An updated version of a satellite imagery-based database of rural natural resources, called SISDP, will be the backbone of planning and decision-making in the country’s 2.5 lakh village panchayats, according to its main stakeholders in the departments of Space and Panchayat Raj.
SISDP Update — short for Space-based Information Support for Decentralised Planning — uses high-resolution data from recent earth observation satellites and offers detailed information to panchayats about their key assets.
Union Minister of State for Space and Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh on Tuesday inaugurated a multi-department SISDP workshop, organised by the Indian Space Research Organisation. He also launched an upgraded geo-imaging web portal, Bhuvan Panchayat V3, for the use of sarpanches and rural stakeholders. Lauding the contribution of satellite data in key developmental activities of various ministries, Dr. Singh said, “ISRO, the Department of Space, and space technology of India are going to be essential tools in the making of [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi’s new India.”
ISRO chairman K. Sivan said thematic maps of 1:10,000 scale have been generated for the first time based on high-resolution data given by ISRO’s new earth observation satellites.
Shantanu Choudhury, director, ISRO National Remote Sensing Centre, which is the national repository of earth imageries, said that thanks to these geo-tagged databases it was now possible for rural planners to plan and locate a healthcare unit, water harvesting, and rural communication network even from the panchayat office.
Apart from supporting 100 geophysical apps of various ministries, 279 rural assets or natural resources have been geotagged and are being integrated into the database, according to Uday Raj, SISDP project director, NRSC. Ministry of Panchayati Raj Secretary Sunil Kumar said villages can now prioritise their facilities, from schools to fertilisers to ATMs, and even track the attendance of teachers.
