Kolkata, Sept. 28 -- Hon'ble Union Minister of Coal & Mines, G. Kishan Reddy, reviewed the activities, achievements and future roadmap of the Geological Survey of India (GSI)today at a meeting held at Hotel Taj Bengal, Kolkata. The review focused on strengthening India's mineral security, accelerating exploration of critical and strategic minerals, adoption of advanced technologies and ensuring outcome-oriented exploration.
The meeting was organised in the gracious presence of Keshav Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Mines,Smt. Varsha Ashok Aglawe, Director General, GSIand senior officials of the Ministry of Mines and GSI. During the review, the Hon'ble Minister was apprised of GSI's overall achievement and action plan including region-wise exploration achievements, ongoing programmes, emerging exploration opportunities, technological capabilities and future plans, with particular emphasis on critical and strategic minerals.
During Field Season 2026-27, GSI is undertaking around 500 mineral exploration projects, including approximately 300 projects focused on critical and strategic minerals. GSI is also intensifying exploration for concealed and deep-seated mineral deposits through integrated geological, geophysical and geochemical investigations and advanced exploration techniques. GSI is simultaneously undertaking studies in natural hazards, glaciology, geotechnical investigations, offshore exploration and geoinformatics.
Addressing the gathering, G. Kishan Reddy emphasised that mineral security is a key national priority and called for accelerated exploration in prospective areas and faster progression of high-potential mineral occurrences from discovery to resource establishment and mineral development. He stressed timely completion of projects and outcome-oriented exploration so that GSI's scientific expertise is translated into actionable geoscientific outputs supporting domestic mineral supply chains, reducing import dependence and contributing to India's clean-energy transition and the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Keshav Chandra, emphasised the need for a technology-driven faster and integrated approach to mineral exploration, leveraging multidisciplinary geoscientific datasets, advanced analytical capabilities including digital scanning of legacy cores and inter-agency collaboration. He also stressed strengthening the exploration-to-resource pipeline so that suitable mineral blocks can be taken forward for auction and contribute to long-term mineral security.
Director General, GSI, Smt. Varsha Ashok Aglawe, in her welcome address highlighted GSI's roadmap for further strengthening critical-mineral exploration in onshore and offshore domains, exploration of concealed mineralisation and adoption of advanced technologies. The roadmap includes wider application of AI/ML, 3D/4D geological modelling, Pan-India magnetotelluric survey and development of a country-wide subsurface critical-mineral potential map. GSI is also undertaking 58 Geoinformatics and Data Analysis projects during Field Season 2026-27, including initiatives involving AI/ML and integration of geoscientific datasets through the National Geoscience Data Repository and Next Generation Portal.
A comprehensive presentation on GSI's activities, achievements, major thrust areas and future roadmap was made by Pradeep Singh, ADG (PSS), followed by region-wise presentations by heads of the region covering exploration programmes, scientific capabilities, laboratory and analytical facilities, application of emerging technologies and future plans.
During the review meeting, G. Kishan Reddy also unveiled two commemorative volumes of GSI; "Earth Beneath Our Feet" and "Earth Without Lines", showcasing the organisation's more than 175-year scientific journey and geoscientific legacy. While Earth Beneath Our Feet traces GSI's contribution to India's geoscientific knowledge and national development, Earth Without Lines documents its geoscientific work and scientific engagements across several countries and regions in the Indian subcontinent and beyond.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.