Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh today jointly launched Climate Resilience Information System and Planning (CRISP-M) tool for integration of climate information in Geographic Information System (GIS) based watershed planning under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA along with Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth in the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office through a virtual event.

Addressing the launching event, Shri Giriraj Singh said that the CRISP-M tool will help embed climate information in the GIS based planning and implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. He further appreciated efforts of British Government and all the stakeholders who supported Rural Development Ministry in developing the tool and hoped that the implementation of CRISP-M will open up new possibilities for our rural communities to deal with the issues of climate change. This tool will be used in seven states where in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Government of UK and Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India are jointly working towards climate resilience. The states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Rajasthan.

During the joint launch of the CRISP-M tool, Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth in the UK Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office, applauded India’s commitment to advancing climate initiative through Mahatma Gandhi NREGS programme. In his address Lord Tariq mentioned that “Reaching right across India, the scheme is having a positive, life-changing impact. It is helping poor and vulnerable people to cope with climate change and protecting them from weather-related disasters. The impressive new tool wecelebrate today, CRISP-M, is the latest example of this great work.”

Shri N. N. Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India said that the impact of grassroot planning, implementation and utilisation is visible in terms of enhanced groundwater recharge, increased forest coverage and increased land productivity in many impact studies of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA across India.

A panel discussion was also held on the occasion, in which Mr. Ben Webster, Head of Secretariat for the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership, hosted at the ‎International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – IFRC, Ms. Clare Shakya, Director of Climate Change Research Group, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Mr. Kamal Kishore, Member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Mr. Shantanu Mitra, Head, Infrastructure and Urban Development, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), India and Dr Alok Choudhary Senior Principal Scientist & Head GIS&IP division, Madhya Pradesh Council of Science & Technology (MPCST)discussed the portal and its relevance at length.

Shri Rohit Kumar, Joint Secretary (RE), during his closing remarks said that the Ministry of Rural Development have already prepared GIS based plans for 1.82 lacs Gram Panchayats out of total of 2.69 Lacs Gram Panchayats of India, which is around 68%, with the help of Remote Sensing Technology, based on Ridge to Valley approach. Now, with the launch of this CRISP-M tool, the integration of climate information in GIS based watershed planning will be possible and that would further strengthen planning of climate resilient works under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS.

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APS/IA/JK