Tamil Nadu Agricultural University vice chancellor bags IMS Fellowship Award

NEW DELHI: The IMS National Council honored V Geethalakshmi, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), as Indian Meteorological Society Fellow on November 22 for her contributions to meteorology and other disciplines related to science and technology.

M Mahapatra, director of the Indian Meteorological Department, presented the award during the National Symposium on Tropical Meteorology - TROPMET 2023, held at Birla Institute of Science Research, Jaipur.

V Geethalakshmi played a key role in positioning India in the global map of Agrometeorology research. She is in charge of the establishment of the Agro Climate Research Centre (ACRC) at TNAU. She is responsible for the development and delivery of weather based agro-advisory services in Tamil Nadu which enabled impoverished farmers to make agriculture decisions for enhancing the agricultural revenue.

She also created a tool kit for predicting seasonal rainfall at the district level in Tamil Nadu for making strategic farming decisions using real-time sea surface temperature, sudden oscillation index, and the Indian ocean dipole.

During 2004, Geethalakshmi planned rehabilitation and restoration programmes for restoring agricultural productivity in tsunami-affected areas of Tamil Nadu.

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Geethalakshmi led a team of experts that analysed the damage caused by the Gaja cyclone in Tamil Nadu in 2018 and developed strategies and policies to restore agricultural productivity. She was involved in the establishment of an automated weather station network and the implementation of Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme in selected regions of Tamil Nadu.

She was involved in making of the Tamil Nadu-State Action Plan on Climate Change, Tamil Nadu Drought Policy and India’s Science Technology Innovation Policy 2020. Geethalakshmi was also active in the development of water policy for agricultural intensification through investments in irrigational infrastructure.