National GIS-enabled Land Bank system launched

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal e-launched the ‘National GIS-enabled Land Bank’ system for effective land identification and procurement.
Goyal launched the system during a virtual meeting with the industry ministers of states, UT administrators and senior officers of the central and state governments.

Launching the system, Goyal expressed confidence that other states and union territories will be onboarded by December, 2020.

“He said that this is only a prototype and will be developed further with inputs from states, to make it an effective, transparent mechanism of land identification and procurement,” an official statement said.

As per the statement, the system is being developed by integration of the Industrial Information System (IIS) with state Geographic Information System (GIS) systems.

The project has been launched for six states.
In his address, Goyal called upon the states to collectively work in the spirit of ‘Team India’ to enhance industrial activity in the country, attract investment and provide a better life to 1.3 billion people of India and for better prospects for coming generations.

He said that India has to achieve the target of becoming a 5-trillion-dollar economy in five years and for this, manufacturing has to play an important role, which can provide employment and value addition.

Goyal called upon the states to adopt the ‘Public Procurement Policy – Make in India Order’ issued by the Centre.

He said that it is an effective tool to achieve ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and boost local manufacturing.

The order mandates that ‘No Global Tender Enquiry’ is permitted for procurements of less than Rs 200 crore.

“Bidders with beneficial ownership or belonging to countries sharing land borders with India, will be able to participate in government procurements only after mandatory registration, based on clearances given by the MEA, MHA and procuring ministries,” the statement said.

“Countries where Indian companies face restrictive trade practices, the reciprocity clause may be invoked.”

Furthermore, the minister stressed on developing a single-window system, which could be a ‘one-stop’ digital platform to obtain all requisite central and state clearances or approvals, required to start business operations in India..