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India needs a transformational push in geospatial infrastructure to achieve its economic and national security goals, senior government officials and experts said on the opening day of the GeoSmart India 2025 summit in New Delhi.
The four-day premier GIS conference, hosted by Geospatial World, brought together policymakers, industry leaders and technology experts to discuss the country's growing reliance on geospatial intelligence for land administration, climate planning, telecom networks and sustainable development. Speaking with ANI on the sidelines of the summit, former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said the geospatial sector, which was opened up in 2022, has the potential to bring "huge transformational impact" to India's development journey. He stressed the need for the private sector to take a leading role in the digital twinning of Indian cities. "Today's interaction is very critical because the geospatial sector is opened up in 2022. It has a huge transformational impact, and to my mind, the private sector of India needs to work to do digital twinning of cities," Kant said. He added that he has challenged the industry to ensure that at least one Indian city is completely digitally managed in real time, enabling seamless coordination of water, electricity grids and sustainability systems. He said, "What the new geospatial policy has envisaged, and it's important that the government and the private sector work together to drive that." What private sector doing is critical? We talk about Viksit Bharat, we need transformation at great scale. Data should be open and accessible, machine-readable and real-time. Big companies should not hide data. If you are totally skilled with world-class technology, you will also remain competitive. We must move to make private players equal partners in geospatial sector". Highlighting the urgency of climate action, Kant cited 59 years of climate data showing that over 80 per cent of 2 million deaths occurred due to climate change. Vivek Bharadwaj, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayat Raj, also stressed the importance of geospatial integration for national sovereignty. He said, "One nation should have only one map, which means that India, aiming for its sovereignty, should integrate various geospatial infrastructure and maps of various departments. This is the aim of this conference and also how the common man can easily refer to that map." He added that the objective of the conclave is clear, with several speakers sharing valuable suggestions. "I am confident that this dialogue will prove to be highly successful and meaningful," Bharadwaj said. The GeoSmart India 2025 summit will continue over the next three days, with discussions focused on strengthening India's domestic geospatial platforms amid rising national security sensitivities and the growing need for reliable data-driven solutions. (ANI)
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