Technology
Publications of incorrect maps by certain agencies is not tenable, but is there any system which facilitates easy accessibility of correct maps?
The recent conflict in Kargil has made many of us aware of the tiny size of Kashmir with its north-west chunk being occupied by Pakistan and east in the control of China. Confusion and contradictions about the boundaries of India, however, is not a recent phenomenon. There have been several instances when international boundaries of India have not been depicted in conformity with Survey of India’s maps.
Maps by WWF International
The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) International has been incorrectly depicting India’s political boundaries in Jammu & Kashmir. According to a report published in The Hindustan Times on July 24, 1999, maps published in several WWF publications show large chunks of Indian territory in Jammu & Kashmir as part of Pakistan. Some of these publications include a recent WWF report ‘Bears in the Wild’ by the International Secretariat; ‘A biodiversity assessment and gap analysis of the Himalayas’ which depicts parts of many Indian states in the Himalayan region to be outside the country; ‘Global 200 Ecoregions Map’ where major part of Arunachal Pradesh is shown as territories outside the political boundaries of India while the ‘Forest Cover Map of India’ where parts of Jammu & Kashmir, shown with dotted lines, have been captioned as ‘boundaries in dispute’.
The Indian Express fined
In another case, a Delhi court slapped a fine of Rs. 1.5 lakh on the Indian Express for publishing a map of the country which was "not in conformity with the map of India". The case was registered against the Indian Express (Bombay) Ltd., Mr. Goenka, Ms. Kapoor and three others on a complaint by Deputy Secretary Home-III, National Capital Territory of Delhi two years ago. The map which accompanied an article on the king of Bhutan was simply to show the geographical location of Bhutan and there was no deliberate intent, the Indian Express counsel pleaded. In fact, the newspaper had published an unqualified apology immediately after the error was noticed.
The Stance of PCI
The Press Council of India (PCI) has asked the media to remain vigilant against incorrect depiction of the map of India in newspapers and reports as it involved the territorial integrity of the country. The appeal comes in the wake of growing instances of publication of maps of India depicting incorrect boundaries in newspapers either with news reports, articles or in the advertisements released by commercial establishments. Publication of erroneous maps of the country is punishable under the Criminal Law (amendment) Act.
What does the Media Say?
The general public has been kept ignorant of the mapping technology as would be noted in the absence in the country of maps of all sorts (guide maps, road maps, city traffic maps, etc.)- even Indian News Media are poor users of maps of all sorts, writes Sanjib K. Ghosh in GIS@development (May-June ‘99 issue).However, when we interacted with some of the media persons on this issue, the general observation is that the media does want to publish correct maps of India but at times it faces the problems of accessibility of the correct maps. The Survey of India asserts its copyright on its maps. If the publishing agency wants to publish a map say, tomorrow morning, should it write to Survey of India for its kind permission to publish the maps? In the absence of a system that enables access of the maps, users have no other choice but to use the maps available at various internet sites, Encarta, or other CD encyclopedias provided by the west, which at times depict India’s international boundaries not in conformity with Survey of India’s maps.
Why not Survey of India puts the map of India with correct international boundaries on internet on its website (if it has, any) to avoid these problems. If any publishing agency and for that matter any other user wants to download the map it can do that. There may not be much problem in implementing this idea as we are not suggesting something very innovative or new. Other countries such as US and UK are already doing that. For example, one can down load the maps of US from the site www.usgs.gov and of Great Britain from the website www.ordsvy.gov.uk. Maps of Ordnance Survey, Britain National Mapping Agency are available in EPS, TIF, PDF and GIF formats.The media considers the publication wrong maps by various agencies as extremely unfortunate but the solution lies not in punishing them but in evolving a system that facilitates easy and fast access of the required maps to the users.