Odisha Guv, CM, opposition leader congratulate IMD director general M Mohapatra for UN award
Congratulating Mohapatra on being conferred the prestigious award, Kambhampati in post on X said, "Dr. Mohapatra's pioneering work in cyclone forecasting and early warning systems has significantly enhanced disaster preparedness, safeguarded vulnerable communities, and saved countless lives."
"Heartiest congratulations and best wishes to the Director General of the India Meteorological Department, Shri Miunjay Mohapatra, on being awarded the prestigious UN Sasakawa Prize - 2025. Your accurate assessments during natural disasters have helped save countless precious lives. As an Odia, your achievement is a matter of pride and honour for both the state and the country. I wish you continued success," Chief Minister Majhi said in a social media post.
Taking to X, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik said, "Congratulate #Odisha's Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology of @Indiametdept on being conferred with United Nations Sasakawa Award 2025 for Disaster Risk Reduction. He has been awarded for his pioneering work in reducing cyclone-related fatalities across the Indian Ocean region. #Odisha is proud of your achievement."
Mohapatra, who hails from Odisha's Bhadrak district and is popularly known as the 'Cyclone Man of India,' was recognised for his outstanding contributions to tropical cyclone forecasting and early warning systems.
He has been serving as the IMD Director General since 2019. He is also one of the three vice-presidents of the World Meteorological Organisation, the UN agency for climate change, weather and water.
The award was presented during the eighth session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Geneva recently.
In a message, Mohapatra said, "Received United Nations Sasakawa Award, 2025 for disaster risk reduction. I am really grateful."
Earlier this year, Mohapatra received the Scientific and Technological Activities Commission Outstanding Service Award 2025 from the American Meteorological Society in recognition of his transformative work in enhancing tropical cyclone prediction and warning systems.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Print
23 minutes ago
- The Print
Bihar is ripe for civil disobedience over electoral roll revision. 50 yrs ago, JP showed the way
As it is, there are serious suspicions about India's election system being weaponised to facilitate easy stealing of people's mandate. This has led to calls for 'civil disobedience,' publicly aired by a sitting MP from West Bengal, Mahua Moitra. It won't be long before this call catches up and reverberates across the country. As India commemorates the 50th anniversary of Emergency, Bihar — the land of Jayaprakash Narayan, the 'realis causa' of that dark era — is in turmoil. And for very good reasons. Around 30 to 40 percent of the state's voting population faces 'disenfranchisement' due to the hasty, arbitrary, and whimsical special intensive revision of the electoral rolls ordered by the Election Commission of India. Writing the 'foreword' for historian Dharampal's 1971 book, Civil Disobedience in India Tradition, JP wrote: 'There had developed in the course of Indian history an understanding between the ruled and the ruler as to their respective rights and responsibilities. Whenever this traditional pattern of relationship was disturbed by an autocratic ruler, the people were entitled to offer resistance in the customary manner, that is, by peaceful non-cooperation and civil disobedience. It also appears that in the event of such action, the response of the ruling authority was not to treat it as unlawful defiance, rebellion, or disloyalty that had to be put down at any cost before the issue in dispute could be taken up, but as rightful action that called for speedy negotiated settlement.' Also read: The mystery of JP's kidney failure continues. There was a purpose behind it JP's civil disobedience movement JP virtually kickstarted the civil disobedience movement from Patna on 5 June 1974 with these stentorian words: 'This is a revolution, friends! We are not here merely to see the Vidhan Sabha dissolved. That is only one milestone on our journey. But we have a long way to go… After 27 years of freedom, the people of this country are wracked by hunger, rising prices, corruption… oppressed by every kind of injustice… it is a Total Revolution we want, nothing less!' This launched the 'JP Movement', which was a coalition of organisations and individuals with very diverse beliefs, preoccupations, life circumstances, and objectives. Though 'Total Revolution' was the ultimate objective, the JP Movement commenced with civil disobedience, peaceful resistance, and non-cooperation. This was because JP took inspiration from the old idiom 'aim for the sky and you'll reach the stars' that encourages ambitious goal-setting and striving for great things. As per the template, on 7 June 1974, a non-violent satyagraha was initiated. JP called for the closure of all colleges and universities for a year. He also encouraged people not to pay tax and launched related