MYSURU,
May 15, 2016
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on a
space-based information system for decentralised planning to help rural
development, ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said here on Saturday.
Though
there are scores of rural development programmes and welfare measures
launched in the country, there is little planning at the local level
owing to lack of information. The space-based information system will
reach out to the villages to enable them to plan and improve their
economy, he said at the graduation day of the Vidyavardhaka College of
Engineering.
The system is expected to optimise the
benefits of various welfare programmes to a maximum number of people in
the areas of health, sanitation, infrastructure, etc. besides monitoring
their benefits and impacts in the villages.
As
another such initiative, it is also working with the Department of Posts
to involve its postmen and women to inform citizens about the location
and services available at post offices. Already 1.5 lakh post offices
across the country have been geo-tagged.
In future,
postal staff visiting neighbourhoods will also be equipped with
space-based information in time to arm farmers about their land,
cultivation and the crop they grow. The information will be shared with
the Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre to estimate details of
crops. At present, this is being done through stratified random sampling
in 10,000 locations. By involving postal employees, the information
would be available from a large number of locations, which help improve
crop forecasting and related activities, he said.
The
thrust of Mr. Kiran Kumar’s talk was on the innovation and indigenous
solutions conceived by ISRO to address India-specific problems in a
cost-effective manner. He highlighted how the country had recently
created its own regional ‘GPS’ based on a seven-satellite navigation
constellation. .
ISRO’s upcoming solar mission, Aditya, will provide scientists a 24x7 observation capability of the sun’s corona.
Source : http://www.thehindu.com
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