In India, the direct benefits from space technology and the applications driven approach adopted by the Indian Space Remote Sensing Programme have firmly established its immense potential to cater to the needs of national development. The evolution of National Natural Resource Management System (NNRMS) towards fully harnessing the potentials of space remote sensing and the development of the series of Indian Remote Sensing Satellites, besides establishment of necessary ground based data establishment of necessary ground based data reception processing and dissemination systems as well as remote sensing facilities at National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Regional Remote Sensing (Service Centres (RRSSCs) for efficient and effective analysis of remotely sensed data are the major steps accomplished in pursuit of this goal. With the establishment of Remote Sensing Applications Centres in several States under many Governmental organizations, remote sensing today has come to stay as an integral part of the national development efforts in the vital sectors of agriculture, hydrology, geology, forestry, oceanography, mineral resources and distaster management like drought, flood, cyclone, earthquake, landslides crop pests, forest fires etc., thus touching every facet of national development. Today, India has acquired a strong self reliant base to harness the full potential of this technology and as a result, the national objective of achieving sustainable development at microlevel is being addressed through the integration of remotely sensed data with other relevant collateral information to arrive at locale specific, environment friendly, economically viable and culturally acceptable treatment packages (Rao, 1991 and Jayaramansn, el at 1993).
Space and Ground Segments
The Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-A), the first in the operational series of Indian Remote Sensing Satellites launched in March 1988,