GIS plans for around 75% Gram Panchayats completed

• The Ministry of Rural Development has completed Geographical Information System (GIS) plans for 2 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) out of 2.69 lakh GPs under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA using remote sensing technology based on the ridge to valley approach.
• The Ministry has provided detailed training on usage of GIS & RS (Remote Sensing) technology to Mahatma Gandhi NREGS functionaries of States/UTs through the initiative of the Ministry and NIRDPR.

• Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has always emphasized Natural Resource Management (NRM) based planning to enhance the livelihood and NRM resource base in rural areas.
• This systematic development of land, harnessing of rainwater following watershed principles (Ridge to Valley Approach) and creation of income-generating assets has become important aspect of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS works.
• The planning of works under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS are now carried out using advanced technologies viz. Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS).
• Leveraged for this purpose is the much acclaimed ‘Bhuvan’ space technology solution from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• To further facilitate Gram Panchayat level planning of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS activities across India, Yuktdhara Geospatial Planning portal has been developed on Bhuvan Platform by National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA division MoRD.
• This planning portal also helps the other Ministries and Departments to see the geographical location of planned assets on a map in the web management system, which integrates planning for works, optimises convergence plans and facilitates effective monitoring of the implementation of works and creation of assets.
• This Ministry is also working towards integrating climate data with the above data through a joint initiative with FCDO of the UK, known as CRISP-M, which will further enable the local communities to understand the impact of changing climate in terms of various geophysical parameters and make smart decisions on them.
• This is initially proposed to be taken up in seven states viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and will be expanded later to all other states as well.

Geographic information system (GIS)

• It is a conceptualized framework that provides the ability to capture and analyse spatial and geographic data.

• GIS applications (or GIS apps) are computer-based tools that allow the user to create interactive queries (user-created searches), store and edit spatial and non-spatial data, analyze spatial information output, and visually share the results of these operations by presenting them as maps.

• Geographic information systems are utilized in multiple technologies, processes, techniques and methods.

• They are attached to various operations and numerous applications, that relate to: engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications, and business.

• For this reason, GIS and location intelligence applications are at the foundation of location-enabled services, that rely on geographic analysis and visualization.

• GIS provides the capability to relate previously unrelated information, through the use of location as the ""key index variable"".

• Locations and extents that are found in the Earth's spacetime, are able to be recorded through the date and time of occurrence, along with x, y, and z coordinates; representing, longitude (x), latitude (y), and elevation (z).

• All Earth-based, spatial–temporal, location and extent references, should be relatable to one another, and ultimately, to a ""real"" physical location or extent.

• Recently an upgraded geo-imaging web portal, Bhuvan Panchayat 3.0 was launched during the National Workshop on “Space-based Information Support for Decentralised Planning-2"".

• This launch is part of the advanced Space-based Information Support for Decentralised Planning (SISDP) project.

• The SISDP was launched in 2011 and its first phase of making databases was completed in 2017.

• This portal uses high-resolution data from recent earth observation satellites and offers detailed information to panchayats about their key assets.

• For the first time, the thematic maps of 1:10,000 scale have been generated based on high-resolution data given by Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) new earth observation satellites.

• It is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Department of Space, ISRO.

Advantages

1. Decentralised Planning: ""Bhuvan Panchayats"" is facilitating decentralised planning at grassroot level. E.g.: It is possible for rural planners to plan and locate a healthcare unit, water harvesting, rural communication network even as they sit in panchayat offices.
2. Empowering the Panchayats:The workshop addressed modalities and mechanisms that would be adopted to empower the local bodies in utilizing the space technology in the form of simple-to-use maps, location based services through Navigation in Indian Constellation (NavIC) and high resolution space images based local tools to enable the panchayats with modern technology for sustainable development.
3. Technology and Governance: The Panchayati Raj institutions could effectively use space technology for planning, implementation, monitoring and management of resources, including governance.
4. Digital India: It can also prove to be an important component for “Digital India” platform for reaching digital thematic maps to about 2.56 Lakh Gram panchayats in the country.

Bhuvan Portal

• Bhuvan (Sanskrit for Earth) is a Geoportal of ISRO , allowing host of services covering visualization, free data download, thematic map display and analysis, timely information on disaster and project specific GIS applications.
• The portal was launched in 2009 and is available in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.