Avenues for Geologists in India, A talk by Former faculty Mr. Akshay Kelkar

On 23^rd July 2019, an expert interaction talk was organised by the Department of Geology - Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts and Science - to enlighten the budding undergraduate students with the avenues available in the field of Geology. The interaction was between the students and Akshay Kelkar who is currently a Trainee Scientific Officer at the Atomic Mineral Division in Hyderabad.

All students were very excited to meet Sir Akshay and grab this unique opportunity to enhance their awareness in the fields available after graduation. The third year Geology students of the Bachelors course were more enthusiastic as they experienced great memories under Sir Akshay’s tutelage in the year 2017-2018, when he was the assistant professor in the Geology Department. The event began with Alistair Souza (student of Third Year) introducing the Guest speaker and mentioning his achievements. Later Sir Harish Nadkarni motivated the bright students with a great speech telling us about outlook hat we students should have to achieve a successful future. Being a student as well as an assistant professor under him, Sir Nadkarni shared the emotive and great experience they had together. 

Sir Akshay began his interaction with the experiences he had through his young career. His career is like a rose which has thorns in the beginning and the rose petals at the top. The thorns are the struggles and hardwork he had in the beginning of his career and the rose petals symbolises the success he has currently achieved by getting an opportunity as a Trainee Scientific Officer at AMD. The success is not complete as he has a long path to follow. This success was achievable all because of his persistence, guidance from the Geology Department Faculty and the support and prayers from his close and dear ones.

Sir Akshay mentioned the various universities available in India for the Master’s study. This included the State Universities, Central Universities and the reputed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and National Institute Technology (NIT). Some of the state universities include the Osmania University, Annamalai University, Ferguson University, Saint Xavier’s University and Goa University where he pursued his Master’s Degree in Applied Geology. The central universities are Central University of Kerala, Pondicherry University, Central University of Karnataka, Delhi University and Banaras Hindu University which Sir Akshay joined for his PhD. Sir told us about the criteria to join these universities. We received valuable information regarding the JAM Exam which is required to pursue Master’s IIT and NIT.

As for the fields available to study in the Master’s programme, Sir Akshay provided information on Applied Geology, Geoinformatics, Petroleum Geology, Environmental Geology, Marine Science, Climatology and considering the current water crises, the important field of Groundwater and Geophysics which can be used to study the deep portions of the Earth. We were enlightened about the CSIR-UGC NET exam whose certificate has a two year validity for being a Lecturer and a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) after MSc. The certificate for JRF is also allowed after BSc. The students were updated about the recruiters for geologists like the Indian School of Mines, FUGRO, Vedanta etc. for Mining and Geophysical opportunities, SHELL, ONGC for Petroleum Geologists, ISRO, GSI, Central Groundwater Board and DAE-BRNS => AMD are some of the government organisational recruiters. Recruitment in AMD requires clearing the BARC exam and an interview thereafter.

The interaction with Sir Akshay was an ‘Eye Opener’ and made us realise the truth that the future is not a ‘cakewalk’ and we need to be hardworking and persistent. We gained knowledge about the vast scopes available after graduation and the steps and measures required to achieve the field of our interest. The students are very grateful to the faculty members of the Geology Department for arranging this informative and fruitful session and to Sir Akshay for being so kind in spending his valuable time to enlighten us. 

Contributed by Bevelio Goes, TYBSC.