Technology
Restrictions on Survey of India Maps: Logic and Rationale
Another unreasonable restriction is on the depiction of coordinates, particularly on maps published by private agencies. This antediluvian restriction indicates that the powers are entirely unaware of modern technology. The hand held GPS instrument, hardly larger than an amateur 35-mm camera, gives the position of the holder in latitude and longitude in degrees and minutes correct to the third place of decimal, or 1/1000th part, of a minute. It means that the position is correct to half a metre at the Equator. The GPS instrument works on a system of triangulation; it locks on four or more satellites of the hundreds orbiting the earth to give the exact position. This instrument is in wide use not only by surveyors, geologists and other scientists abroad but also by the general public such as sailors and motorists who use it to chalk out their route and locate themselves on the high seas.
Constrains in depiction of contours is another restriction in publication of maps. The authorities perhaps are not aware that the height of any object either vis-a-vis ground level or MSL can easily be computed from aerial photographs and satellite imageries.
All SOI toposheets come stamped with the injunction "NOT FOR EXPORT". This ridiculous rule is meaningless in view of the above stated fact that these sheets published by foreign agencies are freely sold abroad. Also any one can put a sheet in an envelope and post it abroad as every piece of mail is not opened for inspection. In this connection I will recount another experience. I had gone to the Map Sales office of SOI in Connaught Place, Delhi, to buy some sheets. A foreigner also bought some maps, and after he left, I asked the salesman "what if the foreigner took away the maps even after the endorsement `Not for Export.’ The salesman shrugged his shoulders and said that it was no concern of his as it was the responsibility of the Customs Department to check this. Government of India Notification No. 227 Customs F.No.405/3/80-Cus.III, dated 29.13.1980 prohibits the export of these maps. I asked a very senior retired officer of the Customs Department about this. He was not aware of the notification and it is also evident that most customs inspectors are also unaware of it. He remarked that it is impossible to check thoroughly the baggage of every departing passenger and admitted that rarely the inspector bothers to check printed papers. So, how is the government going to enforce this rule?
Coming to the matter of enforcement of these rules in the country itself. Knowing the standard of integrity of a government employee, it is just possible that you borrow just for a little while a restricted map from the custodian of maps in a government office by paying a tip, take it to the nearest photocopying shop and have a copy made! I will not be surprised if somebody tells me that it has already been done.
The futility of all the above restrictions is brought home forcefully when you find that topographic sheets of all parts of India, including Himalayan regions, are available from several shops and agencies all over the World. One such agency, the Stanford Map Centre of London supplies any map that you may want. The U.S. Army Service publishes for sale gridded toposheets of not only India, including Himalayan areas, but of the whole world on 1:250,000 scale and contour interval of 500 feet. This is not at all shocking; what is shocking is the myopic vision of the Survey of India and the government in imposing all sorts of restrictions which are senseless and absurd on all counts. A thought occurs to me that map producing agencies abroad must have had access to Survey of India maps for they themselves did no ground surveys. Of course they must have heavily relied on the vast amount of remote sensing data that hundreds of orbiting satellites provide.
Detailed descriptions of the Himalayan glaciers and their printed maps have been published on various scales, including fairly large scales, abroad. Some examples can be given here. "Map of the Western Karakoram Glaciers" on the scale of 1:500,000 published by Institute of Geology, University of Milan, Italy (1964); "‘Orographic Map of Northwest Karakoram" on the scale of 1:450, 000, Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, Zurich (1901). Why go so far? Kenneth Mason published glacier maps of the Karakoram in GSI publications: "The Representation of Glaciated Regions on Maps of the Survey of India" (Professional Paper No.25, 1929); "The Glaciers of the Karakoram and Neighbourhood" (Records vol. 63, pt.2, 1930).