campaigns to paralyse the government. In the following days, several people were arrested while picketing and offering dharna before the Assembly gates. Even when the Assembly session concluded on 13 July, there was no let-up in the demands and agitations for its dissolution. JP's call for the boycott of classes and exams elicited a mixed response. The first phase of the agitation concluded in the third week of July. The second and more intense phase began on 1 August, with the commencement of no-tax campaigns. Farmers were advised to withhold the state levy on food grains meant for the public distribution system. Wine and country liquor shops were picketed. There was complete mayhem. Exceptions were made only for departments like post and telegraph, hospitals, courts, railways, banks, and ration shops. JP directed students to hold ten to fifteen meetings in each assembly constituency to turn public opinion against non-performing MLAs. Addressing a public meeting in Jamshedpur, JP urged the police to disobey orders that their conscience told them were improper. He also warned, for the present, the call is on Gandhian lines and should not be mistaken for a call for rebellion. But a stage will come when he would call for total rebellion. By October, a certain fatigue seemed to have set in, even as there were increased incidences of violence and coercion in implementing the civil disobedience programme. Largely restricted to urban areas, the protests were failing to draw in poor peasants, agricultural workers, and casual labourers. To energise the movement and expand its base, JP announced a new plan of action, which included the intensification of the struggle from 2 October. A three-day bandh was organised between 3 and 5 October. Leading the bandh, JP marched through the streets of Patna on 3 October with his followers. People lined the streets to support him. He ended his march at the gate of the secretariat and sat in dharna, surrounded by supporters, curious onlookers, the media, and sections of the bureaucracy. Following the success of the bandh, JP posed another direct challenge to state power. Students and Jana Sangharsh Samiti (People's Struggle Committee) volunteers were directed to move in strength to block, subdivision, and district offices to paralyse their work and set up parallel, revolutionary people's governments or Janata sarkars. These micro-organs of people's power were expected to adjudicate disputes, ensure the sale of essential commodities at fair prices, organise redistribution of ceiling-surplus land amongst the landless, prevent black market activities and hoarding, and fight against caste oppression. They were also expected to gradually bring about a shift in people's consciousness and make them reject untouchability, casteism and its symbols like the donning of the sacred thread by Brahmins, patriarchy, and its manifestation in early marriage and dowry. Also read: Modi govt's assault on democracy is more sinister than the Emergency. Look at the differences Why people followed JP's call for action Even though JP repeatedly said that the movement was democratic and non-violent, the agitations were not entirely free of coercive violence. Shopkeepers were forced to pull down their shutters. Trains and buses were arbitrarily stopped. At Bhabua, Sasaram, Samastipur, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, and Danapur stations, young children blocked railway tracks. The police retaliated with ruthless brutality. Hundreds of students were beaten up and arrested including several women and girls. They were incarcerated in the jails of Hazaribagh, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Arrah, Bankipur, and Patna. Between 2 and 5 October, the police opened fire at many places, resulting in a number of deaths. In a single incident in Patna City, twenty-two rounds were fired, and unofficial sources reported seventy-five deaths. However, JP did not backtrack because he agreed with the rationale of Howard Zinn (1970): 'Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience… Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity and war and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves…(and) the grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem.' How true is this today even after half a century of 'practicing' democracy. At the 25 June 1975 rally at Ramlila Grounds, Delhi, following the disqualification of Indira Gandhi as a Member of Parliament, JP formally declared civil disobedience: 'Friends, this civil disobedience will be of varied types. A time may come when, if these people do not listen, it may be necessary to de-recognise the government. They have no moral, legal, or constitutional right to govern; therefore, we would de-recognise them; we would not cooperate with them; not a paise of tax shall be given to them.' What followed is now history. An introspection of the movement would reveal that JP's involvement was the main factor that enabled the disparate non-Congress forces to come together for political action. While these parties, organisations, and sectors were no more diverse than the factions within