ISRO eye on tribal plan in Red zones

The Planning Commission has sought the help of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in monitoring the panel’s Rs 14,000-crore plan for Naxal-affected tribal and backward regions, which got Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s in-principle approval on Friday.

Updated on: Sep 4, 2010, 01:21:45 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Planning Commission has sought the help of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in monitoring the panel’s Rs 14,000-crore plan for Naxal-affected tribal and backward regions, which got Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s in-principle approval on Friday.

According to panel sources, ISRO will provide satellite pictures of the work undertaken under the plan, which is likely to be considered by the cabinet in a fortnight.

"The satellite data can help us in finding whether the work for which the money is given is actually carried out or not," a senior panel functionary said.

With ISRO's help, the panel will also identify areas where special projects for water harvesting or improving agriculture productivity can be implemented. "The information provided with ISRO will be shared with people at the ground level to prepare a scientific plan that is workable".

This is the first time the plan panel has sought ISRO's help to monito central government programmes. The integrated action plan for tribal and backward areas has a different approach, as most of the money would be provided for the project planned at the district level. It contrasts with most government schemes where the money is provided for plans devised at the state or the central level.

The panel has proposed to provide Rs 2,400 crore directly to 60 districts identified as beneficiaries under the plan. These Naxal-affected districts are in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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