Annual Meeting: The 66th Annual General Meeting of the society was held in the auditorium of the Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, under the chairmanship of Professor M. P. Singh, the then President of the Society, on 11 March 2024 at 02.30 pm.
Election for New Executive Council: This is to inform the society’s members that the election of the Executive Council members (2024–2026) was held in August 2024. The results of the election for the new Executive Council were reported and accepted by all members of the council.
The following members were elected:
President:
Dr Rajiv Nigam, Goa
Vice-Presidents:
(i) Professor Mukund Sharma, Lucknow
(ii) Dr Rajeev Saraswat, Goa
Secretary:
Dr (Mrs) Anju Saxena, Lucknow
Joint Secretaries
(i) Professor Ashutosh Kumar Singh, Delhi
(ii) Dr Biswajit Thakur, Lucknow
Treasurer:
Dr (Mrs) Purnima Srivastava, Lucknow
Council Members
(i) Professor Bindhyachal Pandey, Varanasi
(ii) Professor Sumedh Humane, Nagpur
(iii) Professor (Mrs) Bandana Samant, Bhatinda
(iv) Dr Raj Kumar Singh, Bhubaneshwar
(v) Dr Debahuti Mukherjee, Kolkata
(vi) Dr (Mrs) Kapesa Lokho, Dehradun
(vii) Dr Varun Parmar, Jammu
(viii) Dr R. S. Chandel, Lucknow
(ix) Dr Vivesh Vir Kapur, Lucknow
The following activities of the society took place during the 2024–2025 period.
EC Meetings: The Executive Council met four times (in hybrid mode) during the period.
AWARDS & MEDALS CONFERRED
Professor R. C. Misra Lifetime Achievement Award & Medal (for the year 2023) for outstanding contributions to geoscience was conferred upon Professor V. C. Tewari, Formerly, Scientist G, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248001, Uttarakhand, and Professor of Geology, Sikkim Central University, Gangtok, Sikkim, and Kumaon University, Nainital, Uttarakhand on 27 January 2025 in the Geology Department, University of Lucknow, Lucknow.
The Dr. Rajiv Nigam Medal (for the year 2023) was conferred upon Professor S. M. Hussain, Head, Geology Department, University of Madras, Chennai, on 18 October 2024 during ICMS-2024, Delhi University, New Delhi, in recognition of outstanding contributions in the field of palaeontology.
Professor S. N. Bhalla Commemorative Gold Medal (for the year 2023) in recognition of outstanding contributions in the field of micropalaeontology was conferred upon Dr Neloy Khare, Scientist G & Advisor, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, on 18 October 2024 during ICMS-2024, Delhi University, New Delhi.
The Sharda Chandra Gold Medal for the year 2023 (for best scientific contribution in palaeontology) was conferred upon Dr Sudhir Ranjan Bhadra, Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, on 18 October 2024 during ICMS-2024, Delhi University, New Delhi.
Mani Shankar Shukla Gold Medal for the year 2023, for his outstanding contributions in the field of micropalaeontology was conferred upon Dr Arindam Chakraborty, Senior Lecturer and Supervisor, Geology Museum, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 27 January 2025 in of Geology Department, University of Lucknow, Lucknow.
Professor M. R. Sahni Gold Medal for obtaining highest marks in palaeontology in MSc (2024) was awarded to Ms Anupriya Raj of Geology Department, University of Lucknow, during the convocation ceremony of Lucknow University held in February 2025.
LECTURES ORGANISED
The 9th Professor R. C. Misra Memorial Lecture titled ‘Structural Geology in the Service of Society’ was delivered by Professor A. R. Bhattacharya, formerly Head of the Geology Department, University of Lucknow, on 11 March 2024 in the Geology Department, University of Lucknow, Lucknow.
The 41st Professor M. R. Sahni Memorial Lecture titled, ‘The Tales Fossilized Teeth of Primates Can Tell?’ was delivered by Professor Rajeev Patnaik, Department of Geology, Punjab University, Chandigarh, on 11 March 2024 in the Geology Department, University of Lucknow, Lucknow.
The 26th Professor S. N. Singh Memorial Lecture titled, ‘A Geological Overview of the Gangotri Glacier Area, Garhwal Himalaya’ was delivered by Professor Dhruv Sen Singh, Head, Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow on Saturday, 9 November 2024 in the Department of Geology, University of Lucknow.
