A Regional Meet on “Leveraging Space Technology Applications for Viksit Bharat 2047” for the North Eastern Region (Group RT-NE) as part of preparatory meet for the National Meet 2.0 was organized at Guwahati on 24th June 2025. The programme was jointly organized by ISRO and NESAC in collaboration with Assam State Space Application Centre (ASSAC). Hon’ble Minister of Science &Technology (S&T), Revenue, Disaster Management (DM) and IT, Govt. of Assam Shri Keshab Mahanta graced the programme as the Chief Guest. Shri Som Kamei, Planning Adviser of North Eastern Council (NEC), Shri Pallav Gopal Jha, Secretary to Govt. of Assam, S&T Dept. and Dr. J.V. Thomas, Director, Earth Observation and Disaster Management Support Programme Office (EDPO), ISRO were Guest of Honours. Around 190 delegates representing 39 line departments of NE states, scientists from NESAC and state space application centres attended the programme.
In his inaugural speech, Hon’ble Minister of S&T, Revenue, DM & IT praised and highlighted the role of NESAC in utilizing space technology for sustainable development of NER as well as in Assam. He emphasized that the deliberations of the meet will lead to identification of cutting edge space technology applications for Viksit-NER and Viksit Bharat-2047.
The first technical session, chaired by Shri Pallav Gopal Jha and co-chaired by Dr. K.K. Sarma featured two keynote addresses, by Dr. J.V. Thomas spoke on “Indian Space Programmes with emphasis on future Earth Observation Missions,”followed by Dr. S.P. Aggarwal on “NESAC – Enabling Space Applications in NER.” Presentations on ISRO’s geo-portals viz., Bhoonidhi, Bhuvan, VEDAS, and NeSDR were made by Dr. P. Srilaxmi (NRSC), Shri Abhisek Chhari (SAC), Shri Pankaj Bodani (SAC), and Shri Nilay Nishant (NESAC).The second technical session was chaired by Dr. S.P. Aggarwal and co-chaired by Dr. B.K. Handique, Head, PPEG, NESAC, included presentations from representatives of all eight NER states on space applications in their respective regions. Shri Vinay Piliwal, Deputy Director, IN-SPACe, concluded the session with a talk on the “Role of NGEs in leveraging space technology applications in NER.”The concluding session was moderated by Dr. S.P. Aggarwal. There were 3 panel members; Shri P.L.N. Raju, Director, ASSAC, Shri Biraj Das, Senior Superintendent of Police, Radio Communications, Govt. of Assam and Shri Tanung Jamoh, Director, S&T, NEC who have placed their views on ways to implement the different projects/ requirements placed by different state governments during the deliberations. The regional meet was ended with a vote of thanks from Dr. S.P. Aggarwal, Director, NESAC
Hon’ble Minister of S&T, Revenue, DM and IT, Govt of Assam addressing the gathering
Lighting of lamp by Hon’ble S&T Minister, Assam Shri Keshab Mahanta
Delegates attending the programme