The National Early Warning System for Tsunami and Storm Surges in the Indian Ocean was dedicated to the nation by Minister of Earth Sciences Shri. Kapil Sibal. Recognising the imperative to put in place an Early Warning System for mitigation of Oceanogenic Disasters that cause severe threat to nearly 400 million of India's population that live in the coastal belt and further driven by the national calamity due to the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 26, 2004, the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) had taken up the responsibility of establishing the National Tsunami Early Warning System. The Warning System has been established by MoES as the nodal ministry at a cost of Rs.125 Crore in collaboration with Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Space (DOS) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The National Tsunami Early Warning Centre has been set up at INCOIS, Hyderabad.

The reliability of the system was tested when the 8.2 magnitude earthquake in the southern Sumatra region triggered tsunami alerts in various adjoining countries, including India. "We could validate the September 12 earthquake off southern Sumatra within 12 minutes," INCOIS Director, Dr. Shailesh Nayak said. The tsunami warning centre swung into action and issued an red alert in the next 13 minutes, which was downgraded to orange in less than two hours. A red alert requires the citizens and the administration to be prepared for evacuation and in the event of an orange alert the administration has to remain vigilant. INCOIS, in association with Tata Consultancy Services, has generated simulations of possible 550 scenarios of triggering of tsunami after massive earthquakes.

The GIS will help identify the soil layers and integrate data while the GPS will help in identification of resources. Importantly, it will help farmers in preparation of soil and decide about the seeds and use of fertilisers and micronutrients for a higher yield. A methodology for preparation of district level digitized soil fertility map has been standardized, which was one of the thrust areas identified for research by the Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR). Meanwhile, in a related development, the Department of Fertilisers has firmed up plans to upgrade its infrastructure for effective online monitoring of fertilizer movement till block level, following the finalization of draft to increase freight subsidy.

An ESA-supported project is using satellite images to compare agricultural crop sites across Europe in order to ensure the more efficient use of pesticides. Pesticides currently used within the European Union (EU) must be registered with the national members of the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO), which requires efficiency data derived from field trials. EPPO has defined zones of comparable climates across Europe that allows data generated in one country to support registration in another country within the same climatic zone. The new service, Site Similarity Certification (SSC), merges satellite images with conventional data like temperature, precipitation, soil characteristics and recurring natural phenomena to improve the scientific approach in defining comparable zones and the transferability of field trial results achieved in one EU member state to another.

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