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Social GIS for NCT of Delhi - Workers & Non-workers Analysis by Sex and Residence based on 2001 Census Data

Dr. Subhan Khan
Scientist 'F'
Tel: +91- 011-25751758, Fax: +91- 011-25822382 E-mail: subhankhan1@yahoo.com

Gulshan
E-mail: gul_75@rediffmail.com

Deepak Goel
E-mail: deepakgo@rediffmail.com
National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS)
Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg, Pusa Gate, New Delhi - 110 012
Phone: - 011-5751758 Fax: 011- 5822382
Introduction
Delhi, the eighth city presently known as New Delhi was built after the British empire shifted India's Capital here from Kolkata. It is a sprawling metropolis and is treated among the India's fastest growing cities. The problem of rapid urbanization in Delhi is more complex because of spontaneous settlements on account of huge migration of people from rural areas of near by states in search of jobs and livelihood beside it's on rapid population growth. Consequently, the urban development is resulting in major infrastructure bottlenecks and environmental degradation. Problems such as water shortage, vehicular congestion, power brake downs and increasing pollution of various kinds beside social problems like position of different kind of workers are becoming alarming. Such conditions have contributed to deterioration in urban living conditions environmentally, socially and otherwise. The existing trend of urban growth and development in Delhi, if seen particularly in the context of India Vision 2020, points towards grime picture. To understand the complexity of the problem, one has to concentrate on need of social GIS for National Capital Region (NCT), Delhi. For this authentic statistical data on social aspects is required which is vital for all kinds of developmental decision-making. Similarly social resource accounting is needed to have an idea how social policies are affecting the current development trends. Often these issues ignore expenditure to promote the social development. Therefore, collection/collation, integration, mapping of data on social aspects is important to determine the status and to develop a concise set of social indicators for monitoring the effects of development and provide other related information. Further more, access of such information to the public is essential so that everyone interested can know what is happening to the social aspects and what are the factors contributing to it. The remedial measures to improve the social conditions can also be taken more successfully, if a compressive statistical database with due content of social data is available for the NCT Delhi.
The Master Plan for Delhi Perspective 2001 rightly described Delhi as the focus of socio-economic and political life of India and a symbol of ancient values and present aspirations. It is a capital of largest democracy and assuming increasing eminence among the great cities of the world etc. For the planed development of the city Delhi Development Act was enacted in 1957 and the Master Plan for Delhi (1962) was the first exercise in comprehensive planning. The plan was modified and entitled as 'Master Plan for Delhi Perspective 2001 (MPD 2001)'. It has been the frame for guiding developments since then. Preparation of meaningful and effective development plans requires variety of information including social and physical data derived from up-to-date records and maps. The preparation of such database and maps on required scales is, however, a gigantic task. The problem of keeping such database and maps up-to-date is an additional dimension because of the fact that in metropolitan cities like Delhi, urbanization is taking place at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, no single agency has all shorts of data and maps from where any user can access these easily for his/her requirements. In this situation of great influx, meeting data and mapping requirements have become more important. The existing survey and mapping practices have remained almost aloof from modern spatial techniques that are too for social aspects. In India as a whole, whatever modernization in survey and mapping techniques has been taken place, it has remained confined to the big national mapping and data collection organizations like Survey of India and Census of India, thus the benefits of such modernization have not adequately percolated to lower level planning departments. Secondly, such information is not readily and easily available because of organizational mandate and methods of data collection, map preparation and storage. All the downstream organizations, therefore, look forward to and depend on the national mapping and data collection organizations for their data and mapping requirements. The result is that most of the information generated at various levels could not be utilized efficiently. Further, there is a need to develop a methodology for integrating various data sources particularly on social aspects and in a spatial domain for using these more effectively in planning and monitoring. In this paper, an attempt is made to under take an application of social GIS w.r.t NCT Delhi.
The first concern of most of the past studies remains largely on the present and future impact of population growth. This requires collection/collation of base level and time series data on a number of indicators including population, sex ratio, literacy, and different kind of rural and urban workers distribution. Such data would provide a description of the present scene and allow for projections into the near future. Besides, analysis of the existing socio-economic data to ascertain impact of the changes as depicted is to be anticipated. Additional data may also be collected for identification and evaluation of existing and emerging technologies for sustainable urban living depending upon the requirement of the user.
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