Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for an institutional approach by the international community to help each other during a crisis. “Global organisations like the United Nations can lead the way in taking resources to the last mile in every region,” he said, addressing the United Nations World Geospatial International Congress virtually on Tuesday.

He said that the Covid-19 pandemic should be taken as a wake-up call and make efforts to take everyone along. Stating that hand-holding and technology transfer are also crucial in fighting climate change, he suggested that best practices could be shared for saving our planet.

Importance of geospatial tech

The Prime Minister said geospatial technology offered countless possibilities, including enabling sustainable urban development, managing and mitigating disasters, tracking the impact of climate change, forest and water management, and food security.

“With the stakeholders of the global geospatial industry coming together, with the policy makers and academic world interacting with each other, I am confident that this conference will help steer the global village into a new future,” the Prime Minister said.

Taking care of the last mile

He cited how India could empower the last person in the last mile in a mission-mode approach through Antyodaya.

“About 450 million unbanked people, a population greater than that of the USA, were brought under banking net and 135 million people, about twice the population of France, were given insurance,” the Prime Minister elaborated.

“Sanitation facilities were taken to 110 million families and tap water connections to over 60 million families. India is ensuring no one is left behind,” he added.

Freedom to innovate

Stating that freedom to innovate was the most important, he said that the Government ensured that the geospatial sector got all the freedom to innovate.

“Collection, generation and digitisation of geospatial data have now been democratised,” he said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW