New Delhi, February 12, 2015: Rajendra S Pawar, Chairman & Co-Founder, NIIT Group, has been honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award by Geospatial Media, for his decades of service and leadership in helping Geographic Information Systems (GIS) grow in India  for 3 decades.
The Awards were introduced and established by Geospatial Media, to recognize and acknowledge contributions of individuals, institutions and enterprises working toward creating awareness, raising the profile, enhancing utilization and strengthening business opportunities for the geospatial industry in India. This year, the awards were judged by an independent Jury under the Chairmanship of Dr K Kasturirangan, former head of ISRO.
Says Pawar: “I am humbled and honoured to receive this award. It gives me great pleasure to see our efforts of driving GIS proliferation in India over the last 28 years, receive leading industry recognition. Servicing the largest number of users, NIIT has seen GIS evolve into an all-pervasive technology that is helping organizations make informed decisions. Being a part of this journey, has indeed, been a very enjoyable experience.”
Under  Pawar's leadership NIIT has played a pioneering role in building GIS-focused products and services in partnership with the leading global player ESRI Inc, USA. NIIT has developed an extensive range of offerings for the industry. These now constitute the core of several mission critical projects in disaster management, infrastructure, power, telecom, natural resources, and urbanization. GIS is expected to play a key role in laying the foundation for Smart Cities in India.
Jack Dangermond, Founder and President of ESRI adds: “We have been extremely fortunate to have a very strategic partner - NIIT Technologies--  in India led by  Rajendra S Pawar.  The GIS industry in India has grown multi-fold in the last 3 decades; I strongly believe, it is Pawar’s vision, commitment and focus that have played an instrumental role in shaping the GIS Industry."
The not-for-profit NIIT University offers an industry-aligned MTech Program in GIS with support from leading organizations working in the space. The program is designed to serve professional development at the workplace and, hence, is characterized by the pedagogic innovation of Education-Work Linkage.