Annual General Body Meetings of the Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists (SGAT) are held during the month of December every year. Elections to the Executive Council are held every two years.
45th Annual General Body Meeting
The 45th Annual General Body Meeting of the Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists was held at 06:30 p.m. on 21st December 2025 in the Conference Hall of SGAT building, VIP Area, Bhubaneswar.
Shri Ghana Shyama Khuntia, President of the Society presided over the meeting.
At the outset one-minute’s silence was observed to pay homage to the departed souls of Bijoy Kumar Jena, Prabhakar Rout and Prof. Anil Kumar Paul who had left for heavenly abode on the 21st of January 2025, 4th of March 2025 and 20th of September 2025 respectively.
Shri Sujit Kumar Mohanty, Vice-President welcomed the members present physically in the venue and those who joined online, speaker of the K. S. Mahapatra Lecture and all the distinguished awardees. He enumerated the agenda items of the occasion and sought the co-operation of all members to make the event a success.
Proceedings of the 44th Annual General Body Meeting held on 22nd December, 2024, as circulated on the 28th February 2025 and incorporated in the Annual Report of 2024-25, were confirmed.
Shri Trilochan Mohanta, General Secretary, presented the Annual Report of the Society for 2024-25 and proposed the Action Plan for 2025-26, which were approved after due discussion.
The Audited Annual Accounts of the Society for the financial year ending on 31st March 2025 and the Budget Proposal for 2025-26, presented by Shri Anup Kumar Raut, Treasurer were also approved by the General Body.
Shri Bhabani Prasad Padhi, Chartered Accountant, RDA & Associates, was appointed as the Auditor for the Financial Year 2025-26 (Assessment Year 2026-27).
This was followed by the release of the December, 2025 (Volume 26, No. 2) issue of SGAT Bulletin by Shri Ghana Shyama Khuntia, President, SGAT.
In his Presidential Address, Shri Ghana Shyama Khuntia highlighted different activities of SGAT, particularly the EMAP and MDAP programmes and their bearing on the school and university students. He thanked all the Council members who kept him busy and also stood by his side during his tenure of two years as President of the society. He also suggested that the next Council should form various committees to prioritize its activities for further expansion of the society.
The K. S. Mahapatra Memorial Lecture was delivered online by Shri Ranjan Kumar Sinha, Former Controller General, Indian Bureau of Mines. He talked on the topic “Iron-Ore Scenario – Wake-up Call for Miners & Warning Bell for Steelmakers”. At the outset Shri Sinha thanked the organizers for giving him an opportunity to deliver the K. S. Mahapatra Memorial Lecture.
Shri Sinha talked about the iron ore resources of the country and their distribution in different states. He said that Odisha is having the maximus resources so far haematite is concerned. He also made a comparison of the reserve and resource figures of 1st April 2015 and 1st April 2020, where there was only 7% increase only the resource figures. He presented the present scenario of production in which Odisha contributes 55% output. From 2019-20 to 2024-25 there was a constant growth of about 4% iron ore production, except during the COVID period in 2020-21. In state-wise production, Odisha has been far ahead of other states. The National Steel Policy 2017 envisages 300 MT of steel production. The present per capita consumption of steel is hardly 100 kg, which the policy envisages to increase to 160 kg. By 2030, steel demand will be through construction and infrastructure which will be of 60-65% of total demand. There should be steady mine auctions, rising out puts from Odisha blocks and central PSUs, capacity expansions, growth in beneficiation and palletization along with logistic upgrades. He presented the status of auctioned iron ore blocks, policy and price impact, year-wise demand scenario from FY 26 to FY 35 indicating that there may be huge difference between production and requirement from FY 30 to FY 35. For the way forward, Shri Sinha suggested that the miners should accelerate beneficiation/ pelletization and de-risk evacuations; the steelmakers should secure long-term linkages, blend strategies and invest in DR-grade feed; and the Policymakers should provide stable legal framework, faster statutory clearances and early operation of auction blocks etc.
