Top UK Award for India’s National Hydrographer

Vice Admiral Vinay Badhwar has been presented the 2019 Alexander Dalrymple Award in recognition of his “outstanding contribution” to Indian hydrography and across the wider Indian Ocean region, official sources said here on Monday.

First awarded by the UK Hydrography Office (UKHO) in 2006, the award is named after the first hydrographer of the Admiralty. Recipients are selected for their efforts in raising the standards of hydrography, cartography and navigation around the world.

Vice Admiral Badhwar, who joined the Indian Navy in 1982, has extensive hydrographic surveying experience, including work in the Gulfs of Kutch and Khambhat, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands – widely recognised as some of the most challenging environments to survey in the world.

In his role as India’s national hydrographer, Vice Admiral Badhwar has been a key member of the International Hydrographic Organisation’s capacity building sub-committee since its creation. He also leads the Indian Naval Hydrographic Office’s regional capacity building programmes.

The UKHO said his contribution to the sustainable development of Indian Ocean coastal economies was recognised in 2019, when he received the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal for ‘distinguished service of an exceptional order during peacetime’.

Rear Admiral Peter Sparkes, UK’s national hydrographer, said: “Vice Admiral Badhwar is a true champion of the hydrographic profession. He has helped to unlock the economic potential of marine geospatial data and further hydrographic science in both India and the wider Indian Ocean region”.

“The important capacity building contribution of our friends and partners at the Indian Naval Hydrographic Office, who work in concert with the IHO, is helping to usher in a safer, more prosperous and more sustainable world”.

Vice Admiral Badhwar said on receiving the award: “This recognition would not have been possible without the support of my colleagues in the National Hydrographic Department, who worked tirelessly towards achieving the goals set forth by the United Nations and IHO”.

Source: HT