Geospatial technology will have a massive social and political impact, and India’s problems in terms of its terrain, are opportunities, said Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Tuesday. He was interacting with the media at the Second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress.
Taking questions, the Minister said that geospatial initiatives are a “serious” endeavour and would have a serious social and political impact beyond the technological aspect. “For example, SVAMITVA enables you to access your land mapping, particularly the panchayat areas, and village areas. So it’s going to bring about a lot of transparency in governance, transparency in revenue management,” he said, adding that the culture of making trips to revenue department offices would become a thing of the past.
Dr Singh described the initiative as a game-changer from an administrative standpoint at the taluka and village levels, and would have a bearing in the next two decades.
He also pointed out that India’s problems are also its opportunities. The country’s heterogeneous terrain allows the opportunity to geospatially map villages located in the Himalayas or on the terrain of the North Eastern states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a special interest in the project, he said.
Stefan Schweinfest, director, UN-GGIM Secretariat, United Nations Statistics Division, said, “For us as United Nations, the job is to bring the knowledge and the best experiences together. So, we are here to share these experiences and to also learn from India. What they have done, what we can take to other developing countries that may be helpful to solve problems and I think in that spirit, I am approaching this Congress. I am very grateful to the very high-level attention that is given to this topic.”
