Lok Sabha Question No. 351 (STARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: New Research Projects
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: RITI PATHAK

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *351

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2016

## NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS

- *351. SHRIMATI RITI PATHAK:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether Government has taken any new research projects in the Integrated  Coastal  and  Marine  Area  Management  (ICMAM)  and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in Chennai and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  funds  allocated,  disbursed  and  utilized  in  these  centres during the last three years and the current year, year-wise?

## ANSWER MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND

MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (Dr. HARSH VARDHAN)

- (a) to (b): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  and  (b)  OF  THE  LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *351 REGARDING NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS FOR ANSWER ON 10th AUGUST, 2016.

- (a) Yes,  Madam.  Both  Integrated  Coastal  and  Marine  Area  Management (ICMAM) and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in Chennai have  regular  ongoing  activities  in  addition  to  several  new  research projects  that  have  been  undertaken.  The  details  of  new  research projects  taken up are as follows:

## Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management (ICMAM):

- Integrated  Coastal  Zone  Management  (Coastal  processes,  Erosion,
1. Ecosystem management and Training).
2. Pollution and Environment (Water Quality Monitoring, Prediction and Ecotoxicology)  aiming  to  understand  the  issues  and  generate  the quality information needed for effective management and development of India's coastal zones.

The main objectives of these projects are: a) to generate products by scientific  techniques  that  are  useful  to  solve  issues  like  coastal erosion which  have  long-term  socio-economic  implications,  b)  to facilitate  sustenance  of  productivity  of    marine  environment  through adoption of modern approach like ecosystem based management, c) to detect  periodical  changes  in  Coastal  Water  quality,  predict  pollution levels and undertake associated activities like determination of seawater  quality  criteria  for  protection  and  preservation  of  marine environment and d) to develop capabilities in coastal states & UTs for adoption of Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management through training.

## National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT):

1. Ocean Resource: An Autonomous coring system (ACS) was developed for ground truth validation of gas hydrate occurrence in Indian continental margins and tested over the sea floor of Krishna Godavari Basin.
2. Technology Development: Various subsystems that are required for mining  operations  have  been  developed  and  sea  trials  have  been performed.  These  are  (i)  Remotely  operable  Subsea  In-situ  Soil tester  (ii)  An  Exploratory  Mining  System  with  single  module  of collector, crusher and  hydraulic sub-systems.  (iii)  a  Remotely Operable Vehicle (ROV) rated for 6000m water depth for survey and exploration    (iv)  another  ROV  rated  for  shallow  water  operation, operated  at  the  Priyadarshini  Lake,  ice  shelf  in  Antarctica  and  in coral reef in the Andaman Sea.
3. Mariculture  Technology:  Successful  demonstration  of  Open  sea cage culture in Andhra Pradesh, Andamans and Tamil Nadu.
4. Development of Ocean Observation Systems: Technology developed under  the  program  include  (i)  Autonomous  Underwater  Profiling Drifter  (AUPD)  has  been  successfully  tested  in  the  sea  and  trial production of AUPDs by Indian industry is completed (ii) Indigenized drifter  buoys  with  INSAT  communication  were  deployed  in  Indian waters (iii) Deployment of IndARC, India's first sub-surface moored observatory in the polar waters of Arctic.
5. Seafront Facility:  The objective is to create a world class Seafront Research  Facility  (SRF)  to  enable  activities  in  development  and testing of prototype systems and validation of indigenously developed marine systems  in the ocean  environment, at the proposed  location  in  the  Andhra  Pradesh  allotted  total  extent  of 211.74  acres  -  Pamanji,  Vagarru  and  Chittedu  Villages,  Nellore. Towards  this  about  155.56  acres  of  land  has  been  acquired  at Thupilipallam  village  in  Vakadu  Mandal  near  Nellore  in  Andhra Pradesh. A berthing facility with control room located at this center is also proposed to manage the running, operation and maintenance of the fleet of for Ocean Research Vessels.
6. (b) The details of funds allocated, disbursed and utilized in the last three years and current year, year-wise is as follows:

## Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management (ICMAM):

(Rupees in crores)

|   S. No. | Financial Year   |   As per A.O. |   Budget allocated |   Funds disbursed |
|----------|------------------|---------------|--------------------|-------------------|
|        1 | 2013-14          |         36.51 |              19.88 |              9.75 |
|        2 | 2014-15          |         31.56 |              17.5  |              9.87 |
|        3 | 2015-16          |         31.18 |              18.35 |             10.87 |
|        4 | 2016-17          |         23.11 |              21.11 |              3.43 |

## National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT):

(Rupees in crores)

|   S. No. | Financial Year   |   As per A.O. |   GIA received |   Expenditure incurred |
|----------|------------------|---------------|----------------|------------------------|
|        1 | 2013-14          |        260.7  |         177.27 |                 167.73 |
|        2 | 2014-15          |        302.83 |         126.89 |                 139.9  |
|        3 | 2015-16          |        462.7  |         155.36 |                 147.59 |
|        4 | 2016-17          |        502.61 |          80.25 |                  44.46 |

*******