That feeling of dread when guests come over uninvited to our homes is all too familiar to most of us. For farmers, unprecedented rainfall is accompanied by that same feeling of dread.

Satellite-based data has been used for many years to map and monitor vegetation across farms and has been valuable in providing insights not only to farmers, but also to commercial farm input companies, academia, and the finance sector.

In India, the agricultural sector employs about 43% of the Indian population, yet it contributes to just 16% of the GDP. This glaring gap gives rise to the question - why have we still not unlocked the potential of the ‘lifeline’ of India?

The satellite image of an “illuminated” India that emerges every Diwali on social media to depict how the whole country was lit up in celebration is all too familiar to most of us. However, the fact that night time lights in satellite imagery are used to imply celebration and jostling social activity leads one to wonder, could this data be used for something other than WhatsApp forwards?