New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) India's ambitions mission to send scientists to explore the depths of the ocean in specially-designed submersible Samudrayaan got a boost with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocating Rs 600 crore for the Deep Ocean Mission.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences, which is steering the Deep Ocean Mission, got an allocation of Rs 3649.81 crore in the Union Budget, presented on Saturday, as against Rs 3064.80 crore in the ongoing fiscal year.

The mission involves mapping deep ocean floors and developing technologies like a manned submersible with 6000m water-depth rating, mining system for deep sea mining for sustainable utilisation of deep-sea bioresources and developing engineering designs for offshore thermal energy-driven desalination plants.

The finance minister also allocated Rs 1,329 crore for Mission Mausam, an Earth Sciences Ministry initiative to improve weather forecasting capabilities.

India plans to send a manned-submersible, developed by the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), up to a depth of 500 metres in the ocean later this year, and gradually explore the seabed at the depth of 6,000 meters next year.

The Deep Ocean Mission aims to explore deep-oceanic resources and develop technologies for their sustainable use.

The Mission involves Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, Manned Submersible, and Underwater Robotics; Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services; technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deepsea biodiversity.

It also involves Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration; Energy and freshwater from the Ocean and Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology.

Human capacity will be developed in ocean biology and engineering through the translation of research into industrial applications.

As part of the celebrations marking the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) 150th foundation day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 14 launched 'Mission Mausam' which aims to improve weather understanding and forecasting through expanded observation networks, better modelling and advanced tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The mission includes creating a laboratory to artificially develop clouds, increasing the number of radars by over 150 per cent and adding new satellites, supercomputers and other innovations.

India aims to achieve 100 per cent detection of all types of severe weather at village and household levels by 2047 and reduce the loss of life from such events to zero, according to the IMD's Vision-2047 document released by PM Modi on January 14. PTI SKU TIR TIR

Budget allocation for Deep Ocean Mission boosts development of manned submersible and technologies for sustainable deep-sea resource use. The Union Budget increases funding for the Ministry of Earth Sciences to advance the Deep Ocean Mission-prioritising development of a manned submersible (Samudrayaan), deep sea mining technologies, underwater robotics, deep-ocean survey and exploration, ocean-based desalination engineering, biodiversity conservation research, ocean climate advisory services, and human-capacity building to translate research into industrial applications-while separately funding Mission Mausam to expand observation networks, radars, satellites, computing and AI tools and a cloud-development laboratory to enhance severe-weather detection and forecasting.