SGAT Awards for the year 2025 were conferred on the following Awardees.
B. K. Mohanty Memorial SGAT Award for Lifetime Achievement 2025 | Shri Kshirod Chandra Pradhan |
Shri Rajib Lochan Mohanty | |
SGAT Award of Excellence, 2025 | Prof. Kalachand Sain |
Sitaram Rungta Memorial Award, 2025 | Prof. Sisir Kanti Mondal |
H. H. Read Memorial Award, 2025 | Dr M. Ram Mohan |
Best Paper Award, 2025 | Prof. Jayanta Kumar Pati |
The results of the election of office bearers and members of the Executive Council for the term 2025-27 were announced by Shri Ghana Shyama Khuntia, President, SGAT.
Shri Alok Bihari Panigrahi, President Elect, SGAT, in his address, expressed his sincere gratitude on being elected as the President of SGAT. He thanked all the members for the trust and confidence they have shown for him. SGAT has always been a platform for knowledge sharing, professional growth and ethical practices. The flagship programmes of SGAT: EMAP for school students and MDAP for college students has a national footprint apart from other activities. It has played a vital role in bringing together the professionals, academicians, researchers and students to collectively advance our technical capabilities and serve the society at large. He acknowledged and appreciated the contributions of all members of the outgoing Council. As President his focus would be mentoring young professionals and students, promoting continuous professional developments through seminars, workshops and technical lectures, utilise more effectively the SGAT infrastructure for benefit of all concerned, strengthen industry-academia collaborations, upholding professional ethics, inclusiveness and teamwork. In order to achieve the objectives of the society he made a call to work together as a united team, guided by integrity, professionalism and a shared passion. He was confident that with the cooperation and support of all members, SGAT will achieve meaningful outcomes and enhance the respect and reputation of the society. He thanked all for this honour and looked forward to productive, innovative and inspiring journey together.
The 45th Annual General Body Meeting ended with vote of thanks from Shri Jadaba Nanda Das, Joint Secretary.
44th Annual General Body Meeting
The 44th Annual General Body Meeting of the Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists (SGAT) was held at 6:30 p. m. on the 22nd of December 2024 in the Orchid Hall of Hotel Mayfair Lagoon, Bhubaneswar. A total of 53 members were present in the meeting in physical mode.
Shri G. S. Khuntia, President of the Society presided over the meeting.
At the outset one-minute’s silence was observed to pay homage to the departed souls of Dr Jagada Nanda Das, Bijoy Krushna Mohanty, Dr Hara Prasanna Mishra and Prof. Bharat B. Dhar, who had left for heavenly abode on the 17th of January 2024, 18th of January 2024, 21st April 2024 and 29th October 2024 respectively.
Shri Alok Bihari Panigrahi, Vice-President, while welcoming the members, speaker of K. S. Mahapatra Lecture, awardees and guests, noted that the Annual General Body Meeting of the Society was being arranged in a hotel after lapse of quite a number of years and was being arranged in the Society building in the previous years. The atmosphere in the hotel is slightly different from what it used to be in the Society building. He extended his hearty welcome to all members attending the AGB meeting. He pointed out that the office bearers do meet quite frequently, whereas many of the members are coming only in the AGB meetings. He hoped that the AGB meeting will have elaborate discussions on the agenda circulated to them in advance.
Proceedings of the 43rd Annual General Body Meeting held on 16th December, 2023, as circulated on 1 January 2024 and incorporated in the Annual Report of 2023-24, were confirmed.
Shri Trilochan Mohanta, General Secretary, presented the Annual Report of the Society for the year 2023-24 and proposed the Action Plan for 2024-25, which were approved after due discussion.
Report on Audited Annual Accounts for the Financial Year ending on 31st March 2024 and Budget Proposal for F. Y. 2024-25, presented by Shri Anup Kumar Raut, Treasurer were also accepted by the General Body.
