Srinagar: Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir Saturday held a daylong conference ‘GIS Exchange Meetup’ on World GIS Day to deliberate on startup opportunities in Geographical Information Systems.
The SKUAST-K Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship (SKIIE) Centre organised the conference in collaboration with Geoinfinity India, a Srinagar-based GIS startup working in remote sensing, GIS, natural resource management, environmental management, etc.
The event witnessed a series of expert sessions, GIS startup founders’ interactions with the students, speeches and technical sessions on the application of remote sensing and GIS in crop insurance, and GIS in agriculture. More than 150 students, startup founder and faculty members participated in the conference.
Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai, who was the chief guest at the occasion, highlighted the importance of GIS in agriculture. Illustrating with examples of various aggregator taxi services, he stressed the quintessential role of GIS service in the present day-to-day life, which he said, has to play an even greater role in future agriculture.
Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) of India, Girija Subramanian, talked about how important role GIS plays in crop insurance. She also talked about the work which AIC is doing in Jammu and Kashmir and the insurance service they may be providing to the farming community particularly the Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS).
Director, Research, SKUAST-K, Prof Haroon R Naik, who is also the director of SKIIE Centre, said that there is plenty of scope for GIS startups in Jammu and Kashmir. He stressed the segmentation of GIS startups including those that will be advantageous for the agriculture sector in particular.
Scientist F, Department of Ecology Environment and Remote Sensing, J&K Govt, Dr Humayun Rashid and former Chief Town Planner, Srinagar, Iftikhar Hakim, also delivered speeches on the initiation of the GIS-based government projects and services in J&K and their relevance in easing the public services.
CEO, SKIIE Centre, Naveed Hamid in his welcome address gave a detailed overview of the program. OSD to Vice Chancellor, Prof Azmat Alam Khan presented the vote of thanks.
Regional Manager, J&K, AIC of India, G Senthil Kumar, held a technical session on role of GIS in crop insurance. MD, Geoinfinity Startup, Baba Abid, and Dr Shabir Bangroo conducted the second technical session on Startup opportunities in GIS and GIS in Agriculture, which was followed by a question-answer session.
Also a booklet ‘Unlocking Opportunities: A Brief Guide to Startup Success in GIS’ authored by Naveed Hamid, Baba Abid and Shabir A Bangroo, and a report on Crop Monitoring of Kashmir Division by KESAR Cell were also released.

KR Desk