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Date: 24 July, 2026, 14:30 hrs (IST) Webinar Flyer
Topic: From Satellite-Based Irrigation Monitoring to AI-Driven Irrigation Intelligence
The shift from satellite-based irrigation monitoring to AI-driven irrigation intelligence marks the evolution from data collection to actionable decision-making in agriculture. Traditional satellite monitoring uses multispectral and thermal imagery to map crop health, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration, giving farmers a bird’s-eye view of where fields are under or over-watered. AI-driven irrigation intelligence builds on this foundation by ingesting satellite data alongside weather forecasts, soil sensors, and historical yield patterns, then applying machine learning to predict crop water demand, detect anomalies like leaks or stressed zones, and automate precise irrigation schedules. The result is a closed-loop system where raw satellite pixels are transformed into real-time commands for smart valves and sprinklers, optimizing water use, reducing costs, and improving yield while making every drop count.
Welcome Address: Dr. R.K. Gupta, Secretary General, ICID
Dr. R.K. Gupta has more than 38 years of extensive experience and specialization in Water Resources Management, Hydraulic Engineering, and River Basin Development. His expertise spans various areas like flood management, water cooperation, planning & design of water resources schemes, including Dam Safety Management. Additionally, he has significant experience in Hydropower Development, including the design and construction of tunnels and other underground works.
He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from Delhi College of Engineering, a Master of Technology in Applied Mechanics from IIT Delhi, and both an M.Sc. and PhD in Hydraulics from IHE, Netherlands. Dr. Gupta began his career at the Central Water Commission (CWC), a premier Indian government organization in the water sector, and eventually served as its Chairman, a position equivalent to the Secretary to the Government of India. His extensive experience and academic credentials have established him as a highly respected figure in the Indian water resources management domain.
Opening Remarks: Dr. Marco Arcieri, President, ICID
Dr. Marco Arcieri is presently the Secretary General of the Italian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (ITAL-ICID). In his professional career spanning more than 25 years, he has contributed to various studies and research in agricultural water management, land and water resources development, irrigation and drainage, flood prevention, drought monitoring, forecasting and mitigation. With his wide expertise, he has visited around 40 countries in order to implement International research projects and to attend Advanced Professional Specialization Courses. From 1996-2002 he worked as a Researcher with the Department of Crop Yield University of Basilicata, Italy as a researcher, working on aspects connected with Crop Yield and Productivity. From 2002-2006, he attended the Department of Crop Systems, Forestry and Environmental Sciences of University, Italy, wherein he completed his Ph.D.
His activity has been focused on the study of social and economic characteristics of agriculture in irrigated areas, in order to provide technical assistance to farmers on irrigation, within the framework of Research Projects co-financed by EU, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Public Works. He has been a member of ICID since 2008 and was elected as Vice President of ITAL-ICID in 2011. He is being appointed by ICID as the Permanent Observer to UN Agencies FAO and IFAD. Since April 2017, he is the representative within the Global Framework on Water Scarcity (GFWS) now WASAG - an International initiative coordinated and fostered by UN FAO to cope with water scarcity under the threat of climate change. He is also a member of the Interim Steering Committee and Focal Point for the Working Group on Sustainable Use of Water Resources of WASAG led by ICID. Dr. Arcieri is also a member of the FAO-WWC driven initiative Water Accounting in Agriculture and Head of the Regional Node for the Mediterranean Area within the International Research Program for Irrigation and Drainage (IRPID) Program of ICID.
In addition to the above, he was Vice President of ICID for the term 2018-2021, and also served as Chair and Member of some of the ICID Working Groups, to name a few, viz. Permanent Finance Committee, Chair of European Regional Working Group, Working Group on Water Food Energy Nexus (WG-WFE-N), Working Group on History of Irrigation, Drainage and Flood Control (WG-HIST), TF-GPP, TF-ILMDM etc.
SPEAKER
Shri Abdul Hakeem K
Mr. Abdul Hakeem is a Civil Engineer with a specialization in Irrigation Water Management from the Centre for Water Resources, Anna University. He joined the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Hyderabad, as Scientist/Engineer “SC” in 1994, and currently serves as Scientist/Engineer “G” and Deputy Director, Bhuvan Geoportal & Web Services Area. In this role, he leads a team of engineers in the development, operations, and innovation of ISRO’s flagship geospatial platform Bhuvan, which provides nationwide access to Earth observation data, applications, and services.
Over a career spanning more than three decades at NRSC, Mr. Abdul Hakeem has been deeply engaged in research and development of geospatial applications for natural resources mapping, monitoring, and management. He has successfully executed over 50 projects across water resources, agriculture, and infrastructure domains, contributing significantly to the development of advanced methodologies for water resources management through geospatial technologies. His areas of expertise include hydrological modelling, irrigation management, decentralized planning, water informatics, and cryosphere studies.
As Deputy Project Director under the National Hydrology Project (NHP), he has played a key role in developing techniques for actual evapotranspiration estimation, hydrological drought assessment, and web-based hydrological modelling. His scholarly contributions include 2 book chapters, 17 peer-reviewed journal publications, and 32 conference papers. For his outstanding contributions, he has received three ISRO Team Excellence Awards for projects including SIS-DP, India-WRIS, and Cartosat-based irrigation assessments. He was also conferred with the National Geospatial Leadership Award under National Geospatial Awards 2025 by IIT-Bombay.
Mr. Abdul Hakeem is a Life Member of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, the Indian National Cartographic Association, the Indian Society of Systems for Science and Engineering, and the Society for Small Satellite Systems. He is also a Fellow of the Indian Water Resources Society and the Institution of Engineers. He has represented ISRO at international conferences in Tunisia and Nepal.
For more details, refer
1.https://in.linkedin.com/in/abdul-hakeem-k-nrsc-isro
2. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=WkQRCRUAAAAJ&hl=en
