineral Discovery & Exploration (excluding fossil fuels) of economic and/or strategic importance and application of innovative techniques. Out of two awards in this field, at least one award shall be given for critical minerals. (2 Awards) Page 2 of 10ii) Coal, Lignite and Coal Bed Methane Discovery & Exploration of economic and/or strategic importance and application of innovative techniques and Oil, Natural Gas, Shale Gas and Gas Hydrates Discovery & Exploration (including project development and planning leading to exploitation of resources and reservoir management) (1 Award) SECTION-II: Mining Technology, Mineral Beneficiation & Sustainable Mineral Development (2 Awards) Fields: iii) Mining Technology including development and application of new methods and technologies, research & development, conservation of mineral resources, systematic mine planning, mine safety, mine fires, mine hazards, mine reclamation & rehabilitation. (1 Award) iv) Mineral Beneficiation (including mineral processing, project development for utilization of low grade ores & production of value added mineral products and mineral economics) and Sustainable Mineral Development (including mine closure, project development, institutional development and capacity building) (1 Award) SECTION-III: Basic Geosciences (2 Awards) Field: v) Basic Geosciences including Stratigraphy, Structural Geology, Paleontology, Geodynamics, Geochemistry, Geochronology and Isotope Geology, Ocean Development (Oceanography and Marine Geology), Glaciology and Arctic & Antarctic Research including Geo-Scientific Expeditions; and science surveys/baseline geoscience data collection including Geological and Geochemical mapping & survey, and Systematic Thematic mapping. (2 Awards) Page 3 of 10SECTION-IV: Applied Geosciences (3 Awards) Fields: vi) Applied Geology: Engineering Geology, Geothermal Energy, Seismotectonics, Geostatistics, Remote Sensing and Geo-Information System (including spatial data management applications and data integration); Groundwater Exploration (including project development, hydrogeological studies and management of groundwater resources; Geo- Environmental Studies relating to mining, urban, industrial, coastal and desert management, paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, medical geology, climate change and studies related to their impact on ecosystem. (1 Award) vii) Geophysics / Applied Geophysics: New Technologies in geophysical exploration, application of geophysical methods, geo-magnetism, geophysical survey techniques and instrumentation. (1 Award) viii) Natural Hazard Investigations including scientific studies related to natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, floods and tsunamis. (1 Award) 3. NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Award for Lifetime Achievement (single award) shall be given to an individual with an exceptionally high lifetime achievement for sustained and significant contributions in any of the disciplines mentioned in Clause-2. 4. NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARD National Geoscience Award (10 Awards) shall be given to individuals or team(s) in recognition of meritorious contribution in any of the disciplines mentioned in Clause-2. Page 4 of 105. NATIONAL YOUNG GEOSCIENTIST AWARD Young Geoscientist Award (single award) shall be given for outstanding research work in any field of geosciences to an individual below 35 years of age as on the 31st December of the preceding year, in which the nominations are invited. 6. ELIGIBILITY FOR NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARDS (a) Any citizen of India who is a professionally qualified geo-scientist / engineer /technologist/academician, having a meritorious background with significant contribution in any of the fields specified in Clause-2 of the Regulation shall be eligible for consideration of the Awards. (b) National Geoscience Award and National Young Geoscientist Award shall be given on the basis of contributions made through work done for most part in India, in the past ten years preceding the year of the award. The ten year criterion shall not apply for the Award for Lifetime Achievement. (c) A nomination for a team award can comprise a maximum of FOUR members. The number of team awards shall not exceed FIVE. (d) The Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Young Geoscientist Award shall be given to individuals only and not teams. 7. AWARDS The National Geoscience Award recognizes the persons for extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in the various field of geosciences. Each award would be in the form of a Certificate and a Plaque. 8. NOMINATIONS (i) Nominations for all the three categories of Awards can be made by either the individual nominee or anyone among the team nominees. (ii) The nominations have to be accompanied by a declaration by either the nominee or the nominating entity containing the following text: (a) That the information given in the nomination is correct. (b) That the work is original. Page 5 of 10(c) That the work has been done substantially in India except in respect of ocean expedition or space research or Arctic/Antarctic research which may have been done outside India but have direct or measurable impact on India. (d) That the work has been done by the nominee or the nominee team. (e) That the major portion of the work has been done in the last ten years (this shall not apply to Award for Lifetime Achievement). (iii) Any former awardee or the Head of any institution, government department, university, or research entity may recommend the nominee or nominees for the award by issuing a recommendation letter. (iv) A certificate from the head of institution / head of department / supervisory officer that the work has been done by the respective nominee is desirable but not mandatory. (v) If any work or the information in the nomination is found to be false or non-original or plagiarized or the nominee’s contribution is very minor/insignificant, such nominations would be summarily rejected. Further, such nominees would be permanently disqualified for the awards and their names circulated among Government Departments and Universities/Academic Institutions. (vi) In case of team awards, not more than four persons would be considered for the award. At the nomination stage, the team has to indicate the names of only four persons who may have made the maximum contribution. (vii) A person who has been awarded once in a field would not be considered for an award for a second time in that particular field. However, the person can apply in the other fields. Further, such person can apply for the Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Young Geoscientist Award subject to fulfilling all criteria. Likewise, a Young Geoscientist Awardee can apply for the rest two categories of the Awards. An awardee of the Award for Lifetime Achievement cannot apply for any award category under the NGA. Page 6 of 10(viii) Nominations made in any format other than the prescribed ones and applications received beyond the stipulated date as well as incomplete nominations will be outright rejected without further reference. No representation in this regard will be entertained. 