It is my great pleasure to be with you this evening and deliver the Todar Mal Memorial Lecture. I regard myself as part of you. Surveying, mapping technology and the like are equally my concerns. Those of you who come from Kerala, the state to which I belong, would know that my last name Menon stands for the persons concerned with property ownership, surveying and boundary demarcation. So I have an association with all those activities which concern you as cartographers.
Apart from that, the Survey of India, as a part of the Department of Science and Technology, was under my charge for some time. In that capacity, I tried to integrate a variety of activities in the fields of micro-electronics, computers, remote sensing, national natural resource management system and planning. Maps are required practically for all purposes. Map making is emerging as an important field of modern day life. This skill formation is a direct part of geographic learning. Geography, with cartography as one its methodologies, is an extremely important discipline.
Cartography is much more than simple preparations of maps. It has a human aspect as well. Every map has always a message to convey, especially for those involved in the process of planning. Thus, cartography is the most vital input for planning.
Landscape is dynamic. Maps of Chandigarh prepared ten years ago may look obsolete today. These require constant revision. Maps, prepared in time series, reveal the dynamism of landscape. Here I may emphasise the importance of geography for humankind at large. This discipline has a direct relevance for planning, which is a space bound enterprise. It has not been accorded its due place in spatial planning. A time has come when this distortion must be corrected. Geographers play an important role in highlighting changing space-time relationship through the medium of cartography.
Change is visible in all spheres. Population is growing fast. Human needs are increasing. Pressure on energy and food resources is intensifying. Coal, a fossil fuel, and hydel power continue to be the chief sources of energy. Nuclear power is equally important. When fossil fuel is used as energy, it releases carbon. Carbon dioxide is known as green-house gas. It is leading to global warming. The entire scenario is changing. In this world you are not dealing with a static situation. It is not a simple situation but most complex one. All this increases the responsibility of geographers. They have to represent graphically this highly complex web of phenomena. For this, they have to interact with inter-related disciplines of physics, geology, chemistry and others. The coordinating role of geography remains indispensable, however.
We are not dealing with natural phenomena alone but also with their implications for human phenomena. For example, a lot of migration is taking place from rural areas to urban places. In 1950, there were only two cities in the world, with a population of about 35 million. The ten largest cities of the world would include Calcutta and Bombay in India. All this can be better understood and analysed with the help of maps.
What is the output of a city? A lot of garbage. How do we dispose it off? Keeping in view the amount of garbage being generated by increasing population of growing cities, it seems that soon there would be no space left for normal garbage disposal.
By 2025, two-thirds of the world's population would be having an urban residence in coastal cities such as Tokyo, New York and Sau Paulo. Planning of physical services, such as electricity, roads, hospital and educational institutions will be a tremendous job. The task can be done better with the help of cartography. It can indicate what should be done where.
We need to provide all inputs to policy makers, planners and administrators. Cartography becomes handy in this respect. For maps, adequate database is required to be built up. Here information collected from satellites is of special significance. At the same time, computers are essential for digitising the satellite imageries.
This congress must deliberate as to what are the cartographic needs of India. I would go to the extent of emphasising that we require a 'Cartographic Mission'. The requirements of an effective and efficient administration are to be kept in view. There is need to map the country extensively. We need doing land use mapping, waste land mapping, drought prone area mapping and so on. We need maps as a base for our plans and as solution to complex problems. Cartographers should no longer remain on periphery. They must be the most vital part of any inter-disciplinary team of specialists dealing with the complex situations emerging on the world map. Geography must be at the centre stage of any multi-disciplinary team involved in the process of policy formulation and decision making. Geography must get its rightful place, and in its own turn, it must promote cartography.
Thank you
