Page 1 of 1

IIRS - Serving The Nation For 40 Years




Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun (formerly known as Indian Photo Interpretation Institute or IPI) has recently completed 40 years of its collaboration with International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (better known as ITC), the Netherlands. ITC's vision of building human resource for remote sensing applications to aid in the economic development of the "third-world" nations played an instrumental role in the establishment of IIRS in India.

History The legacy of IIRS' association with ITC dates back to 1940s when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India. Nehru developed close associations with the then Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Willem Schermerhorn. Later, during a visit to the Netherlands in 1957, Nehru visited the ITC campus to meet his former colleague, Prof. Schermerhorn, who was the then Rector of ITC. He was so impressed by ITC's vision and achievements that he proposed to build a similar institution in India to cater to its growing developmental needs. Nehru's dream could be materialized only after his death. Following the collaborations between the governments of India and the Netherlands, IPI was established in 1966 in Dehradun.

After the launch of the first remote sensing satellite LANDSAT in 1972 by NASA, there was a growing realization that remote sensing was destined to play a key role in natural resource management in the future.

Thus, IPI was renamed as Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) in 1983. Since then, IIRS has become a Centre of Excellence for capacity building in earth observation applications and geo-information science in India and Asia.

40 Years and Beyond: IIRS & ITC Collaboration In Capacity Building
IIRS is also deeply committed to promoting awareness and expertise in remote sensing and GIS to decision makers, technicians, and managers. During the workshop, titled "40 Years and Beyond: IIRS and ITC Collaboration in Capacity Building", organized by IIRS during 28-29 November 2006, many important personalities waxed eloquent about the association of IIRS and ITC.

Dr. V.K Dhadwal, Dean, IIRS, told the gathering that the institute began its journey with education and training in the field of remote sensing and geo-informatics and later ventured into research studies. He informed that IPI began with a capacity to train only 27 students but today IIRS trains nearly 330 students annually.

Prof. Martien Molenaar, Rector, ITC, gave a brief overview of ITC's collaboration with IPI spanning over four decades. Over the years, with the advancement in remote sensing technology, IIRS has expanded its horizons to include geo-informatics and a number of research programmes.

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan (Director, National Remote Sensing Agency, India) acknowledged the vision and contribution of the people who brought about this fruitful partnership between ITC and IIRS and nurtured it over the years. IIRS has trained about 6000 professionals till date, many of whom are working at senior levels in the government and private organizations.

Future
Today, the growing reliance on computer-aided learning has propelled IIRS to take bold initiatives like EDUSAT and Internet Client Server. IIRS plans to link eight to ten universities/institutions in the first phase through EDUSAT. The Internet Based Certificate Program (IBCP) would be launched soon to reach out to people who are spread over a large geographic area.

The association between IIRS and ITC will continue to benefit everyone who is working on remote sensing and geospatial technologies in the years to come.
Page 1 of 1