Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh chairs first-ever high-level Steering Committee Meeting of Deep Ocean Mission

• The Minister chaired the first-ever high-level Steering Committee Meeting of Deep Ocean Mission in New Delhi
• The Committee consisted of Union Ministers of State for Environment, External Affairs, Defence, and Finance in addition to Vice Chairman NITI Aayog.

Key highlights

• He said the Blue Economy will be a major contributor to India's overall economy in the years to come
• The Deep Ocean Mission announced by the Prime Minister will be the core component of it.

About Deep Ocean Mission

• It was first proposed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in 2017.
• Objective: To explore the deep ocean for resources and develop deep sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources.
• The estimated cost of the Mission will be Rs. 4077 crore for a period of 5 years to be implemented in a phase-wise manner. The estimated cost for the first phase for the 3 years (2021-2024) would be Rs.2823.4 crore.
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal Ministry implementing this multi-institutional ambitious mission.
• Six major components of the Deep Ocean Mission:
  • Development of technologies for deep sea mining, and manned submersible
  • Development of ocean climate change advisory services
  • Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity
  • Deep ocean survey and exploration
  • Energy and freshwater from the ocean
  • Advanced marine station for ocean biology

Prelims take away

• Deep Ocean Mission