Geographical Information System (GIS) plans for Gram Panchayats

• IAS NEXT, Lucknow
• 22, Nov 2021

Ministry of Rural Development reaches an important milestone with the completion of GIS plans for 2 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) out of 2.69 lakh GPs under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. 

GIS-based planning under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is an initiative of the Ministry of Rural Development which helps the Gram Panchayat to ensure a scientific & holistic approach for planning at the Gram Panchayat level. It is an important tool to ensure participatory planning at the implementation level.

• Contributions of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS have enhanced significantly by using the GIS-Based Planning approach and impacts of which are visible at ground level
• CRISP-M tool will further enable the local communities to understand the impact of changing climate and make smart decisions on them
• Yuktdhara Geospatial Planning portal helps the other Ministries to see the geographical location of planned assets on a map, which integrates planning for works, optimises convergence plans and facilitates effective monitoring.
• The planning of works under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS are now carried out using advanced technologies viz. Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). Leveraged for this purpose is the much acclaimed ‘Bhuvan’ space technology solution from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Geographical Information System (GIS): The GIS is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing the geographic terrain and offers scientific choices of development works suitable to the area. This technology integrates common database operations such as query and statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered by the maps.