The 10th Professor R. C. Misra Memorial Lecture titled ‘The Global Significance of the Recent Geological and Micropalaeontological Research in the Eastern Himalaya and Meghalaya, India’ was delivered by Professor V. C. Tewari, formerly, Scientist G, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248001, Uttarakhand, Professor of Geology, Sikkim Central University, Gangtok, Sikkim, and Kumaon University, Nainital, Uttarakhand on 27 January 2025 in the Geology Department, University of Lucknow, Lucknow
OUTREACH ACTIVITIES ORGANISED
International Fossil Week Celebration 2024
The Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) team and the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences (SEOCS) of IIT Bhubaneswar organised an exhibition on 2 November 2024, as a part of the International Fossil Week celebration. The theme of the exhibition was ‘Introduction to Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences’, focusing on the evolution of life on Earth. More than 40 students from Argul High School participated in this exhibition. The event was organised under the guidance of Dr Raj Kumar Singh, Associate Professor, SEOCS. Dr Seema Bahinipati, Coordinators, UBA, overall looked after the programme. The active participation of SEOCS students and UBA volunteers made the programme successful.
Professor V. C. Tewari, a life fellow of the society, was the Convener of the Session on Palaeocene–Eocene larger benthic foraminifera, palaeogeography and collision of the Indian and Asian Plates, Session 4 under Theme 11. Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology during the 37th International Geological Congress (IGC) held from 25 to 31 August 2024 at Busan, Republic of South Korea.
In addition, International Fossil Week was also celebrated at various regional chapters of the society.
Celebration of the Platinum Jubilee Year 2025
The society was established in the Department of Geology at the University of Lucknow, Lucknow, on 26 January 1950. It is in its Platinum Jubilee year. Since then, the society has been instrumental not only in serving and disseminating knowledge in the field of palaeontology but also in protecting and advancing the mutual interests of national and international palaeontologists. The Executive Council of the Society has decided to organise various scientific activities, such as organising field workshops, national and international conferences/meetings/workshops and publishing a special volume for the Platinum Jubilee year. All these activities have already been formulated and will be executed very soon. A Platinum Jubilee conference will be organised in Goa in October under the convenorship of Dr Rajeev Saraswat, Vice-President of the Society. The first circular of the conference has been issued. The members will get updates from time to time.
New members: Seven life members joined during 2024–2025: Professor Shreerup Goswami, Professor N. Malarkodi, Dr Momita Das, Dr Birendra Pratap Singh, Dr Suresh Kumar, Dr Yogesh Kumar and Dr Sanjay K Verma.
Establishment of New Medals and Awards: During the period, the society has established two new medals, which are as follows:
A Gold Medal named ‘PSI-Smt. Kamla Bhattacharya Medal’ for MSc student of the Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, who secures the highest marks in MSc Geology examination. To establish the award, Professor A.R. Bhattacharya, a former professor in the Department of Geology, donated ₹200 thousand to the society. The exact amount has been kept as a Fixed Deposit in the Indian Overseas Bank, BSIP Branch, Lucknow.
The family members of the Late Professor S. K. Shah, a renowned palaeontologist, have proposed establishing the ‘PSI-S.K. Shah Gold Medal Award’ to be given to a researcher working in the field of Himalayan Palaeontology and Stratigraphy. Mr Vikas Shah, son of the late Professor S. K. Shah, donated a generous amount of ₹500 thousand to the society for this purpose. The exact amount has been kept as a Fixed Deposit in the Indian Overseas Bank, BSIP Branch, Lucknow.
Publication: The society publishes the SCI Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India biannually, in addition to special volumes and field guide books as needed. I am pleased to note that the journal’s credibility has increased, and its current impact factor is 0.6. The society is grateful to the Editorial Board of the Journal for their tireless efforts in this direction. The society’s journal is now available online from Vol. 68, Nos. 1 & 2 (2023) and is Open Access on the SAGE website. Please visit http://journals.sagepub.com/home/jpi for downloading the papers and detailed guidelines for submitting manuscripts for publication.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
The society expresses its deep sense of gratitude to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for granting ₹1,50,000.00 towards the publication of the Journal of the Palaeontological Society. The conveners/coordinators of the regional/student chapters, who organised outreach activities at their centres on behalf of the society, are also gratefully acknowledged. The society is grateful to Professor Dhruv Sen Singh, Head, and all faculty members, staff and students for their assistance and support in various society activities. The society feels obliged to all scientists who assisted editors in evaluating scientific contributions received for publication in the Journal of the Society. Lastly, I would also like to thank the previous and current members of the Executive Council of the Society and fellows for their help, support and guidance in ensuring the smooth functioning of the society’s activities.
