Bihar Tops ISRO's Night-Time Light Atlas

• 31 Jan 2023

Why In News?

On 30 January 2023, two senior ISRO officials said that the report released by the National Remote Sensing Center has claimed that Bihar has now not only come out of darkness but has also become the first among the shining states of the country.

Key points

• The report said that night-time lights in India have 43 percent increased by within a decade.
• Senior officials said there could be three major reasons for the rise in night-time lights, including Saubhagya yojana, Ujjwala yojana and construction of national highways.
• It is known that night light is used by economists to track the economic development of regions around the world.
• last decade (According to 2012 to 2021 prepared by ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) for the Night-time Light (NTL)), Atlas 45% there has been an average growth of at the national level, while in the state of Bihar this increase has been 47.4%. Which are far ahead of other states of the country. This extraordinary achievement of the State is certainly the result of the extensive work done for strengthening and expanding the power sector in the last decade.
• In the big states, this increase in the last decade is followed by Bihar in Kerala by 119%, Madhya Pradesh by 66%, Uttar Pradesh by 100% and Gujarat by 58%.
• Sanjeev Hans, Principal Secretary, Department of Energy and Chairman--Managing Director of BSPHCL, said that the dictal change of lifetime light (NTL) issued by ISRO has been prepared after scientific analysis from 2012 to 2021.
• He informed that the 47.4% growth shown by the State of Bihar clearly shows that power companies are constantly striving for 24×7 power availability in the state.
• The above indices have been prepared by RSC based on data from NASA and National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration. In the NRSC report, scientists have conducted an in-depth study about the change in light at the national level and district level from 2012 to 2021.