The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT-R) claims to have developed a satellite-based online information system and mobile app for crop monitoring at district level in Uttarakhand. The electronics and communication engineering department of the institute, which developed the system, says that they may be able to extend the online platform country-wide in a year or more after uploading data from other states. "The online information system is called 'satellite-based agriculture information system' (SBAIS). The website will soon be in the public domain for general users," Dharmendra Singh, professor of microwave imaging & space technology and the principal investigator (PI) of the project, told TOI. The institute has also developed an app for mobile users to access the online information system. The state agriculture authorities have expressed satisfaction over the development of the online information system as it can allow them to inspect land for settlement of crop insurance claims. "To settle cases of crop insurance of farmers, we have to gather data from our personnel time to time but if entire information of vegetation in every district is available online, the actual damage would be assessed faster," said JP Tiwari, chief district agriculture officer, Haridwar. RailTel, a Miniratna enterprise of Government of India, has reportedly provided a funding of around Rs 80 lakh to the institute for the project. The institute has been working on the project for two years and has collected data on various agricultural factors beginning from 2011 and including all 13 districts of the state. The salient features of the project, under two main modules, are monitoring crop health district- and tehsil-wise, and image classification of vegetation of a particular area. Source - timesofindia.indiatimes.com