Developing an ecosystem for emerging tech in Telangana

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Back in 2016, Telangana had released its ICT policy and had envisioned to extensively use emerging technologies. To operationalise this vision, Rama Devi Lanka, Director -Emerging Technologies, Officer on Special Duty, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana. The ET Wing acts as a nodal agency which proactively drives adoption of emerging technologies across user departments in Telangana, developing innovative government solutions to help citizens and preferentially procures solution from start-ups.

“The Emerging Technologies Wing has twin objectives. We take up various initiatives to develop the ecosystem for emerging technologies in Telangana, and we proactively drive the adoption of emerging technologies like AI/ML, blockchain, drones, cloud, IoT, cybersecurity, e-Waste, etc,” says Rama Devi Lanka, Director – Emerging Technologies, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana.

KT Rama Rao, Minister of IT, Telangana has declared 2020 as the year of AI. “We have planned a calendar of events, grand challenges, conferences, skilling programs, AI product labs, cloud computing as a service etc. Key projects last year were in law enforcement, crowd counting, person tracking, criminal records synchronisation. We also implemented chatbots in RTA and Tourism Departments,” says Lanka.

Artificial Intelligence

Several AI initiatives have been taken by the government: wApparel & Textile Parks of Telangana are building an AI powered solution, prepared by labelling pixels, to protect weaver and consumer interests for hand loom against power-loom.

wThe other initiatives include, AI Driven Quality Assaying of Agricultural Commodities, whereby the pilot aims at easing the process of sale of farm produce, bring in transparency and help farmers get fair valuation for their produce. Also, improve adoption of eNAM platform for long distance commodity trade.

wAutomatic detection, documentation, notification and action for better traffic and roads.

wGRS Medha Chatbot is used to avail seamless services, like eStamps, payments, registrations, EC and CC, etc., to the citizens.

wKnow Your SRO is a service which allows citizens to search relevant SRO by just providing the chatbot with their property or marriage location.

wPopular FAQs helps citizens with answers to very frequently asked questions n different acts, rules, procedures, and a plethora of other services offered by IGRS.

Apart from the above, the Telangana Government is also working on urban flood modelling, and other IoT projects. These projects ensure the government’s efforts as a first buyer, to support the growth of blockchain technology in the state.

Usage of drones The usage of drone and its technology is spread out across sectors and industries, ranging from construction, agriculture, healthcare, police, insurance, to journalism and cinematography. “India tops the list of drone-importing countries. Government of Telangana understands the potential of innovation with drones. We are working on several projects in mining, precision agriculture, forest surveillance and medicine from the sky – a life saving pilot project in Telangana for delivering essential medicines, vaccines, blood and diagnostic samples,” says Lanka.

One of the projects is Volumetric Analysis and Extent Analysis of mines using drones, whereby an end to end solution to survey, monitor and manage the mining leases/quarry leases located in various parts of Telangana state.

The other project is Integrated Crop Management System using drones (precision agriculture). This is to provide farmers with superior solutions using emerging technologies to address challenges of crop growth and to improve output quantity and quality parameters. To understand the problems during crop growth with precision and immediately advise the farmer, it was proposed to use UAVs mounted with RGB and multispectral sensors for monitoring.

For Medicine from the Sky, the Government of Telangana, World Economic Forum and Apollo Hospitals have collaborated to come up with an initial report, which will be used to run India’s first medical delivery project in Telangana.

Also, another project is Forest Surveillance with drones which will help calculate height of each tree (using Stereo-pair Data); carry out noiseless search operations such as capturing information on tigers /leopard that strayed into different areas; calculate height of each tree etc.

Blockchain technology

“Blockchain technology helps to achieve a high degree of transparency, security and immutability compared to traditional databases. It enables secure data sharing and can help establish transparent government-citizen relations,” informs Lanka. There are currently up to ten blockchain use-case projects at different stages of implement-ation. They include T Chit, a project that leveraged blockchain to address many of the challenges that reduce the information, innovation and interaction frictions.

Blockchain is used for verifying students’ credentials. Student Record Data stored using traditional methods can be tampered, which leads to fraud in educational sector, so data is required to be immutable. Blockchain gives the benefit of immutability. Also, being a distributed ledger, it facilitates data sharing between departments. Again, this technology is used for property records management.

The other initiatives of blockchain include Credit Cooperative: Streenidhi; Anti-Counterfeiting for Pharmaceuticals; Civil Supplies Public Distribution System; P2P Energy Exchange Use Case; Flexibility Aggregator Use Case; Blockchain in CCTNS – Law Enforcement; and Vehicle Lifecycle Management.

Cybersecurity

Complications from cyber-attacks may threaten lives, economy, and national security. Rapid identification, information exchange, investigation and coordinated response and remediation can mitigate the damage caused by malicious cyberspace activity. ITE&C Department in partnership with Data Security Council of India (DSCI) has established a `22 crores Centre of Excellence to build a cybersecurity innovation ecosystem and safeguard citizens.

E-Waste

In 2016, India was ranked among one of the top five countries in e-waste generation, with an estimated 1.85 million tonnes generated annually. E-waste causes toxic emissions and poses several health hazards. ITE&C Department in partnership with MeitY has established a `36 cr Centre of Excellence of e-Waste in C-MET, Hyderabad to nurture innovation, entrepreneurship, and capability building in e-Waste management.

Blockchain technology helps to achieve a high degree of transparency, security and immutability compared to traditional databases. It enables secure data sharing and can help establish transparent government-citizen relations.

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