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other central government departments like
Geological Survey of India (GSI), Forest Survey
of India (FSI), Oil and Natural Gas Commission
(ONGC) have established their own remote sensing
facilities for undertaking their studies.
5. Training: The increased use of remote
sensing lead to the demand on the
availability of trained manpower for various
application areas. The training presently
offered in India is at Indian Institute of
Remote Sensing, Dehra Dun. The Institute
provides training facilities for the resources
areas in Forestry, Geology, Cartography, Soil
and Agriculture, Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing, Urban and Regional Planning and aerial
and satellite data processing. The training
facilities are open to all the organisational/
departmental officials including academicians.
In addition to inhouse training, the institute
also provide Fellowships under SHARES Programme
for the developing nations. Over and above
specialised theme specific training programmes
are also offered under the aegis of NNRMS by
Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Forest
Survey of India (FSI) inorder to cope the demand
on training.
6. Education: With the present status of
operational utilization of remote sensing
it has been widely felt the necessity for
introduction of remote sensing in the education
curricula. As a result, University Grants
Commission (UGC) and Department of Space
together have evolved a remote sensing
syllabus package for introduction at post-
graduate level either as a part or full
paper. Besides this DOS and Department of
Education (DOEd) have together worked out the
guidelines of the syllabus for incorporation at
10th and 11th standards. The percolation
of remote sensing at the school and
university level clearly demonstrates the
efficacy and acceptablity of remote sensing in
all sections of community.
TABLE 1
7. Technology Development & Transfer: While the
increased use of remotely sensed data either
through visual interpretation or digital
analysis techniques, need cost effective tools
for interpretation and analysis. Towards
this several visual interpretation aids
have been developed indigenously and the
technology has been transferred to the industry.
The promotion of remote sensing enterpreneurship
made way for the easy availability of remote
sensing tools on a more cost effective way. In
addition the development of PC based Image
Processing Systems (SIPS and ISROVISION) have
together broadened the applications of remotely
sensed data for digital analysis.
OPERATIONAL PROJECTS
The acceptance and success of promotion of
remote sensing in India is primarily due to the
widespread usage of remotely sensed data for
various national level operational projects.
Several projects have been carried out at
various levels; national, regional, local, case
wise R&D studies have together provided immense
impact for the policy planning viz., strategic/
tactical/technical levels. The information flow
generated through satellite based sources is
dual in nature both in the vertical direction
right from working level to bureaucratic levels.
On the other, there is an horizontal transfer of
technology in specified application areas. The
applications of remote sensing is mainly either
diagnostic or solution specific in nature for
example; the National Agricultural Drought
Assessment and Forecasting during Kharif season
at district level is of diagnostic in nature
while providing information for strategic
planning in order to take remedial measures.
The various projects undertaken in India which
have direct impact on national development have
been shown in Table 1 clearly depicting the
positive points for promotion of remote sensing.
MAJOR REMOTE SENSING APPLICATION PROJECTS
Project Level of Planning Horizontal/ * D/S
Name information purpose Verticle
Forest Cover Mapping National Strategic Verticle D
Wasteland Mapping District Technical Horizontal D
Landuse/ Landcover District Tactical Horizontal D
Mapping
Agricultural Drought District Technical Verticle D
Assessment
Ground water District Technical Horizontal S
Fishing Zones Regional Technical Horizontal S
Crop Acreages Regional Technical Horizontal S
Snow-melt Regional Technical Horizontal S
Flood damage Regional Tactical Horizontal S
Mineral targetting Case study R&D TD S
Integrated studies District Technical Horizontal S
Soil Salinity District Technical Horizontal S
Grassland mapping Region Tactical Verticle D
* D = Diagnostic
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S = Solution specific