Scindia unveils five-point space technology roadmap for Northeast, proposes ‘NER-Shield’ disaster platform.

NESAC to drive village-level mapping, disaster resilience, natural capital accounting and geospatial startups as Centre pushes technology-led development in the region.

Shillong, June 5: Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday unveiled a five-point strategy to transform the Northeast into a technology-driven development hub, including a proposed digital disaster resilience platform called NER-Shield, village-level resource mapping, and a framework to measure the region’s natural wealth.

Addressing the 13th meeting of the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) Society in Shillong, Scindia said space technology, geospatial intelligence, drones and digital platforms must play a central role in improving governance, disaster preparedness, agriculture and infrastructure planning across the Northeast.

Among the key proposals announced were high-resolution mapping of village resources, continuous monitoring of forests, rivers and wetlands through satellite technology, promotion of geospatial startups, creation of the all-hazard digital twin platform NER-Shield, and development of a Northeast Green Wealth and Natural Capital Accounting framework.

The minister said the initiatives align with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of technology-led development and Home Minister Amit Shah’s call for a future-ready Northeast.

The meeting reviewed NESAC’s progress since its previous session, with officials reporting that 50 projects have been completed and 78 are currently under implementation across sectors, including agriculture, disaster management, weather forecasting, communications, natural resource management and infrastructure development.

Scindia highlighted the potential of geospatial technologies in strengthening the Northeast’s high-value agricultural sectors, particularly agarwood cultivation. He said satellite-based mapping and traceability systems could help farmers improve productivity and gain better market access.

On disaster management, he advocated hyper-local multilingual warning systems integrated with telecom networks and expanded satellite-based monitoring of landslides and other natural hazards, a critical issue across the Himalayan and hill states of the region.

The minister also called for greater use of drone technologies for development activities and suggested linking NESAC’s UAV capabilities with livelihood-generation programmes, including the Centre’s Namo Drone Didi initiative.

The meeting was attended by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, Minister of State for DoNER Sukanta Majumdar, ISRO Chairman Dr V. Narayanan and senior officials from the Centre and Northeastern states.

Officials also reviewed the long-term “Vision NESAC” roadmap, which seeks to transform the Northeast through space-enabled governance and innovation, progressing from data analytics and smart services towards an autonomous digital ecosystem.

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