How to go about setting up a human base on the Red planet Mars

Different agencies are pursuing possibilities of human settlement on the Red planet Mars and it is certain that establishing a permanent colony on Mars would boil down to living off the land. Since water and atmospheric carbon dioxide are believed to be the most valuable resources on Mars, these resources will be expected to provide propellants for the ride home on the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) apart from other critical uses such as life support, growing crops and radiation protection.
This has been reported in space.com dated 28 December 2015.

In the opinion of experts, Mars has usable resources like water ice that could help sustain future expeditionary crews on short missions, or pioneers who would live on the Red Planet on a permanent basis. The use of local resources is the key to future human exploration of Mars.
The options before scientists are - either to bypass reliance on them and opt for an expensive, one-time trip carrying all needed supplies from Earth or incorporate resource utilization for a more affordable, multi-mission, and sustainable exploration of the Red Planet.
However, accessing and exploiting Martian water ice and other resources is not an easy process. The process is known as In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)and, experts have begun to strategize what astronauts would need to maintain a Martian lifestyle on the Red Planet.
In order to zero in on a probable landing site on the Red planet, it is necessary to ensure that minimum resources would be available at that site to sustain human life. Such information needs to be collected for not just a single mission with a six-person crew, but should be planned for a long term campaign of at least five missions with the goal of having a permanent human settlement on Mars.

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