Shri Bhabani Prasad Padhi, Chartered Accountant, RDA & Associates, was appointed as the Auditor for the Financial Year 2024-25 (Assessment Year 2025-26).
The Silver Jubilee Volume (Volume 25, No. 2; December, 2024) of SGAT Bulletin was released by Shri G. S. Khuntia, President, SGAT.
Dr B. M. Faruque, Editor of SGAT Bulletin, gave an account of the progress of the bulletin over the years and thanked Shri G. S. Khuntia, President, SGAT and Prof. O. N. Mohanty, former President, SGAT for their encouragement in going ahead with the bulletin.
In his Presidential Address, Shri G. S. Khuntia mentioned about the two-day long National Seminar which was just concluded and in which a large number of papers of high standards were presented by expert authors. He added that the history of mineral extraction in India dates back to the Harappan civilization and Chanakya rightly stated, “Mines are the treasury of a nation.” India is endowed with huge resources of many metallic and non-metallic minerals and as many as 87 minerals are extracted. By Industrial Resolution, 1956 onwards the country has progressed from a very meagre ₹70 crores worth production when it was started and in five decades it has gone up to almost about ₹7,000 crores due to various national policies. India had touched almost 150 million tonnes of steel and due to the deregulation of the Steel Policy and will cross 300 million tonnes by 2031. He said that in mineral front India has gone quite ahead – in coal front, nearly 1,000 million tonnes; iron ore abour 250 million tonnes and crude steel more than 150 million tonnes. The main objective is with the lean grade ores available in the country. The high-grade ore was about 9 to 10% which has been extracted during British India and during these years. He stressed on intensive mineral beneficiation for upgrading of the ores and mentioned about the high-tech pipeline transport that has been commissioned. He further added that minerals like nickel, copper, lithium etc. need to be explored. Use hydrogen as fuel; auction of many mineral blocks; development of new railway networks in the mining areas of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Jharkhand; development of deep ocean ports etc. are some of the new technologies India is going to adopt which will help in achieving the $500 trillion target of the Viksit Bharat.
The K. S. Mahapatra Memorial Lecture was delivered online by Dr. Manoranjan Mohanty, Scientist G and Head, Autonomous Institute and Nano Mission Division, Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi. He talked on the topic “Legacy of DST Autonomous Institutions for Promotion of Science”. At the outset Dr Mohanty thanked the organisers for having contacted him for this talk.
Dr. Mohanty mentioned about the 30 autonomous bodies existing under the Department of Science & Technology. He talked about the legacy of great scientists and contributors, how they contributed for development of science, how did these people struggle for development of the institutions and how it was taken over by government. He mentioned the specialty of each organization, the facilities they possess and the level of scientific work they are undertaking and their funding systems.
As approved earlier by the Executive Council, SGAT Awards for the year 2024 were conferred on the following persons.
B. K. Mohanty Memorial SGAT Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2024 | : | Shri Sisir Chandra Rath |
SGAT Award of Excellence 2024 | : | Dr V. Balaram |
Sitaram Rungta Memorial Award, 2024 | : | Dr Prabhakar Sangurmath & Dr Sakti Saravanan Chinnasamy |
Smt. Veena Roonwal Memorial Award, 2024 | : | Dr A. Keshav Krishna |
Best Paper Award, 2024 | : | Mrs. Ronali Behera |
The 44th Annual General Body Meeting ended with Vote of Thanks from Shri Jaya Kumar Hota, Joint Secretary.
43rd Annual General Body Meeting
The 43rd Annual General Body Meeting of the Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists was held at 06:30 p.m. on 16th December 2023 in the Conference Hall of SGAT building, VIP Area, Bhubaneswar.
Prof. Dr. O. N. Mohanty, President of the Society presided over the meeting.
At the outset one-minute’s silence was observed to pay homage to the departed soul of Dr Hemanta Kumar Sahoo, who had left for heavenly abode on the 2nd of December 2023.
