JMI Vice Chancellor and Earth Scientist Talat Ahmad will Chair the Scientific Programming Committee of the 36th International Geological Congress (IGC) to be held in India in 2020 for the second time in six decades.

Described as the Olympics of Geosciences, the Congress is held quadrennially under the aegis of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) through a process of global bidding. India won the bid in 2012 at Brisbane, Australia to host the Congress in 2020.

India had hosted 22nd IGC in 1964. The mega Congress is conventionally attended by approximately 6000 delegates from across the world.

The event is being jointly funded by the Ministry of Mines (MoM) and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) with the active support of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and the Science Academies of the other neighbouring co-host countries – Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

A high-level delegation of the IUGS last week visited Jamia Millia Islamia to discuss the preparatory aspects of the Congress to be held in Delhi from March 2-8, 2020. The delegation comprised IUGS President Qiuming CHENG; Secretary-General, S C Finney and Treasurer H Kitazato.

During the discussion with the delegation, Ahmad said that JMI’s well established Department of Geography will contribute significantly to the deliberations at the Congress. He also lauded the efforts of the Geological Survey of India and its Secretary-General, P R Golani towards making the Congress a great success.

The Organising Committee of the forthcoming IGC is headed by Padma Shri V P Dimri, former Director of National Geophysical Research Institute as its President.  P R Golani is the Secretary-General and Somnath Dasgupta, former VC, Assam University as Chair, Field Trip Committee. There are other eminent geoscientists as Chairs of various other sub-committees.

The delegation reviewed the various aspects of organizing the Congress. CHENG said that he was impressed with the facilities and pace of preparations for the event. 
Referring to India hosting the Congress for the second time in six decades, he said that ‘very few countries have the honour of hosting it twice’.

Finney of Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach said that he was very happy to observe that the preparation for the Congress was moving rapidly.

During its stay in Delhi, the delegation also interacted with Arun Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Mines; Dr M Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, senior officers of the two Ministries, and key functionaries of the Organising Committee.