Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 15: 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 today announced the Government’s historic decision to completely deregulate Geospatial / Space Map-making in India and thus unshackle the Geospatial sector in the country, for the first time in over seven decades.
Addressing a press conference at the National Media Centre here, along with Science & Technology Minister Dr Harshvardan, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also In-Charge Space, said that the decision is an extension of a series of visionary reforms undertaken in the Space sector on the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said, it was at the behest of Prime Minister Modi that about four years back that an extensive brainstorming was held at New Delhi between Space Scientists on the one hand and representatives of different Ministries and Departments of Government of India to work out wherein Space Technology could be applied to bring “ease of working” in different sectors.
As a result, today, he said, Space Technology is being extensively used in construction of roads and buildings, smart cities, railway tracks, guarding railway crossings, Tele-education, Tele-medicine, rural development, agriculture, etc. In other words, Space Technology today has entered every Indian household, he added.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, after unlocking the Space sector to the private sector recently, today’s announcement heralds the unlocking of geo-mapping from restrictive use to wider use in the interest of nation building and creating an Atma Nirbhar Bharat. While in June last year, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the decks to allow private sector to participate in a range of Space activities including planetary exploration, today’s decision will enable India’s Geo-mapping potentials to be used for a higher goal of India emerging as a frontline nation in all sectors and not confining to its geo-mapping capacities only for security purposes, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, this is one more distinct example of removal of some of the colonial legacies that India was still grappling with and added that deregulation of Map-making is historic in the sense that Geo-Map is now going to be recognised as an instrument of development rather than only a tool for securing the country.
The Minister said that unshackling the Geospatial sector would play a stimulating role for the Space industry as this sector is at the core of cutting edge technologies like 5G.
Dr. Jitendra Singh also invited Indian businesses to take lead and utilize the opportunities being thrown open for the making of Atmanirbhar Bharat. He said, the collaborative efforts from industry, academia and Government will make India a World leader in Geospatial knowledge. The Minister urged all sections to grab the opportunity and fulfil the aspirations of the nation to become a five trillion-dollar economy.
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