Abstract
Annual planning processes followed in India in earlier years attached lesser importance to local bodies such as Panchayat, Municipalities, Blocks and Districts. These processes were not participatory in nature and lack scientific approach which resulted in inadequate achievement of objectives. As a result the concept of Decentralized Planning emerged. The decentralized planning at local level was introduced in the Eleventh Schedule of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. The 73rd and 74th Amendment led to the establishment of Panchayat at village and local self government at block and district levels. The people are now opening up and started taking part in planning process at grass root level. In order to involve the people and make planning exercise more effective, National Remote Sensing Centre (ISRO), Dept. of Space (DOS) have begun activities using GIS and Communication Technology (Geo-Ict). In the present study Jambu, a disaster prone Gram Panchayat of Mahakalpada block of Kendrapara district of coastal Odisha is selected as case study. Thematic information on Land use, Settlements, Infrastructure and drainage have been generated. The findings of the study will be useful for the decision makers at downstream level in planning process. Jambu GP is having an area of 2445.51 hectares. The area is mostly dominated by Crop land (765.23) hectares and other land cover features include Mangroves (541.5 ha), Settlement (294.12 ha), Aquaculture Pond (237.61 ha), River/Stream (174.97 ha), Tank/Pond (0.86 ha), Mudflat (139.77 ha), Plantation (258.06), Scrub forest (7.65) and Sea (8.14 ha). The findings of the study will be useful for the decision makers at grass-root level like Block and Gram panchayat. The findings of the study can be useful for the Coastal managers and decision making authority for proper implementation of Coastal Sustainable goals.