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based remote sensing system in the 80's to 
ensure generation of resource information in 
vital natural resources sectors such as 
Agriculture, Land, Water, Forestry and Geology. 
Thus the conceptualisation of National Natural 
Resources Management System (NNRMS) fructified 
wherein the optimal integration of remote 
sensing inputs with the conventional data has 
been realised as the most cost and time 
effective operational system for efficient 
management of India's natural resources on 
sustained basis. 
The organised way of development and realisation 
of the potential of remote sensing technology 
through NNRMS has been justified in a country 
like India and has now become the fore runner in 
using remote sensing data virtually in all 
resources sectors on a need basis. This is the 
key factor for the success and promotion of 
remote sensing in India. 
CRITICAL FACTORS FOR SUCCESS OF 
REMOTE SENSING IN INDIA 
Over the last 50 years India has seen a number 
of organised efforts to grow and apply science 
and technology to national development. Today 
the relevance and importance of the remote 
social well being is well accepted by all 
sensing technology to national economic and 
sections of scientific community. 
The prime factor for the success of remote 
sensing is its application on a need basis for 
natural resources management. For example 
India's arable land is 141 million hectares and 
the India's economy largely depends on 
agricultural production. More than 70 per cent 
of India's population depend on the two staple 
cereal crops viz., wheat and rice. The timely 
information on crop acreage/production estimate 
on these food crops before the harvest of the 
crop is of extreme importance for the nation to 
make an organised food distribution system which 
will aid in greater food security. 
PROBLEM ORIENTED APPLICATIONS OF 
REMOTE SENSING 
The advantages of remote sensing technology in 
obtaining timely and spatial information quickly 
over convention methods has made it easier to 
tackle with problem areas to yield highly 
significant results with problem specific 
solutions. The prime problem areas where the 
remote sensing is being employed are: 
* Agricultural crop acreage and production 
estimation for the major crops - data on 
temporal condition and spatial extent. 
* Agricultural drought assessment at dis- 
trict level for crop condition assessment 
* Crop acreage for oil seed crops like 
ground nut and cotton 
* Applications of remote sensing for cash 
crops like tobacco and tea 
279 
* Forest cover monitoring 
* Wasteland identification 
Ground water potential zone mapping 
* Agro climatic zones characterization 
through nation-wide land use/land cover 
mapping and identification of current 
kharif (July - October) and rabi 
(December - March) agricultural areas. 
* Identification of potential mineralised 
zones 
* 
Flood damage assessment 
* 
Identification of potential fishing zones 
* 
Environmental impact studies 
* Snow melt run-off and forecast of inflow 
of water to the major reservoirs 
For all the above problem areas the expected 
objectives and the level of information that is 
obtainable through remote sensing are clear 
while executing the tasks. 
NATIONAL NECESSITY 
All the issues related to natural resources 
affect national economy and timely solutions are 
needed for undertaking any rehabilitation or 
remedial measures. The use of conventional data 
would not be able to fulfil the requirements on 
a time and cost effective manner. On the 
contrary the use of remotely sensed data in 
conjunction with conventional data sources has 
been found more time and cost effective while 
providing reliable data base. This has been 
widely applied and demonstrated in all the 
resources problem areas in obtaining reliable 
data which has lead to high degree of confidence 
in utilization of information derived from 
satellite data. The experience gained over the 
last decade convinced all the resources managers 
on the validity and efficiency of remotely 
sensed data for the routine resources inventory 
and monitoring. There were several national/ 
regional operational application projects which 
have been carried out on a mission mode to meet 
the end goals of user departments. 
ACCEPTANCE OF REMOTE SENSING - NATIONAL 
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 
(NNRMS) - SPEAR HEADING PROMOTION OF 
REMOTE SENSING 
Realising the potential applications of remote 
sensing, Government of India under the aegis of 
Department of Space has established National 
Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) 
which is a culmination of concerted effort of 
multi-disciplinary, multi-departmental venture. 
The realisation of National Natural Resources 
Management System in the country is preceeded by 
well organised constitution of task forces in 
1983 on various resource themes headed by 
Secretaries to Government of India. The task