The Prime Minister of India during his address at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota on June 30, 2014, urged Department of Space to pro-actively engage with all stakeholders to maximise the use of space science in governance and development.
Subsequently, Cabinet Secretary has asked all Secretaries of all Central Ministries/ Departments to assess the current utilisation of Space technology-based tools in their Ministry/ Department and explore new potential application areas. Further, in order to hold proactive interactions with the Central Ministries, 18 expert teams were constituted within ISRO. These teams conducted one-to-one interactions with the Ministries/ Departments and joint action plan on “Effective Use of Space Technology” was prepared with 60 Central Ministries/Departments. About 170 projects across various Ministries/Departments have emerged in the areas of Natural Resources Management, Energy & Infrastructure, Disaster & Early Warning, Communication & Navigation, e-Governance & Geo-spatial Governance, Societal Services, and Support to Flagship programmes.
One day National Meet is being organised on September 07, 2015 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi to deliberate on the action plans of various ministries/departments. Central & State Ministers, Officials from Prime Minister Office & Cabinet Secretariat, Secretaries, Special Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries and Senior Officials of all the Ministries/Departments, Chief Secretaries of all States/Union Territories, Principal Secretaries and senior officials of the State Line Departments and Academia/Institutions and functionaries from Department of Space/ISRO will participate. The National Meet has received overwhelming response and more than 1500 delegates are expected to attend. The National Meet will be inaugurated by the Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog with MOS (PMO) and Cabinet Secretary as the guests of honour.
Nine Theme Sessions viz. Agriculture, Energy & Environment, Infrastructure Planning, Water Resources, Technology Diffusion, Developmental Planning, Communication & Navigation, Weather & Disaster Management and Health & Education are planned. Secretaries of Central Ministries/Departments will present joint action plans on effective utilization of Space Technology to enhance functional effectiveness, facilitate planning and decision making. Chief Secretary of a select State will make a theme-specific presentation in each theme session followed by an open discussion.
A Special Session is planned in the august presence of the Prime Minister, wherein the Chairs of nine theme sessions will present the salient outcomes of the session, followed by presentation by Secretary, Department of Space on the strategies planned to meet the requirements of the Departments/Ministries and way forward.
The Hon’ble Prime Minister will address the gathering at the special session.
The deliberations during the National Meet will lead to wider awareness on use of space technology & applications in governance & development, thrust areas for collaborative research, utilisation of space technology tools to enable functional effectiveness and enhancements required in Space and Ground Segment.