Shri Alok Bihari Panigrahi, Vice-President, while welcoming the members, speaker of K. S. Mahapatra Lecture, awardees and guests, noted that the presence of the members in the meeting was a testimony and support to the Society. He briefed about the significant mineral production and thereby the royalty of the state. He also informed the members about the flagship programmes, EMAP for school students and MDAP for college students.
Proceedings of the 42nd Annual General Body Meeting held on 18th December, 2022, as circulated on the 1st January 2023 and incorporated in the Annual Report of 2022-23, were confirmed.
Shri Trilochan Mohanta, General Secretary, presented the Annual Report of the Society for 2022-23 and proposed the Action Plan for 2023-24, which were approved after due discussion.
The audited Annual Accounts of the Society for the financial year ending on 31st March 2023, presented by Shri Anup Kumar Raut,Treasurer was also approved by the General Body.
Shri Bhabani Prasad Padhi, Chartered Accountant, RDA & Associates, was appointed as the Auditor for the Financial Year 2023-24 (Assessment Year 2024-25).
This was followed by the release of the December, 2023 (Volume 24, No. 2) issue of SGAT Bulletin by Prof. O. N. Mohanty, President, SGAT.
In his Presidential Address Prof. Dr. O. N. Mohanty shared his thoughts over the activities of last four years of his tenure, the major part of which was taken away by COVID-19. He said that he enjoyed his tenure with a band of very committed people. There were occasions when the team did very well and there were occasions when it was felt that it could have been done even better. He appreciated the efforts of the editorial board in timely bringing out the SGAT bulletin and requested the guests attending the function from outside to contribute papers on their various fields of activities and also to suggest names of eminent geologists and allied technologists, who can be included in the activities of SGAT. He remarked that SGAT as a professional body was very active and held Council meetings every month on regular basis. He added that the environment awareness programmes taken up by the Society and intended for the younger generation are of marathon type as it takes months together to organize and complete it. Prof. Mohanty wished SGAT all success.
The K. S. Mahapatra Memorial Lecture was delivered online by Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh, Director, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. He talked on the topic “Biogeochemical Perspectives of the Evolution of Ocean, Atmosphere and Life on the Earth”. At the outset Prof. Singh thanked the organisers for giving him an opportunity to share some of his work which he has been doing for last several years.
Dr.Singh talked about the origin of the earth, ocean and various theories of source of water after the earth originated. He narrated the primaeval environment of the ocean and the atmosphere in presence of huge amount of carbon dioxide and in the absence of oxygen. He also talked about how oxygen was generated and how the atmosphere has become sustainable. He further talked about the Carbon Cycle, Oceanic Circulation controlling the weather, the Ocean Biological Pump and the productivity of the ocean. He explained meticulously how all these parameters affected the temperature and pressure of the atmosphere and ocean in the past and how it is being affected at present and what should be the areas of concern for future.
SGAT Awards for the year 2023 were conferred on the following Awardees.
- SGAT Life time Achievement Award, 2023 : Prof. Bharat B. Dhar
- SGAT Award of Excellence, 2023 : Dr. C. Manikyamba
- Sitaram Rungta Memorial Award, 2023 : Dr. D. Srinivasa Sarma
- Read Memorial Award, 2023 : Shri S. N. Mahapatro
- Best Paper Award, 2023 : Mrs. Madhusmita Nayak
The results of the Election of office bearers and members of the Executive Council for the term 2023-25 were announced by Prof. O. N. Mohanty, President, SGAT.
Shri Ghana Shyama Khuntia, President Elect, SGAT, in his address, thanked the members for having confidence in him and electing him to this prestigious post. He was determined to work for future development of SGAT with continuous help from all members.
The 43rd Annual General Body Meeting ended with vote of thanks from Shri Jiban Kumar Mahapatra, Joint Secretary.