Addressing the 26th Congress of the Indian National Cartographic Association in November 2006, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said that one of the six missions most relevant for India Vision 2020 was to make “available high resolution digital maps produced in India and placing the maps on a website thereby creating a virtual Earth for India for easy access to its citizens in a time bound manner with suitable policies and adequate security mechanism”.

Recent news reports suggest that the government is worried about ready access on the internet of high resolution satellite images of sensitive locations within the country which have the potential to be used by terrorists against the country. Clearly, a suitable policy backed by proper law is a critical security requirement.

Because America monopolises the internet, it is proposed that the ministry of external affairs should hold bilateral discussions with the US and that the ministry of information technology should hold meetings with the concerned private commercial companies. However, success can be met only if all American private satellite operators/ distributors respond to our concerns and the US administration agrees to establish a monitoring and enforcement mechanism. It is also proposed for India to seek an international protocol on security concerns arising out of earth observation satellites and an international agreement to make mandatory prior permission of sensed states.

Proposals are easier made than achieved. Diverse political ideologies and power positions have made consensus in negotiating international law on remote sensing almost impossible. Competing arguments ranging from the policy of ‘prior consent’ to the ‘open sky’ doctrine have informed debates thus far.

... contd.