18th Express Technology Sabha: Digital India’s success depends on taking e-governance to all citizens

For the overall vision of the Digital India project to be achieved, it is imperative to create the digital infrastructure for every citizen, RS Sharma, secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) asserted at the Eighteenth edition of the Express Technology Sabha.

The e-governance forum that kicked off on June 18 at the Lalit Golf & Spa Resort, Goa, witnessed a high-profile gathering of e-governance stakeholders from across the country, including senior government officials, thought leaders and representatives of private companies.

The three-day event focused on the theme “9 Pillars of Digital India: Taking eGovernance to the next level.” The event was inaugurated by chief guest, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, in the presence of R Chandrashekhar, president, NASSCOM; Shankar Aggarwal, secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India; Srivatsa Krishna, secretary, Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka and Anant Goenka, Wholetime Director and Head – New Media, The Indian Express Ltd.

In his keynote address, Chandrasekhar flagged several interesting observations on the subjects of urbanisation, smart cities, penetration of internet and the need for a comprehensive policy on IoT (Internet of things) in the country. He said, “Every government should appoint a chief technology officer (CTO) and country must use the technological capacity of private companies to the fullest.”

The address was followed by a free-wheeling conversation between Chandrasekhar and Anant Goenka. On the performance of the NDA government in the technology space, Chandrasekhar said, “In the past, huge contract has been given for e-governance project but outcome has not been satisfactory, but the present government’s Digital India initiative has huge potential and government is committed to it.”

One of the highlights on the first day of the Express Technology Sabha was the panel discussion: “9 Pillars of Digital India—Ideas for Developing eGovernance”. Participants in the panel, R Chandrashekhar; Shankar Aggarwal; Srivatsa Krishna and Amer Warsi, director, Hewlett-Packard India, delved on the entire range of benefits that the Digital India Programme could bring to the citizens of the country.

Sharma, secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, participated in the event through video conferencing. The panel discussion on “Cyber Security for Digitally Empowered India”, which was held after Sharma’s presentation, provided many interesting ideas on the ways by which the cyber security of the country could be improved. Ranjan Diwedi, DGP-Home Guard, Uttar Pradesh, was of the view that basic computing and cyber security solutions must embed Indian languages so that large population could benefit from it.

The ‘Express Technology Sabha Felicitation Ceremony’ was held on June 19. R Chandrashekhar presented the recognitions to the most important e-governance projects that had been identified by the Express Computer team based on various parameters. The event was supported by government organisations such as Department of Electronics and Information Technology, National Informatics Centre (NIC), National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology, National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) and the Government of Goa, with participation from India’s top IT companies.

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