Deep Ocean Mission will accelerate the development of ‘Blue Economy’: Jitendra Singh

Speaking at the first high-level steering committee meeting of the Deep Ocean Mission, Singh said the mission is part of the government’s Blue Economy initiative and will aid India’s efforts to achieve Blue Economy status.

Deep Ocean Mission is a high-level multi-ministerial, multi-disciplinary program for better understanding of living and non-living resources of deep sea of ​​Indian Ocean.

Singh, who chaired the meeting, further said that the technologies developed under the mission will help in exploring the oceans and harnessing non-living resources like energy, fresh water and strategic minerals.

“The design and development of the sub-systems of the manned submersible to carry three humans has been completed and integration is in progress,” Singh said. In phase 1 the bed has been completed.

Furthermore, Singh highlighted that the discovery of strategic minerals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese is expected to pave the way for future commercial exploitation of these resources.

The Deep Ocean Mission was approved in September 2021 with an estimated cost of Rs 4047 crore for five years and six themes. Missions include deep-sea mining, manned submersibles, and underwater robotics, ocean and climate change advisory services, technology innovation for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity, deep-sea survey and exploration, energy and freshwater resources from the ocean. To develop technology for Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology.

The meeting was attended by several Union Ministers of State, including Environment, External Affairs, Defense and Finance, besides the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog and other senior officials from various ministries.