THE ALIGARH PROJECT

For practical planning and sound plan management, the primary requisite is extensive and reliable information on a variety of indicators. These basically include information on the socio-economy, demography, economic services and natural resources, at village-level resolution. The National Informatics Centre, through its DISNIC-PLAN project being implemented throughout the Country, has been engaged in collection and processing of information on the first three indicators. The identification of a Remote Sensing Applications Centre for Resource Evaluation and Geo-Engineering (RSACREG) in the Aligarh Muslim University marked NIC's first step towards the development of a system to provide information on natural resources. We present a profile of the Aligarh Project.

The need for decision-support technology at the micro-level took on new meaning with the Seventh Five Year Plan laying overwhelming emphasis on micro-level planning. It was soon realized that preparation of a micro-level plan, either for a village or a cluster of villages, would require the support of a comprehensive socio-economic-cum-natural resources database. Sectoral data on natural resource endowments in the fields of geology, geomorphology, landuse/landcover, water resources, soil resources, waste land, fisheries, forestry etc., at village-level resolution, became essential for application in development planning and the decision-making process.

The emergence of the Geographic Information System of National Informatics Centre (GISNIC), and the establishment of NICNET facilities at the district level paved the way for the development of an information system on natural resources.

The RSACREG at Aligarh was to undertake the pilot project Natural Resources Informatics and Land System Studies; the experience gathered from which would be applied in implementing similar projects all over the Country.

The Natural Resources Informatics Project, under the District Information System programme of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), envisages the development of information systems/databases on natural resources. This will be done using NICNET facilities, and with the active involvement of various Central and State Government agencies such as the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), State Remote Sensing Applications Centres, Geological Survey of India (GSI), FSI and SOL. Research institutions involved in resources evaluation at the grass-root level would also participate in the project.

In the Aligarh Project, as it is known today, this primary objective was split up into a set of more specific objectives which included:

  • data collation on various natural resources files from different data-generating agencies;
  • identification of information gaps in natural resources files, and primary data generation for the district of Aligarh through cost and time-effective techniques of remote sensing applications. Ground Truthing for certain selected key areas;
  • application of Terrain Mapping Unit (TMU) concept for data capture, and TMU data generation employing photo-interpretation and digital interpretation techniques.

To achieve these objectives a multi-disciplinary team was engaged by RASCREG, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. A computer compatible format was generated for natural resources information of the District. The secondary data available in reports, charts, maps etc. was then processed for storage in the system at the NIC District Centre, Aligarh. The posting of this data in the file structure revealed large gaps in the available information on land system at Aligarh. In order to fill these gaps, primary data was generated using both the time and cost-effective techniques of remote sensing and through the more conventional ground surveys supported by laboratory analysis of the samples.

Achievements of this pilot project in Aligarh include: i. Data collection and generation. The data was then processed and stored in various natural resources files systematically. ii. Integration of natural resources information onto Terrain Mapping Units (TMUs), for the Aligarh District. iii. Propagation and dissemination of research and development work in the field of Natural Resources Informatics.

The interim performance report of the pilot project was submitted to the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Technology Mission Directorate, Ministry of Rural Development, with the objective of replicating the exercise in other districts.

The work done by the Aligarh Project was demonstrated in the technical exhibition of the National Symposium on Remote Sensing for Sustainable Development organized by the Remote Sensing Application Centre at Lucknow in November, 1992.

That the Aligarh Project has opened up new avenues of development is well-illustrated by what Dr AN Singh of the IRRI, Manila chose to write in the comment book at our exhibition stall:

The Aligarh Project is "A good effort towards utilization of natural resources and socio-economic data. However, it must be replicated in other areas; and with better interactions with similar organization, data availability will be ensured."