9. SELECTION PROCEDURE a) The Selection Committees for the Awards are constituted with the approval of the Chairman, Award Making Authority & Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Government of India. The ‘Award Making Authority’ (AMA) shall comprise the following members: (1) Secretary, Ministry of Mines : Chairman (2) Secretary, Department of Science & Technology or his/her : Member nominee (3) Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences or his/her nominee : Member (4) Additional Secretary, Ministry of Mines : Member (5) Director General, Geological Survey of India : Member (6) Controller General, Indian Bureau of Mines : Member (7) An eminent Geophysicist (to be nominated by Secretary, : Member Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas) (8) An eminent Mining Engineer (to be nominated by : Member Secretary, Ministry of Coal) (9) An eminent Geologist (to be nominated by : Member Chairman, UGC) (10) An eminent Geoscientist (to be nominated by DG, CSIR) : Member (11) Chairman, Screening Committee of Experts for the National : Member Geoscience Awards (12) Any other person to be invited by the Chairman for the : Member meeting (13) Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines : Member Secretary Page 7 of 10(b) While the Chairman and Members at Sl. No. (2), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (13) of Clause 09 [a] above are ex-officio members, the tenure of other members at Sl. No. (7), (8), (9) and (10) shall be 3 years. Any casual vacancy among such members may be filled up by nomination of a new member. No decision of the Authority shall be rendered invalid because of the existence of any vacancy or vacancies in the membership of the Authority. (c) No Member of the Authority shall participate in the deliberations of the AMA if he/she is a candidate for an award. (d) Chairman, AMA shall constitute the following two Committees: (i) Sectional Scrutiny Committee: There shall be as many Sectional Scrutiny Committees (SSCs) as the number of Sections given in para 2 above (presently, there are four Sections and corresponding four Sectional Committees): Each SSC will comprise five members or more having expertise in the field/fields under the Section. The SSC shall consider the nominations received under their respective Sections and after discipline-wise examination and evaluation, short list and recommend the nominations to the Screening Committee of Experts. (ii) Screening Committee of Experts: There shall be a Screening Committee of Experts (SCE) constituted by the Chairman of the Award Making Authority. The SCE will comprise the chairmen of the Sectional Scrutiny Committees and 3 or more other experts. The recommendations of the Sectional Scrutiny Committees for the “National Geoscience Award” would be placed before the SCE for further evaluation and recommendation to the Award Making Authority. Further, the shortlisting for the “Award for Lifetime Achievement” and the “Young Geoscientist Award” will be made directly by the SCE. The SCE, if so desires, shall invite the candidates shortlisted for National Geoscience Award by SSCs and applicants for Young Page 8 of 10Geoscientist Award for presentation and interview in online/offline mode for their shortlisting. The candidates shortlisted/recommended for the “Lifetime Achievement Award” shall not appear for the presentation or the interview. (e) While considering the Award for lifetime achievement for an exceptionally outstanding contribution in the area of geosciences, mining and allied fields, the Award Making Authority, if deemed necessary, may consider the name of any renowned geo-scientist / engineer /technologist /academician with very high credentials and life time attainments. (f) The composition of various selection committees, proceedings of the meetings and the procedure for consideration of the nominations, other than as detailed herein will be kept confidential. (g) The decision of the Award Making Authority shall be final and binding on all. (h) Canvassing in any form during the selection procedure would lead to permanent disqualification of the nominee. 10. SCHEDULE: (a) Nominations for the Award for Lifetime Achievement, National Geoscience Award and the Young Geoscientist Award shall include a list of the work done and achievements up to the calendar year ending 31st December of the preceding year in which the nominations are invited. For the Award for Lifetime Achievement, the limit of preceding ten years shall not apply. (b) The time and date of receipt of nomination shall be given at the time of inviting nominations for the awards through National Awards Portal, i.e., https://www.awards.gov.in. (c) All nominations should be submitted in the prescribed format through National Awards Portal, i.e., https://www.awards.gov.in. only. Page 9 of 1011. PRESENTATION CEREMONY Presentation of the National Geoscience Awards will be made at an Award Presentation Ceremony on a date and time as may be decided. 12. SECRETARIAT The Secretariat for servicing the Authority will be the office of the Director (Technical), Ministry of Mines, Room No 306-D, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi-110001, Telefax:011-23385329, email: ngawards-mines@gov.in; Director (Technical), Ministry of Mines will be the Member Secretary to various Selection Committees. Page 10 of 10