Team Herald
Stating that the Narendra Modi-led government is committed to make the expedition a great success, the minister also announced to extend the findings of the research for human benefit.
“India has been successfully taking part in Antarctic expeditions. It’s a continuous process. As the government resources are limited, the corporate world and private players need to come forward to help government to make the expedition more effective and to increase its scope,” Minister said, addressing media persons in Goa.
“The government is working with limited resources and to improve the quality, quantity and scope of the research, I feel the private parties should collaborate and I don’t think government will have any reservations on it,” he added.
Vardhan said that any research, which has its importance on humanity, should be done in collaboration of all-government and private players. “Such researches are not having any monopoly of one. It will benefit people and hence I don’t think there should be any reservation for government and private players to work jointly,” he said.
India is one amongst those few countries, which has signed Antarctic treaty which has 29 countries in it.
Minister said Antarctic expedition is a continuous process and government is committed to this mission. “The Antarctic expedition benefit should be connected to the people and the benefit should go to it,” Vardhan added.
Elaborating media on the issue, President of SAARC Prof Jeronimo-Lopez Martinez said that the expedition will play a great role in having its impact on humanity.
“Antarctica is recognized as a heritage of mankind and as mandated by the provisions of the Antarctica treaty. No commercial activity is permitted in Antarctica and its environment and all claims to its territory are frozen,” he explained.
Martinez said that the atmosphere over Antarctica as well as the ocean surrounding this southern continent has strong influences on global weather patterns and ocean currents which directly affect the mankind. “The nature of sub-ice rocks as 98 percent of Antarctica is covered by ice with an average thickness of 2000m and large areas of continent are not accessible to direct observation,” he said.
The expedition is crucial to predict the behaviour of melting of ice which in the eventuality of complete melting, estimating to lead to the global sea level rise of 60m, he said.
