RSTV: SCIENCE MONITOR 20.02.

2021
insightsonindia.com/2021/03/16/rstv-science-monitor-20-02-2021

Insights Editor March 16, 2021

New Geospatial Guidelines:

Geospatial data is data about objects, events, or phenomena that have a location
on the surface of the earth.
The location may be static in the short-term, like the location of a road, an
earthquake event or dynamic like a moving vehicle or pedestrian, the spread of an
infectious disease.
Geospatial data combines location information, attribute information (the
characteristics of the object, event, or phenomena concerned), and often also
temporal information or the time at which the location and attributes exist.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has released new guidelines for the Geo-
spatial sector in India, which deregulates existing protocol and liberalises the sector
to a more competitive field.
The sector will be deregulated and aspects such as prior approvals for surveying,
mapping and building applications based on that have been done away with.
For Indian entities, there will be complete deregulation with no prior approvals,
security clearances and licences for the acquisition and production of geospatial
data and geospatial data services, including maps.
It will help boost innovation in the sector and create a level playing field for public
and private entities.
The easing of norms will greatly help in several sectors that were suffering because
of non-availability of high-quality maps.
The move will unlock tremendous opportunities for the country’s start-ups, private
sector, public sector, and research institutions, to drive innovations and build
scalable solutions.
It will also generate employment and accelerate economic growth.

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 India’s farmers will also be benefited by leveraging the potential of geospatial and
remote sensing data.
The deregulation eliminates the requirement of permissions as well as scrutiny,
even for security concerns.
Geo-spatial data usually involves information of public interest such as roads,
localities, rail lines, water bodies, and public amenities.
The past decade has seen an increase in the use of geo-spatial data in daily life
with various apps such as food delivery apps like Swiggy or Zomato, e-commerce
like Amazon or even weather apps.
There are strict restrictions on the collection, storage, use, sale, dissemination of
geo-spatial data and mapping under the current regime.
The policy had not been renewed in decades and has been driven by internal as
well as external security concerns.
The sector so far is dominated by the Indian government as well as government-run
agencies such as the Survey of India and private companies need to navigate a
system of permissions from different departments of the government (depending on
the kind of data to be created) as well as the defence and Home Ministries, to be
able to collect, create or disseminate geo-spatial data.

Women Excellence Award 2021:

Four young women fellows of National Science Academies have been awarded for
excelling in science and engineering on the International Day of Women and Girls in
Science 2021.
The SERB Women Excellence Award that has been conferred on them provides a
grant of Rs. 15 lakhs for a period of three years to the awardees to pursue their
research ideas.
The award given by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a
Statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) supporting
basic research in the frontier areas of science and engineering, was launched in the
year 2013. It is a one-time award given to women scientists below 40 years of age
who have received recognition from any one or more of the National Academies
such as Young Scientist Medal, Young Associateship, etc.
The for women scientists selected for the awards include Shobhna Kapoor,
Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, working in the
area of Chemical Biology with expertise in ‘Host-Pathogen Interactions and
Membrane Biology, Chemical Biology and Biophysics’, Dr. Antara Banerjee,
Scientist B National Institute For Research In Reproductive Health, Mumbai,
Maharashtra from the Health Sciences area with expertise in Signal Transduction,
Biology of Reproduction and Endocrinology, Dr. Sonu Gandhi Scientist D from
National Institute Of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad from Bionanotechnology
area focusing on Nanosensors, Design and Fabrication of Label-free Biosensors
and Dr. Ritu Gupta, Assistant Professor at Indian Institute Of Technology
Jodhpur, Rajasthan working on Nanotechnology with expertise in Materials
Science, Nanodevices and Sensors, Health & Energy.

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1st Geological evidences of Sadiya earthquake:

Scientists have found the first geological evidence of an earthquake at Himebasti

Village on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, documented by historians
as Sadiya earthquake in history, which is recorded to have caused massive
destruction in the region and almost destroyed the town in 1697 CE.
This finding could contribute to a seismic hazard map of the eastern Himalaya,
which can facilitate construction and planning in the region.Historical archives refer
to often recurring earthquakes along the Eastern Himalaya for which geological
evidence is lacking, raising the question of whether these events ruptured the
surface or remained blind and how they contribute to the seismic budget of the
region, which is home to millions of inhabitants.
Scientists from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), a research institute
under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, carried out
a mega trench excavation at Himebasti village, Arunachal Pradesh, India, where the
most recent event records the imprints of the 1697 Sadiya earthquake and analysed
it with modern geological techniques.
They found the first geological surface rupture signatures in the form of exposed
deposits associated with rivers and streams deformed by a thrust fault along a
Northeast dipping fault zone. In order to constrain the causative faulting event at
this site, the team dated twenty-one radiocarbon samples from the trench exposure.
They also found large tree trunks embedded in the youngest flood deposits at the
exit of the Subansiri River (Sadiya town is located roughly 145 km southeast of
Subansiri river), suggesting the post-seismic aggradation of the river following an
array of aftershocks till six months in an abortive fashion. This work has been
recently published in the journal ‘Scientific Report’.
The study of the earthquake at Sadiya standing on a grassy plain, almost
surrounded by forested Eastern Himalayas on the right bank of Lohit River, adds an
important site to the seismic hazard assessment of the eastern Himalaya, which will
benefit the inhabitants and help in providing better infrastructure across the Eastern
Himalayan foothills which is one of the most densely populated regions in the world.

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