IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 22, Issue 5, Ver. II (May 2017) PP 45-53 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/0837-2205024553 www.iosrjournals.org 45 | Page Geospatial Analysis of Rural Weekly Markets: A Case Study of Bemetara District of Chhattisgarh, India Ms. Tisha Dey 1 , Dr. A.K Pathak 2, , Dr. N.K Baghmar 3 1 (Department of Geography, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India) 2 (Department of Sci. & Tech., Chhattisgarh Space Application Centre, Raipur, India) 3 (Department of Geography, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India) Abstract: Markets are the most extensive system for exchange and play a dynamic role not only in rural socio- economic development but also carry out the significant role in the regional level of development. The role of markets in rural development planning is very essential. Country like India, the weekly markets are the farmers first contact point with the marketing channels and considered as the nerve centers of economic, social and cultural activities of the rural life. The growth of new market centers always follows the development of agriculture, industries and transportation. Present research work is case study on how geospatial technology helps in rural market analysis. Here Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS all played important role in analysis. All hardcopy data has transferred into GIS platform for various types of analysis. The study area has total 108 rural weekly markets which serve total 700 villages and 721192 rural population of Bemetara district. Nearest Neighbour Analysis has done to study spatial pattern of weekly markets. Based on periodicity markets are also analyzed and un-served area has identified. GIS as a powerful tool helps in various types of overlay analysis which produce fruitful result which is essential for planning and decision making. Keywords – Geography, Geospatial, Markets, Planning, Rural I. INTRODUCTION Geography is a discipline achieving much importance not only in the discipline itself but also in multi discipline point of view. It interrelate many branches which are either directly or indirectly related to the socio-economic activities of a common man. Marketing is a fundamental part of economic geography. The necessity of marketing geography was first pointed out by William Applebaum an American geographer. Markets are the most extensive system for exchange and play a dynamic role not only in rural socio-economic development but also carry out the significant role in the regional level of development. The role of markets in rural development planning is very essential. Country like India, the periodic markets are the farmers first contact point with the marketing channels and considered as the nerve centers of economic, social and cultural activities of the rural life. The growth of new market centers always follows the development of agriculture, industries and transportation. The most effective work has been done by Dixit (1979), highlighted the market centers and their spatial development in the umland of Kanpur. Wanmali (1981) has point out that still the weekly markets can be accepted as central places, as they are ‘fixed’ in space but not fixed’ in time. Hugar (1982) observed the role of weekly markets in the development of rural areas of Gadak taluk. The role of markets in rural development planning is the need of the hour to study. Therefore, the academicians, planners and social scientists use these periodic markets in formulating their regional development strategies as nodes or hearts of diffusion of development impulses. These nodes are created functional landscape features which have been imposed upon the evolved periodic markers Mukerji (1988). Saxena (2004) analysed the role of market towns in regional development of Rajasthan and focused on rural planning. Mulimani (2014) has attempted to study the role of periodic markets in rural development. According to him the spatial distribution of periodic markets and their functions are responsible for spatial interaction. The development of market centers always follows the development of agriculture, transportation and industries. Market villages are economically most feasible and represent the regional pattern of development because market villages provide trade and commerce service to the region, act as nodal centre for transportation and serve as a growth centre by providing different services to the region. Thus, marketing system as well as social composition is always in a situation of change both in terms of space and time. Whatever change has occurred in the social composition is the result of numerous factors. Among them marketing is also one of the most important factors and it provides a chance of interaction between rural population and urban surroundings. As a result, the attempt has been made in the present paper to deal with the role of weekly markets in rural development of Bemetara district. It emphasizes mainly to raise the distributional characters of rural market in the study area.