Institutionalising ease of access to geospatial data will empower domestic industries: Harsh Vardhan

The new policy of institutionalising ease of access of geospatial data will empower domestic industries and surveying agencies, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.

Addressing media here, the minister said: "PM Swamitva Yojana is a shining example of the use of geospatial data to empower our rural population. Increased participation of private sector will augment the growth of new technologies, platforms and application of geospatial data contributing to the country's progress."

The union minister said that it will help drive efficiencies in agriculture, enhance our emergency-response capabilities while also facilitating rise of new-age industries.

The minister also summarised the budget announcements related to Science and Technology.He said that Rs 50,000 crore has been allocated in the budget over the next 5 years for the National Research Foundation.

He mentioned the announcement of the launch of Deep Ocean Mission with a budget outlay of Rs 4000 crore as a key feature of the S&T related budget announcements.He said that an allocation to National Language Translation Mission (NLTM) in the budget was done to enable the translation of the wealth of governance and policy-related knowledge into many regional languages.

"Launch of Hydrogen Energy Mission and a new Public Sector Unit called the New Space India Limited under the Department of Space are other key S&T related budget announcements, " he said.

"We have increased the budget allocation this year by 30 per cent for the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Earth Sciences put together as compared to the revised estimate of last year," he added.

The total budget estimate for MoST and MoES for 2021-22 is Rs 16,695.36 crore.

( With inputs from ANI )