Congress, they did not have a cause and a leader to unite them until the opposition to Congress rule intensified, and JP emerged for them to rally behind. The reason JP was able to perform this role was because of his public stature. He had a reputation for honesty and incorruptibility, for moral and physical courage (the latter derived from his bold exploits during the freedom struggle), for his deep concern for the fate of the Indian people, and perhaps most importantly, for his refusal to take up positions of power. In Indian tradition, there is the figure of the rishi (seer) who does not hold power, but instead exercises moral authority over those who do. Gandhi was considered such a person, and people came to see JP in the same light. Today, JP's cause for people's action not only survives, but has grown stronger. The true patriot has already paved the way. [Portions of the article are from the writer's recent Book 'Emergency and Neo-Emergency: Who will Defend Democracy?', The Browser, Chandigarh] M.G. Devasahayam is a retired IAS officer and chairman of People-First. He also served in the Indian Army. As the District Magistrate of Chandigarh, he was the custodian of JP in jail. He had a ringside view of Emergency and has written a book titled Emergency and Neo-Emergency: Who will defend Democracy?. Views are personal. Views are personal. (Edited by Prashant)
Hans India
an hour ago
- Hans India
HM Shah to inaugurate BJP's new Kerala HQ today, review poll preparedness
New Delhi: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah is set to embark on a packed one-day visit to Kerala on Saturday, where he will inaugurate the new BJP state headquarters located on K.G. Marar Road in Thiruvananthapuram at 10:30 A.M. and also review poll preparedness for the fast approaching Assembly polls. The ceremony will include the hoisting of the party flag, a tree plantation on the office premises, and the unveiling of a bust of K.G. Marar, the former state BJP President and a prominent figure in the party's Kerala unit. Following the inauguration, at 11:15 A.M., HM Shah will address the 'Viksit Keralam Sammelan,' a ward-level leadership meet of the BJP, at Putharikandam Maidan in Thiruvananthapuram. The event is expected to draw a massive crowd of around 36,000 grassroots leaders from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, and Alappuzha districts. Leaders from other districts will join the event virtually, ensuring statewide participation. The gathering is being seen as a major mobilisation effort in preparation for the upcoming local polls. At 2:00 P.M., the Union Home Minister will chair a closed-door meeting with the BJP's state leadership to review election preparedness, organisational strategy, and booth-level planning. The meeting is expected to finalise ground-level action points to strengthen the party's position in the state, where it has been working steadily to expand its footprint. Later in the day, HM Shah will travel to Taliparamba in Kannur district, where he will offer prayers at the revered Rajarajeswara Temple at 4:30 P.M. before departing for New Delhi at 7 P.M. The visit comes at a time when political activities are intensifying in Kerala with the Assembly elections expected to be held next year. The next Kerala Legislative Assembly election is expected to be held in May 2026. This election will be held to elect 140 MLAs to the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly. The current tenure of the Kerala government is from May 24, 2021, to May 23, 2026.
New Indian Express
3 hours ago
- New Indian Express
AIADMK criticises DMK's Rs 1,000 scheme expansion as election tactic
VILLUPURAM: Chief Minister MK Stalin's recent announcement to expand the Rs 1,000 scheme and add an additional 30 lakh women beneficiaries is misleading and merely aimed at the 2026 Assembly election, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Friday. Speaking during his 'Makkalai Kaapom, Thamilagathai Meetpom' campaign in Tiruchitrambalam (Vanur constituency) and Nattarmangalam (Mailam constituency), Palaniswmai alleged Stalin has failed to deliver on his 2021 electoral promises. Palanaiswami urged women not to believe Stalin's words, saying that the assistance will not be provided after the poll. Condemning the remarks Stalin made about him at a meeting in Tiruvarur, Palaniswami said education was a priority during AIADMK regime. The former chief minister also said the AIADMK had established numerous arts, engineering and medical colleges, as well as universities, particularly for the underprivileged communities. He criticised Stalin for halting university projects in Villupuram district announced in the name of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa while naming a university after DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, which is 'politically motivated'. Highlighting the AIADMK's 7.5% quota for government school students in medical admissions, Palaniswami said 2,818 students had benefited from it. Asserting that AIADMK is not afraid of the BJP, Palaniswami said it was the DMK which is worried about potential income tax raids.
