In addition, almost all the states have set up their own remote sensing cells. There are five more regional remote sensing service centres (RRSSC) in Bangalore, Nagpur, Kharagpur, Jodhpur and Dehra Dun. The Space Applications Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad, an ISRO agency, pursues research and development programmes in the area of space technology and its applications, designing satellites and payloads.Ĭomplementing NRSA's functioning is the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) at Dehra Dun, where Indian and foreign personnel receive training in utilising this technology. NRSA is responsible for acquiring, processing and disseminating data obtained from satellite and aerial remote sensing data, and for the training of user-scientists in various applications. To take care of the operational needs of remote sensing, the NRSA was established in 1975 at Hyderabad. The DOS, together with the ISRO, is the nodal agency for establishing an operational remote sensing system in India. Several agencies are involved in implementing the national remote sensing programme. As a result, Mathur noted, 'The cost of development itself will go down.' However, once the entire system is operating efficiently, it would vastly improve the scope for agroclimatic zonal planning, which involves planning for a particular region keeping in mind its geographical and climatic characteristics. But, so far, progress has been slow, says N K Mathur, joint advisor in the Planning Commission, because of the difficulties encountered in pooling data and information from various departments that have hitherto functioned autonomously. The NNRMS expects to integrate remote sensing information with such other data as socioeconomic indicators and Plan targets. The two IRS satellites form the core of the National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS), a programme that uses data provided by remote sensing satellites for mapping, monitoring and managing natural resources under the aegis of the Department of Space (DOS). These satellites have helped in reducing India's dependence on foreign satellite services and products. This was followed by launching IRS-1B on August 29, 1991, again with Soviet help. India's first, indigenous, remote sensing satellite was named Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1A), and launched with the assistance of the erstwhile Soviet Union on March 17, 1988. The Indian remote sensing satellite project, including IRS-1A and IRS-1B, has cost more than Rs 106 crore to date out of a sanctioned budget of Rs 115 crore. N V Madhavan Unni, who heads the forestry division of the Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), comments, 'Today, India's capacity to process, analyse and interpret remote-sensed data, is comparable to the best in the world.' Remote sensing technology has developed rapidly since India started receiving data from LANDSAT 1, launched in 1972 by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 'The Indian space programme,' Space Commission chairman U R Rao once observed, 'has made great strides in using the sophisticated remote sensing technology to maximally benefit the grassroots of the nation.' The Indian space programme currently costs more than Rs 500 crore annually. In a world wherein space technology is the preserve of rich nations, India is one of the few developing countries to have its own space satellite systems and ground facilities, and the expertise to analyse data and apply it. How is remote sensing accomplished? By using satellites to study conditions on the earth's surface from afar and without establishing direct contact with it. Providing such relatively easy access to vast amounts of data will be of immense help to the country's planners. In time, it could do away with conventional methods of data collection involving laborious field studies and replace dusty files in the large cupboards of officialdom with computer tapes, discs and video monitors. REMOTE sensing is slowly changing the contours of planning in India.

Satellite eyes