Ayon Kumar Tarafdar GIS Development, India ayon@GISdevelopment.net

The cases of actual utilisation of geospatial information in planning and development process have been only handful. This paper attempts to delve into the Indian set-up and bring out an opinion of how possibly the present policy frameworks affected information flow and its tryst with development.

Relevance of information in ‘collective decision-making’
Development strategies always have a collective ‘well-being’ rather than an individual ‘well-being’ at its core. So any planning process or strategies taken by any organisation (State or Corporate) need to have a strong sense of rationality. While decentralisation is a ‘process’, which enhances rationality, ‘information’ is the important ‘tool’ that makes this happen. Spatial or geographic information is a very important component of ‘information’ as a whole when it comes to development planning. In developing countries, the domain of ‘development’ and of ‘technology’ - more specifically geospatial information and communications technologies - are conceptually complimentary but practically yet to be fused. In India, a vast amount of geographic data and accurate maps exist. However, very few people have access to it as it remains locked in the hands of the experts or specialised departments. The cases of actual utilisation of this information in planning and development process have been only handful. What is the reason behind such a scenario? While one key reason for this is the lack of awareness about the available tools, perhaps a larger reason lies in the policy framework of the land. This paper attempts to delve into the Indian set-up and bring out an opinion of how possibly the present policy frameworks affected information flow and its tryst with development.

Spatial information and its tryst with Indian ‘Policy’
India has a rich history of mapping and generating geographic information. The Indian geodetic control network is perhaps one of the best in the world. The geodetic data, collected through centuries of dedicated efforts including the Great Trigonometrical (G.T.) Triangulation Network of India has resulted in a huge repository of data of the country, lying with a 230 old premier mapping agency – Survey of India (SoI). Other than the detailed topographic data, there are the Satellite Survey Control Network, the High Precision, Precision and Secondary Levelling Network, the Laplace Stations Network, the Gravity Stations Network, the Tidal Stations Network and the Geomagnetic Stations Network.

The organisations with a mandate
There is large number of organisations that use geographic data on a regular basis for their work and also have the mandate to prepare relevant maps. Forest Survey of India, Central Water and Power Commission, Directorate of Mining and Geology, Geological Survey of India, Defence Organisations, Soil Survey Department, Mineral Corporations, Indian Bureau of Mines, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Atomic Mineral Division, Indian Space Research Organisation, National Remote Sensing Agencies, are some of such mandated organisations. Other than these, the University Departments of Geology, Agriculture, Geography, Sociology, Archaeology, Research Organisations dealing with Earth Science and related subjects, Planning Departments, Statistical Institutes, Environmental Organisations, are key users of such data. But is that all? We perhaps are leaving aside a much larger proportion of the population, i.e., the common man. Common man referring to the ones engaged in private sector and civil societies who do not belong to the government departments holding the key to such data. The question is, how do they get access to the data and what about the data they produce.

In essence, a huge amount of maps or related data for the country till date is restricted for the common man, or subject to multiple clearances. The history behind this can be traced back to the Colonial British Government in India who introduced the code of security by a rule that surveyors of SoI should treat their work as top secret. However, things are different now, except the restriction policy.

The restriction policy
According to the prevalent policy of restriction of maps and toposheets, all topographical and geographical maps of areas (of about 80 km) between the delineated line, shown on the ‘Index to Toposheets’ published by the Survey of India, and the land border, and also of similar maps of Bhutan and Sikkim, and similar maps of the outlying islands viz, Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Island comprising Laccadiv, Minocoy and Amindivi, on scales of 1:1 million and larger, are restricted and their sale, publication and distribution are governed by separate set of rules. This was laid down in the late 1967 and further amended in the early 1968 by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Hence, in actuality, some 227 out of 385 toposheets remain restricted. In area terms, only about 43 percent of India is un-restricted. For the rest of the maps, application has to be made on a special form obtainable from Survey of India and issue of such maps is subject to series of conditions mentioned in the form. In 1971, clearance of Ministry of Defence was made compulsory for issue of restricted maps to private individuals, organisations and commercial firms. Not only that, it was also a practice that persons receiving ‘restricted’ maps have to submit an annual certificate of safe custody of such maps.