Concerns have been raised over the country’s defence security following the launch of a pilot project by the European Space Agency (ESA), Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) and German artificial intelligence (AI) firm Marple to monitor Indian organic cotton farms remotely through satellite. 

In a statement on June 6, GOTS said it had launched the world’s first “new demonstrator project” which aimed to show the potential for remote satellite monitoring of organic cotton cultivation systems. 

The concern over the project is that the proposed satellite remote survey will cover critical areas that are important to national security, especially since the remote monitoring will be done in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

GOTS response

Sources in the remote satellite monitoring sector said no foreign company can undertake any satellite monitoring project in India without the Government’s permission. “Even Indian firms have to take permission from the Government for such projects,” said a source in the sector for over two decades. 

Asked if permission has been sought for the remote satellite monitoring project in India, Jeffrey Thimm, Project Manager at GOTS, said his organisation had “informed the Ministry of Agriculture of this and other projects relating to organic cotton in India, and they have shown interest in collaborating”.

Emails to the Ministry of Agriculture and Surveyor General of India, who permits such a survey, didn’t receive any response until this report was published. ESA’s media relations officer said he would get the agency’s response but businessline is yet to get it.

MCF facilities

“The project, to be carried out under ESA’s Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) programme, will train AI to use ESA satellite data to detect cotton fields across India and automatically classify them according to their cultivation standard,” GOTS said in its June 6 statement. 

“GOTS does not have any legal entity in India. Who represented it to obtain the licence?,” the source wondered.

Sources in the satellite monitoring sector said the survey could cover border areas of Kutch in Gujarat, where there are a number of security installations.  

Also, Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal and Hassan in Karnataka, both cotton-growing States, house master control facilities (MCF) that monitor and control all the geo-stationary satellites of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 

Satellite monitoring policy

Asked if the Indian Government had approved the remote satellite monitoring of Indian organic cotton farms, Thimm pointed to the country’s policy on remote-based satellite monitoring. 

The policy says it will enhance the capability and capacity to utilise the remote sensing technology with private participation and enable ease of data access and provision of services by private entities to users under simplified authorisations and procedures.

But remote satellite sector sources pointed out that the policy also says, “the Government of India has, however, reserved its right to monitor and control the imaging and observation obligations and dissemination of sensitive data in case of national security and/or international obligation and/or foreign policy.”  

GOTS said it has requested the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Agency (APEDA), the nodal agency monitoring organic farming and exports in India, for collaboration on projects related to cotton, “but it has not yet come to fruition”, he said. 

Thimm said the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil), which is developing “Kasturi cotton”, is supportive of the initiative and is “eager to collaborate”.

Google mapping

Also, India’s national Geospatial Data guidelines has negative lists that would be specific to very sensitive attributes and care has been taken to minimise restrictions to boost the ease of doing business.  

“The rules and regulations we have on remote monitoring by satellites are nowhere near as comprehensive as the maritime law.  In this segment, the technology has outpaced the law,” said S Chandrasekaran, a trade analyst who tracks the organic farming sector closely.

Though remote satellite monitoring sector sources said some could point out at Google’s satellite mapping, key defence areas are blacked and given to ensure the country’s security.

“Google displays its data publicly. But the ECA, GOTS and Marple is a customised private data in which there is no transparency and there is no guarantee that the country’s security is compromised,” the remote satellite monitoring source said. 

Results by year-end

GOTS said the project will make an innovative approach to integrate standardised yield metrics, which will enable GOTS to generate realistic estimates of organic cotton yields in specific areas. GOTS said the survey will be done using Marple’s Cotton cultivation remote assessment software (CoCuRA) that was “successfully piloted in a feasibility project in Uzbekistan in 2021. 

The pilot project will be carried out across the country and results will be available by the end of the year. It is being co-financed by GOTS and ESA, in collaboration with Marple GmbH, which developed the CoCuRA (Cotton Cultivation Remote Assessment) software with ESA BASS and successfully piloted it in a feasibility project in 2021 in Uzbekistan.

 GOTS said the project’s “anticipated” impact extends beyond identifying certified organic cotton fields. “It is expected to also empower GOTS to recognise cotton fields that have not yet obtained organic certification but possess the potential for a seamless transition to organic cultivation, thanks to their utilisation of traditional and ecologically friendly farming practices,” it said. 

This would enable GOTS to bring a greater number of farmers – particularly those of a smaller size – into the certified organic sector and supply chains, creating new economic opportunities for small-scale farmers and their communities while also helping the textile sector to meet growing consumer demand for organic cotton.  

Charges against GOTS

Sources in the remote satellite monitoring sector also pointed to allegations that GOTS is facilitating collecting numerous social data through inspection and certification agencies, which could be “used for social engineering and against national integrity”.  This is because a large number of tribal farmers are involved in cultivating organic cotton.  

A source in the organic farming sector said a foreign non-governmental organisation had recently funded another frontal organisation in Indore, Madhya Pradesh via external commercial borrowings.

Chandrasekaran said APEDA had detected frauds in organic cotton cultivation over the last two years but it failed to effectively enforce organic textile standards. “GOTS is now trying to take advantage of this,” he said. 

The organic farming sector sources wondered if a situation had been created for a satellite survey.  

“Lack of government regulations in organic textiles  and recognition of foreign private standards have compelled the market to  foreign agencies.  Though we recognise the integrity issues, there is a delay in implementing organic aadhar, which could have mitigated the risk,” Chandrasekaran said. 

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW