The officials discussed startups, emerging technologies, skilling, digital governance, and the semiconductor ecosystem
The 3-day long Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers, which began on 1st October 2022 came to its end on Monday. Along with the budget approval of Rs 36,000 crore for 25,000 new towers installation, the govt also announced special assistance to States for capital expenditure worth Rs 2000 Crore. Have a brief overview of the conference:
Day 1
The first day witnessed detailed discussions on key priority areas of Digital India initiatives held with States and UTs under the chairmanship of the Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw. The MoS (MeitY) Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar and MoS (Communications), Shri Devusinh Chauhan were also present, along with the IT Ministers from 12 States and UTs, namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Puducherry.
Day 2
The second day of the conference included three sessions on important aspects like ‘IT Rules, Online Gaming and Data Governance’, ‘Digital India Bhashini & Digital Payment’, and ‘MyScheme and Meri Pehchaan’. MeitY Secretary Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma encouraged the States and UTs to align their policies in sync with the policies published and in-making by the Central Government.
Day 3
The third day witnessed five panel discussions: ‘Attracting Startups to Tier 2 Cities and Sustaining Them’, ‘Use of Emerging Tech in Public Services’, ‘Making India Talent Nation’, ‘Realization of Digital Government in States’, and ‘Make-in-India for the Globe – India as Semiconductor Nation’. It must be noted that industry leaders like Shri Rohan Verma, CEO, MapMyIndia, Shri Prakash Kumar, CEO, Wadhwani, Ms Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, Shri Tanmoy Chakravarty, Senior Government Affairs Officer, Tata Sons and Shri Santhosh Kumar, MD, Texas Instruments graced the event along with senior officers from the centre and the states.
MeitY Secy Sharma mentioned that the ‘Digital By Default’ approach and principles of Presence-less, Contact-less, Paperless, Anytime, Anywhere and Invite-less services are vital to improve and deliver personalised and proactive services. He also mentioned that, in addition to incentives announced by the Central Government, State level friendly policies and financial incentives would be the guiding force for attracting companies that will generate jobs and revenue.