The depiction of the coast lines of India and island territories is considered so sacrosanct that publication of maps of India on even the smallest scale, as in geography test book, after the approval of the Surveyor General requires a printed statement under each map thus: "The territorial waters of India extend into the sea to a distance of twelve nautical miles measured from the appropriate base-line". This may perhaps be an international requirement, but consider this. Admiralty maps essential for navigation and prepared by an international organisation are freely sold at all port cities by establishments dealing in nautical supplies. They are on large scale to aid in navigation and show not only the coast lines but full bathymetric details of the continental shelf and beyond. And, apparently the foreign publisher has not bothered to take the permission of the Surveyor General. The Geological Survey of India has also published some marine maps showing bottom sediments on 1:500,000 scale.
Publication of maps depicting inaccurate external boundaries and coast-line of India is tantamount to questioning the territorial integrity of India, and is a cognisable offence under Section 2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1961. But the Government of India or the Survey of India have no control on the international publishers of maps and atlases. Such publications on import in India are stamped on the relevant pages with the legend " The External Boundaries of India as Depicted in the Maps are Neither Correct nor Authentic ". No prosecution here!
Publication of maps of India in any form, even in text books of geography, needs the permission of the Surveyor General of India. Matters become complicated if the shore line or international boundary is to be depicted. As pointed out earlier, the maps of such areas fall under ‘Restricted’ category. There are other hassles in publishing maps. Defence installations or vital civil areas, features like dams and reservoirs, etc., may not be shown on maps of scales larger than one million without prior permission of the Ministry of Defence. These restrictions only show government paranoia because satellite imageries make a mockery of such restrictions as discussed in this article and should be known even to the military brass.
I come to another point here. One can see a board on small reservoirs and practically on every bridge, however small, on public highways which says: PHOTOGRAPHY PROHIBITED. Pray, who is there to ensure that a camera-toting passer-by does not click a picture of the feature? These boards are a subject of derision by everyone. Foreign geologists in the field when they come across such boards hastily conceal their camera, but soon realise that these are harmless idiosyncrasies of the powers that be. Are they the product of bureaucratic paranoia?
NRSA
Now I come to the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad, another government organisation carrying out similar work, but with the most modern outlook, proving that saying that ‘the right hand does not know what the left is doing" because NRSA is as different from SOI as cheese from chalk.
Among the goals of the Indian space programme is of harnessing space technology for applications in the areas interalia of remote sensing. Among the several satellites launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) we may consider here two, IRS-1C and IRS-1D, for our purpose. In striking contrast to SoI the NRSA has published full details of these satellites and the facilities they offer in beautifully produced handbooks.
The cameras mounted on them are capable of photographing the Earth in several spectral bands, and their spatial resolution is 5.8 metres (IRS-1C) and 5.2-5.8 metres (IRS-LD) at nadir. This means that objects as small as a truck on the ground can be identified. Incidentally, some of the American satellite cameras are reputed as capable of resolution as small as 10 cm, which means that the number plate of the truck can be made out. Contrast this with the largest SOI maps on scale 1:25,000, which at best can identify a small village with a dot! Among the promotional material that NRSA freely distributes in India and abroad is a satellite view of Varanasi on the scale of 1:50,000 on which the main features of the holy city are clearly visible. Another view of Bombay on 5.8 metres resolution mocks at the restriction on coastal areas by SOI..
While the SOI prohibits public sale of its ‘Restricted’ maps and export of all its topo. sheets, satellite photographs of the whole country, and of areas beyond our borders, are freely sold in India and abroad by NRSA. From its basic data NRSA can provide any one print from the scale of one million to the scale of 1:12,500. So, where does SOI stand? Since it covers territories of’ many other lands its products are in demand from all over the world, and in this NRSA gives a healthy competition to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America. Moreover, the NRSA imageries make a nonsense of the SOI restrictions on depiction of strategic and other sensitive installations, simply because the imageries do not make any distinction between installations of any kind, sensitive or otherwise.
Conclusion
From the foregoing there is just one conclusion possible: The Survey of India should make all its maps freely available and should get rid of all restrictions on their sale and publication.
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