New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a ‘Deep Sea Mission’, which will help in the exploration of marine resources and the development of marine technology. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar gave this information. A proposal to this effect was approved in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After the meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters that there is a different world under the deep sea. 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is the ocean. Not much study has been done about it yet. He said the CCEA has approved a “deep-sea mission”. This will strengthen the Blue Economy (Ocean-based economy) on the one hand and will help in the exploration of marine resources and the development of marine technology.
According to a government statement, the estimated cost of implementing this campaign in a phased manner over a period of five years will be Rs 4,077 crore. The estimated cost of the first phase for three years (2021-2024) will be Rs 2823.4 crore. It added that the deep-sea project will be a mission-based project to support the blue economy initiative of the Government of India. The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal ministry to implement this ambitious multi-institutional mission.
Javadekar told that there are many types of minerals below 6000 meters in the sea. These minerals have not been studied. Under this mission, study and survey work will be done about minerals. Technologies for deep-sea mining and manned submarines will be developed under this mission.
In this, a manned submarine with scientific sensors and equipment will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 meters in the sea. Very few countries have achieved this capability. An integrated mining system will also be developed for the mining of polymetallic nodules from 6,000 meters depth in the central Indian Ocean.
According to the statement, this will pave the way for commercial exploitation in the near future by exploration studies of the minerals, in the event of a future commercial mining code being prepared by the United Nations organization International Seabed Authority. Apart from this, studies will also be done about changes in the deep sea including climate change and rising sea level, he said. Under this, a set of observations and models will be developed to help understand and correspondingly predict the future of significant climate changes ranging from the weather.
The minister said that under the deep-sea mission, a study about biodiversity will also be done. He said that under this, an advanced marine station would be established to gather information about marine biology. In addition, thermal energy will be studied. Concept study and detailed engineering design for Offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Desalination Plant has been proposed under SEC.
Javadekar said that only five countries of the world, America, Russia, France, Japan, China have technology in this regard. Such technology is not freely available. In such a situation, this mission will also pave the way for the development of technology itself.
According to the statement, this is expected to accelerate the growth of the Indian industry, especially MSMEs and start-ups, by designing, developing, and manufacturing specialized equipment, ships and setting up the necessary infrastructure, apart from creating employment opportunities.
India’s 7,517 km long coastline runs through nine coastal states and consists of 1,382 islands. The indigo economy is also one of the ten key dimensions of the Government of India’s vision of a New India development by 2030, which was formulated in February 2019.
