New York [US], August 4 (ANI): India's new permanent representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a pioneer in utilizing Geospatial Technology for Governance.

At the United Nations outreach event for the Second Geospatial World Information Congress, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj noted that Geospatial location plays a very important role in the evolution of human civilization. "The Geospatial industry offers the next Big Opportunity," she said.

Geospatial technology uses tools like GIS (Geographic Information System), GPS (Global Positioning System) and Remote Sensing for geographic mapping and analysis.

She also apprised the gathering that India will be hosting the Second UN World Geospatial Information Congress in October this year in "beautiful Hyderabad."Indian envoy to UN Kamboj noted that India's geospatial economy is currently valued at more than USD 5 billion and is likely to grow to 11 billion USD by 2025.

The Ambassador said that the National Mapping Organization and Survey of India are more than 250 years old and the latter is the oldest Cartographic Organization in the world.

Hailing India's string Remote Sensing Programme, envoy Kamboj said that the Programme has triggered the evolution of the Indian Geospatial Ecosystem.

"Geospatial technology has become one of the key enablers in socio-economic development by enhancing productivity, efficiency and cost-effectiveness as important instruments of the sustainability of everything."Appreciating India's governance both at the state and centre level, she stated, "The key growth driver for the geospatial market in India is the thrust provided by the Central and State government programs.""Accurate, real-time Geospatial information combined with other data, like demography, healthcare facilities, and vaccination centres has immensely helped us to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic emergency effectively."She thanked the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UNGGIM) for reposing "faith in India by entrusting the responsibility of organizing the Second UN World Geospatial Congress from October 10-14 2022 in Hyderabad."Notably, UN-GGIM is an initiative of the United Nations to foster the global development of geospatial information.

"India has always believed in the philosophy that the world is One Family Vasudaiva Kutumbakam. Thus we are pleased to host the UN World Geospatial Information Congress and determined to make it a huge success, with the active support of all member states."The mandate of the Digital India initiative of the Government of India is to digitally empower society. It envisages the facilitation of location-based/GIS-based decision-making for planning, e-Governance and better utilization of resources available. (ANI)