Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan today said the new Geo Spatial guidelines will act as a catalyst in achieving Prime minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and goal of a five trillion dollar economy.
Speaking to media after releasing the guidelines, Dr Vardhan said startups and mapping innovators will be trusted to self-certify, apply good judgement and be relied upon to demonstrate adherence to guidelines. He said, this policy will enable Indian innovators to create substantial advances in mapping ultimately making lives easier and empowering small businesses. The minister said, maps and accurate geospatial data are crucial for national infrastructure projects such as linkages of rivers, creation of industrial corridors.
DONER minister Dr Jitendra Singh said this is a historic decision to unshackle the geospatial sector by deregulating map-making in the country. Dr Singh said, map is recognised as an instrument for development rather than a tool for securing the country. He 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.
AIR correspondent reports, with the advent of publicly available geospatial services, a lot of Geospatial data that used to be in restricted zone will be freely and commonly available.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed the decision of liberalising the policies governing the acquisition and production of geospatial data. In his tweet message after the release of the new geospatial guidelines, Mr. Modi termed it as a massive step towards realisation of the vision of building an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. He said the decision will provide huge impetus to Digital India.
The Prime Minister added that the reforms will unlock tremendous opportunities for country’s start-ups, private sector, public sector and research institutions to drive innovations and build scalable solutions. He asserted, this will also generate employment and accelerate economic growth in the country.