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Key to development – One map for India

As a technology, GIS is a mature wine. In terms of expertise and capabilities, Indian geospatial industry is in the forefront. But in terms of awareness, in terms of availability of data and development of applications for the development of the country, India is trailing behind. To overcome this impediment and to bring in awareness about the significance and the potential geospatial technology holds, Geospatial Today, in association with CNBC TV 18 has brought top decision makers in the government and industry leaders on to one platform – The Geospatial Roundtable – to explore the scope and use of geospatial technology, key drivers and challenges, policy issues, economic and social benefits it could bring, current scenario of the industry and its future. The panel had GIS experts and people working for the cause of GIS from the government and industry. The panel discussion was led by Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal. Others eminent personalities on the panel included Dr Shailesh Nayak, Director, INCOIS, Rajesh C Mathur, President, ESRI India, Dr BVR Mohan Reddy, CMD, InfoTech Enterprises Ltd., Atul D Tayal, JMD, Rolta India, Dr Mukund K Rao, CWO, Navayuga Spatial Technologies Pvt Ltd and Alok Upadhyaya, Head – Infrastructure & MRTS, SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd. Suresh Venkat of CNBC TV 18 anchored the discussion. Here is the GIS Round Table in verbatim.

Suresh Venkat: Let me throw the gauntlet to the minister himself first. He talked about public private partnership, management of remote sensing agency, special purpose vehicle. My question to you is simple. Why should the government be in this business at all? Shouldn't it be completely left with the private sector?

Kapil Sibal: This is not like information technology. All information and data in GIS is land based. There are lots of areas in this country like Jammu and Kashmir and North East, several sensitive installations in the country, information about which should not necessarily be released in the public domain. There are considerations. So, I don't agree with you. Secondly, data on the ground has to be affirmed and verified by the government of India unlike information technology, where data is free flowing. This has to be verified by us because the consumer must get is an accurate description of the data on the ground. This requires a regulator and this can't be done by industry. For these two reasons, we have to be in the business of regulation not in the business of business. We have to be on the fringe, not at the heart of the industry, ourselves doing what the private entrepreneurs can do much better.