Srinagar: Vice-Chancellor of University of Kashmir Prof Talat Ahmad has been honoured with the ‘G.S.I. Sesquicentennial Commemorative Medal’ for the year 2020 by the Council of the Asiatic Society Kolkata.
A communication to Prof Talat from General Secretary of the Society—an Institute of National Importance declared by an Act of Parliament under Ministry of Culture, Government of India—reads: “It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the Council of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, has been pleased to confer the award ‘G.S.I. Sesquicentennial Commemorative Medal’ of the Asiatic Society for the year 2020 for your significant contribution in the field of Earth Science.”
“On behalf of the Council of the Asiatic society, Kolkata as well as on behalf of the members and staff members we warmly congratulate you for your nomination to the said award,” the communication reads.
Prof Talat is a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the National Mineral Award (1994) from Government of India, and has the distinction of being a Fellow of all the three prestigious Science Academies in the country, including Indian National Science Academy New Delhi, Indian Academy of Sciences Bangalore and National Academy of Sciences Allahabad. He is also a recipient of J C Bose National Fellowship from DST, New Delhi, S M Naqvi Gold Medal 2013 from Geological Society of India and Indian Geophysical Union – Prince Mukarram Jah Endowment Lecture Award and Gold Medal for the year 2015.
Professor Talat has remained Vice-Chancellor thrice including the VC of the Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. During his current tenure at the University of Kashmir, where Prof Talat is serving his second stint, the varsity was accredited ‘A-Plus’ grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), while it secured 48th rank among 950 universities in the country in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the MHRD, Government of India.
Prof Talat, a world-renowned earth scientist, has published 110 research papers in reputed national and international journals and has supervised 24 Ph.D theses work, and is currently supervising three students for their Ph.D work, one each at the University of Delhi, School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Australia and Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University, U.K.

KR Desk