Floods are natural risk with a very high frequency, which causes to environmental, social, economic and human losses. The floods in the town happen mainly due to human made activities about the blockage of natural drainage, haphazard construction of roads, building, and high rainfall intensity. Detailed maps showing flood vulnerability areas are helpful in management of flood hazards. Therefore, present research focused on identifying flood vulnerability zones in the Pune City using multi-criteria decision-making approach in Geographical Information System (GIS) and inputs from remotely sensed imageries. Other input data considered for preparing base maps are census details, City maps, and fieldworks. The Pune City classified in to four flood vulnerability classes essential for flood risk management. About 5 per cent area shows high vulnerability for floods in localities namely Wakdewadi, some part of the Shivajinagar, Sangamwadi, Aundh, and Baner with high risk.

Abstract. In India, rapid growth of slums in urban areas, especially in metropolitan cities, has become a major problem for the planners and decision-makers. The slum expansion is mainly due to the rural-urban migration and pressure of the population on un-used, un-protected, and un-suitable public land. It leads to many issues like poverty, unemployment, lack of access to clean water, lack of durable housing, traffic congestion, environmental pollution, insufficient living area, inadequate sanitation, scarcity of land, inappropriate land use, skyrocketing land value and insecure tenure, etc. Planning controls are usually ineffective in slum areas due to lack of timely information and people having little regard for such things in the absence of any other alternative. In most of the municipal bodies, proper updated information/map of slums are not available, which, create a problem in the decision-making process. Thus, there is an imperative need to resolve above-mentioned issues with the help of Geospatial techniques. This paper aims to identify and mapping of slums in Pune City using Geospatial techniques. The slums were identified based on high-resolution satellite images such as Resourcesat-2 (LISS-IV) data with the help of visual interpretation and standard image processing techniques, i.e., image rectification, enhancement, and classification. Afterward, the database was created and labeled with the help of the GIS tool. In Pune, there is around 40 percent of the urban population resides in slums. Such a large proportion of slum population also adds to the burden of already scarce resources and on overall urban infrastructure. The entire slum population of the city was accommodated in a total of 477 slums of which 238 and 239 were declared and undeclared slums respectively. The most of the slums in Pune mainly occurred in the central part due to natural increases as well as migration. But, the peripheral areas it’s happen due to vacant land/open areas along to river, canal, railway line and hill slope. The study reveals that more than 200 slums are located near environmentally sensitive areas and encroachment activities are increased in southern part of the city i.e., Ambegaon Bk., Vithhal Nagar and Warje areas.

The growing demand and competition for water from domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors reached utmost limit. Drainage basins, catchments, and sub-catchments are the hydrological units ideally suited for planning of conservation of land and water resources. GIS techniques are useful for analysis of morphometric properties of any watershad. Morphometric aspects: linear, relief, and areal aspects of Kolavadi sub-watershed of Upper Nira basin were analyzed using spatial tools and arc-hydro tool in Arc GIS 10.3. The bifurcation ratio (2 to 4.5) indicates structural disturbances and mature topography with higher degree of drainage integration. This watershed shows less elongated shape with low relief, moderate to gentle slope, moderate drainage density and highly prone to soil erosion. Techniques used in study and results are useful for planning and monitoring the sub-watersheds for sustainable development.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a relative measure of the country’s life expectancy, literacy, education, and living standards. It is a standard measure of wellbeing, especially of child welfare. The present study is an attempt to bring out the inter-district disparities in terms of human development in Maharashtra, applying the human development index method based on the optimal combination of selected human development indicators. Furthermore, to compare the levels of human development between the different districts through choropleth maps. The result shows that two districts are in the less developed category, i.e., Nandurbar and Gadchiroli, and rests of the 33 districts are included in the moderately high and very high human development group.

The qualitative parameters of development of a quantitatively increasing population for a resource stressed country like India, is dependent on the sustainability of food availability. Agriculture remains to be a backbone of the economy and food supply. Agriculture, however, in many parts of India, even today, remains to be rain-fed. Recent efforts at the government level, Centre and State, have helped to bring a significant amount of land, initially under rain-fed agriculture, to under irrigation of various types. These varied types of irrigation change regionally; on various agro-factors. Source of water resources to be used for irrigation in the respective climatic sub-regions and the subsequent crop cultivated in the respective region are just a few primary factors controlling the effectivity of the type of irrigation method used. Irrigation requires technological inputs, which, in turn, requires financial expenses that need to be under the significant agro-factors mentioned above. Governments at the Centre and State levels; have been continuously making efforts to support irrigation practices through direct and indirect supportive schemes. These schemes have their positive, and at times, negative impact on the local agriculture at a micro-level. Agriculture is a state subject in India. The Centre does provide finance for various agricultural projects as well. Micro-irrigation has been and will play an essential role in the future in India. Ever since 1992, the government has been taking initiatives in micro-irrigation. These have eventually transpired into schemes, i.e., Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) in 2006, later upgraded to the National Mission on Micro Irrigation (NMMI) implemented since 2013-14 and subsequently National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture. The present study is an attempt to evaluate such 'State' (Central and State Governments)sponsored irrigation programs on agricultural practices at a micro level, over a decade (2005-2016). The study area identified for the same is a tahsil in the Ahmednagar district of Western Maharashtra. What is significant is that, the said tahsil Shrigonda; lies in the drought-prone region and that there have been cyclic variations in the rainfall, and the various agriculture crops cultivated through the last decade. State Government-sponsored schemes are seen to have been blended with Central Government schemes by the local farmers to achieve sustainability of crops. The effects of the same, on the cycle of products, is worth an observation.Human factors also play an equally important role while using the developing Technology of micro-irrigation. Farmers try-and-test various crops with the respective Micro-irrigation technique, in the respective agro-climatic regions, particularly when the source of water is not assured in the drought-prone area.  Subsequent allied government schemes (farm ponds), the market value of the product, and perishability or shelf-life of the products also play a significant role in the choice of crop. The success of the micro-irrigation schemes will, however, be dependent on the effective delivery mechanism through close coordination among all the tiers of government and capacity building of beneficiaries.