Dr. Srinivasa Kumar Tummala officially assumed charge as Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India on August 10, 2026. He takes over from Dr. N. Kalaiselvi who had been handling the responsibilities under an additional charge, following the previous full-time secretary Dr. M. Ravichandran.
Dr. Tummala's appointment is described as a pivotal and strategic transition for MoES as India aggressively scales up its flagship Deep Ocean Mission, enhances climate modeling capabilities, and fortifies its multi-hazard early warning infrastructure to protect coastal communities and advance the national Blue Economy agenda.
With over three decades of experience across remote sensing, satellite oceanography, coastal hazard mitigation, and disaster management, Dr. Tummala brings techno-managerial leadership to MoES at a vital juncture as India expands its scientific footprint across oceanography, polar research, meteorological disaster prevention, and sustainable marine resource exploitation.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Tummala served as Head of the ICG/IOTWMS Secretariat at UNESCO-IOC in Perth, Australia, where he directed regional tsunami warning networks across 28 Indian Ocean Member States and led global standardization of ocean watch operations. He also championed the implementation of the Tsunami Ready Community Recognition Programme. From August 2020, he served as Director of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS) in Hyderabad, where he significantly advanced Potential Fishing Zone advisories, Coral Reef Bleaching Alert systems, and multi-hazard vulnerability mapping.
Following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Dr. Tummala acted as Project Manager to establish the state-of-the-art Indian Tsunami Early Warning System at INCOIS, transforming it into a globally designated Tsunami Service Provider. His contributions have been recognized with the National Geoscience Award in 2010 from the Ministry of Mines and the Indian National Geospatial Award in 2008 from the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and served as Vice-Chair of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Coordination Group.
Under Dr. Tummala's leadership, the Ministry of Earth Sciences will continue to strengthen India's observational networks, atmospheric modeling, deep-ocean exploration technologies, and societal services to bolster climate resilience and ocean health across the region.