Geospatial Technologies for Resources Planning and Management

lt;p> Dr. Chandra Shekhar Jha has an M.Sc and Ph.D. (1990) degree from the famous Ecology School of BHU, Varanasi. Currently, he is an Outstanding Scientist and Chief General Manager, Regional Centres, National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad. He joined the then NRSA in 1990 and has been contributing significantly in Geospatial Technology and applications majorly for the sustainable management of forest and environmental resources, especially on advanced methodologies for ecological monitoring, development of national databases, carbon cycle research, and ecological modeling. Dr. Jha's contributions for the National Assessment of Biodiversity Characterization at the Landscape level are significant. He also led the team for the Alert system development for National Forest Fire and annual Forest Loss.

As a Coordinator of ISRO's National Carbon Project (NCP), Dr. Jha leads a large team of research scientists addressing the various components of carbon and water cycle using multiple remote sensing sensors, a network of eddy covariance flux towers, and process models.

Currently, Dr. Jha focuses on Geospatial applications for rural development and spatial planning. Dr. Jha has guided 10 Ph.D. theses under his supervision. He has also served large numbers of National Committees of Govt Of India Ministries. He is the recipient of several national and international awards and honours.

Prof. Ashish Pandey did his B. Tech. in Agricultural Engineering from JNKVV, Jabalpur and obtained M.Tech. in Soil and Water Engineering from JNKVV, Jabalpur. He received Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering from IIT Kharagpur. Prof. Pandey joined IIT Roorkee in 2007 and is presently working as Professor and Head at the Department of WRD&M, IIT Roorkee. His research interests include Irrigation Water Management, Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hydrological Modeling of Watershed, Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Water Resources. He guided 10 Ph.D. and 85 M.Tech. students at IIT Roorkee. He published 184 research papers in peer-reviewed and high-impact international/national journals/seminars/conferences/ symposia. He has also co-authored a textbook on "Introductory Soil and Water Conservation Engineering".

Prof. Pandey also served as Guest Editor for two issues of J. Hydrologic Engineering (ASCE). He is Editor, Indian J. Soil Conservation. His laurels include Eminent Engineers Award-2015 given by the Institute of Engineers (India), Uttarakhand State Centre, DAAD scholarship and ASPEE scholarship. He was offered the prestigious, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers, Japan, and BOYSCAST fellowship of DST, GOI. He is a Fellow member of (1). Institution of Engineers (India); (2). Indian Association of Hydrologists (IAH) and (3). Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS).

Dr. V.M.Chowdary did B. Tech. (Agricultural Engineering) from A.P. Agricultural University, Hyderabad and M.Tech from G.B.Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. He obtained Ph.D in the field of hydrological sciences from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India and carried out JSPS Post-Doctoral research at Kyoto University, Japan. Currently, Dr. Chowdary is Director, MNCFC, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi. His research career for more than 2 decades in ISRO as a Scientist focuses on the application of state-of-the-art geospatial technologies for land and water resources management with an emphasis on agricultural water management, hydrological modeling, non-point source pollution studies, regional-scale water budgeting, Integrated watershed management, Soil erosion modeling, environmental monitoring, and GIS-based DSS with a multidisciplinary approach. He developed a unique geospatial modelling

Geospatial Technology for Geomorphology Mapping and its Applications.- Geospatial technology for estimation of geomorphological characteristics of an ungauged watershed.- Long Term Analysis of River Migration Pattern using Geospatial Techniques - A case study of upper part of the Ganga River, India.- Space borne Scatterometers for understanding the large-scale land hydrological processes.- Wetland Classification and Monitoring Using Time Series Earth Observation Data and Machine Learning Algorithm: A Case Study in Upper Ganga River Stretch.