|
Remote sensing course to make life easier for babu's
Pune, April 19, For mantralaya babu's and district collectors to wildlife wardens scouting sanctuaries in Maharashtra, Pune will now drill the tools and the lingo of Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing for years a package that spelt a journey to Dehra Dun's Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) or Hyderabad's National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA).
How digitised GIS maps with a little help from satellite imagery can back the local politician to win over his vote bank, the entrepreneur in Konkan plot the exact site for prawn cultivation, forest officers pinpoint water holes in protected areas, or make life digitally simpler for census enumerators, will be unravelled in the Science and Technology Park (STP) Pune's classrooms at PARAM terminals from May at 50 per cent rebate for student amateurs.
Faculty and software from IIRS Dehradun, an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) body, will conduct six certificate and diploma courses in GIS and remote sensing at the University of Pune's upcoming Geomatics centre at STP this year - in marine sciences, marine resources, forestry and ecology, human rehabilitation and resettlement. A humanities background will not stop entry to these classes.
Exclusively for decision-makers in sarkari offices, an intensive training module, in co-ordination with YASHADA, will soon call for participation from district collectors to IFS officers.
''Despite GIS equipped government offices, remote sensing data has very few takers in the state, for want of trained manpower,'' STP director Rajendra Jagdale told The Indian Express. ''Appointment of a full-time faculty is underway and STP has allotted Rs 6 lakh for the Centre.''
The first batch for a 14-hour and 15-day intensive certificate course in May has no vacancy. Three certificate courses completed in succession will lead to a diploma.
Following the IIRS-STP Pune tie-up, recognition from the National Natural Resource Management System (NNRMS) is in the offing, and more plotters, scanners, computers will be in place by May 10, says Jagdale. The Geomatics Centre will conduct training, research and projects, like a proposed zoning atlas for the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to decide suitable industrial sites on the basis of GIS data covering land topography, soil, ecology to socio-economic patterns. ''A proposal to create a GIS disaster management plan for the Krishna Valley Development Corporation is also pending,'' says Jagdale.
Targeting Pune's 8000 international students, a three-month beginner's module aims at middle-level administrators unaware of employment opportunities in GIS and remote sensing. To check classroom costs, the STP will use freeware Linux-based GIS software.
In August, the country's first techno-management courses for venture capitalists, young entrepreneurs and scientists will kick off at the STP. To be conducted twice a year for batches of 20, the intensive courses will cover ''how to identify innovative ideas and finally transform them into commercially viable products.''
|
