Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has informed that a one day National Meet on “Promoting Space Technology based tools and Applications in Governance & Development” was organized in New Delhi with the participation of Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments. Secretaries of 58 Ministries/ Departments have presented the action plans jointly prepared with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to enhance functional effectiveness, facilitate planning and decision making.
While addressing during the special session, the Prime Minister emphasized on the need for new initiatives for governance and development, using space technology applications.
Space technology is being used by various Ministries/Departments in planning, monitoring and evaluation of developmental activities in various sectors, which include agriculture, forestry & environment, water resources, urban planning, infrastructure development, asset mapping, mineral prospecting, ocean resources, meteorology, satellite communication, location based services, Tele-education, Tele-medicine and disaster management support. Some of the important applications being carried out by the Ministries/Departments are given below:
| Ministry/ Department | Application |
| M/o Agriculture & Farmers Welfare | · Crop Acreage Estimation & Production Forecasting· Agricultural Drought Assessment· Inventory and Management of Horticulture crops |
| M/o Environment Forests & Climate Change | · Biennial Forest Cover Mapping· Monitoring Snow & Glaciers and Snow-Melt Runoff in Himalayan Region· Coastal Zone Monitoring |
| M/o Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation | · Command Area Development and Assessment of Irrigation Potential· Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies· Reservoir sedimentation assessment |
| M/o Urban Development | · National Urban Information System· Enabling Master plan preparation for 500 cities / towns |
| M/o Culture | · Inventory and site management plans for 4000 heritage enabling ease of business |
| M/o Drinking Water and Sanitation | · Ground Water Prospects Zones and Suitable sites for constructing recharge structures |
| M/o Civil Aviation | · Dedicated Satellite Communication Network (DSCN), linking several operational airports for exchange of voice and data for various services· GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation) for safety of life applications and en-route navigation |
| D/o Post | · Geo-tagging of post offices· Postman beat maps |
| M/o Earth Sciences | · Space derived inputs for operational weather forecast, tropical cyclone tracking & Ocean State Forecast· Potential Fishing Zone Advisory |
| M/o Petroleum & Natural Gas | · Planning pipeline corridor |
| M/o Rural Development | · Wasteland change monitoring· Monitoring & Evaluation of Watershed development |
| M/o Information and Broadcasting | · Satellite based communication services for broadcasting |
| M/o Power | · Environmental impact assessment of Power projects |
| M/o Panchayati Raj | · Space Based Information Support for Decentralized Planning at Panchayat level· SATCOM centres at every block for training. |
| M/o Tribal Affairs | · Potential Pond Identification for developing fish culture in village ponds.· Identifying sites for new ponds for harvesting runoff |
| D/o Health & Family Welfare | · Telemedicine Centres at pilgrimage sites and remote areas |
The steps taken by ISRO to further integrate space technologies with the working of the Government to enable good governance include:
(i) Formation of expert working groups in ISRO to have regular interaction with the departments
(ii) Preparation of joint action plan for short term & long term space technology applications
(iii)Conduct of Proof of Concept or Pilot projects
(iv) Development of customised tools and applications
(v) Institutionalisation of space applications and enabling formation of space technology cells in the Ministries / Departments
(vi) Capacity building of the officials of Ministries / Departments.
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