Remote Sensing and GIS for rural development

ABOUT THE COURSE: India, being an agrarian nation, has a vast majority population living in rural areas. Development of rural areas is a difficult task due to the complex heterogeneity of the rural landscape and social economic and ecological conditions, and observation data is limited due to cost and logistical factors. Geospatial technologies including Remote Sensing and GIS (RS & GIS) have tremendous potential in the development of rural areas due to its ability in handling large amounts of data, conducting spatial analysis over large areas, and decision-making in a comprehensive and timely manner.The course is aimed to create the required skill set for working professionals, students, and academicians for addressing the challenges in rural development using free open-source software (e.g. QGIS). The topics covers basic principles of RS & GIS and subsequently selected applications of geospatial technology in priority areas including; agriculture, water management, soil conservation, disaster management, and monitoring of rural development initiatives.INTENDED AUDIENCE:Students in Civil Engineering, Rural Development, Earth Science, Geology and Rural development departmentsINDUSTRY SUPPORT: All government agencies/departments related to rural development, water resources, agriculture, soil conservation and disaster management. CSR initiatives of PSUs and the private sector.

Week 1:Introduction to rural development; concepts, issues, and linkages to water and food security Week 2:Introduction to geospatial technology (RS&GIS) and its importance in rural developmentWeek 3:Introduction to open-source software for RS& GIS applicationsWeek 4:Introduction to GIS Part -I (Operations on vector data sets)Week 5:Introduction to GIS Part -II (Operations on raster data sets)Week 6:Digital remote sensing image processing Part -I (Georeferencing of map data, cartographic maps, shape file creation)Week 7:Digital remote sensing image processing Part -II (Digital elevation model, land use land cover change analysis)Week 8:RS & GIS for rural water resources management – (surface water management, groundwater management)Week 9:RS & GIS for agriculture and soil management (farm linkages, irrigation, crop management, and mapping of storage infrastructure)Week 10:RS & GIS application for rural healthcare, education, connectivity, and communication Week 11:RS & GIS for impact assessment of government rural development schemesWeek 12:Applications and examples of RS & GIS for rural development: Selected case studies