A one day National Meet on “Promoting Space Technology based tools and Applications on Governance & Development” was organized on September 07, 2015 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi with the participation of Central Ministries / Departments and State Governments. The National Meet comprised of nine theme sessions namely Agriculture, Energy & Environment, Infrastructure Planning, Water Resources, Technology Diffusion, Developmental Planning, Communication & Navigation, Weather & Disaster Management and Health & Education. 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. Chief Secretaries/ Principal Secretaries of 9 States have also made presentations on use of space technology in specific sectors in their States.
The requirements and utilization of space technology in governance and development in the country is assessed from time to time through the standing committees (chaired by Secretaries to GOI) under National Natural Resources Management System to provide impetus for operational use of space technology and also through user meet organised annually. In the recent past, the interactions of the expert working groups of ISRO with various Ministries / Departments have given better understanding of the utilisation of space technology in governance & development and culminated into the organisation of the National Meet.
The steps taken by ISRO so far to enhance the use of space technology in governance and development in the country include:
(i) Formation of expert working groups in ISRO.
(ii) Preparation of joint action plan on “Effective use of Space Technology” and Identification of Space Applications addressing the requirements of Ministries / Departments.
(iii) Conduct of Proof of Concept or Pilot projects
(iv) Development of customised tools and applications
(v) Development of a Web based Geo-portal “Bhuvan” for providing satellite data and development of tools for visualisation, analysis and dissemination.
(vi) Institutionalisation of space applications and enabling formation of space technology cells in the Ministries / Departments
(vii) Capacity building of the officials of Ministries / Departments
This information was provided the 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 in a reply to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha today.
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(Release ID :132887)