With strong leadership and many successful e-governance projects, Rajasthan aims to be IT hub in the country. While sharing his views about government works in the area of technology, K K Pathak, Special Secretary, CMO, Government of Rajasthan said, “There has been gradual improvement in the use of technology for the welfare of the people but I would like to see further use of technology to help down trodden people of the society.”
With the focus on the digital transformation of the government departments in Rajasthan, Indian Express Group in partnership with technology giant Microsoft organised a conference called Express Digital Governance Series – in Jaipur.
K K Pathak, Special Secretary, CMO, Government of Rajasthan, Ravi Prakash Meharda, ADGP, Telecommunications and Technical, Government of Rajasthan; Pankaj Choudhary, SP, SCRB, Government of Rajasthan, secretary from different departments, experts, and IT heads of state corporations came together to discuss and deliberate about digital transformation that the state can take to bring efficiency, transparency and good governance.
The conference kicked-off with a welcome address from Mohd Ujaley, Principal Correspondent, Indian Express Group. The significance of technology intervention in government is well known. States after states are adopting modern technology to improve their efficiency—this was the resounding message of Ujaley’s speech. “Projects like Passport Seva Project and Aadhar have shown how integration of technology with good collaboration between government agencies and private firms can improve the delivery of government to citizen services.” he said, adding that the Digital India project has catalysed the process of technology adoption.
While delivering his keynote address, K K Pathak, Special Secretary, CMO, Government of Rajasthan highlighted some of the transformation IT has brought in the country. He said “The initative of Indian Express Group to bring government officers and tech companies is commendable. We all need to learn from each other.” During his address he presented an overview of how technology can be used in running a not for profit organization. He urged the state administration specially the senior bureaucrats to be flexible and open to newer technology adoption.
A major attraction at the conference was the experts presentation from Microsoft. Speaking on the topic of Digital Transform and role of cloud technology, Sanjeev Rege, Regional Business Manager, Microsoft India and his colleagues emphasized that cloud technology offers huge opportunity to meaningfully harness the data and deliver services to people which has not been done in the past. They further added that Microsoft cloud offering are most secured and flexible.
The conference also featured a panel discussion on “Emerging Technologies for Effective e-Governance” moderated by Ujaley. The panelists discussed about various challenge faced by the Rajasthan and how emerging technology like cloud, virtualisation, mobility solutions could help the state in delivering people friendly services.
K K Pathak, Special Secretary, CMO, Government of Rajasthan emphasised on the need to incorporate technology in government day to day affiars. He said, “Technology intervention can help the state in automating the different process.” Particpating in the debate, Ravi Prakash Meharda, ADGP, Telecommunications and Technical, Government of Rajasthan said, “Technology give us power to leapfrog but it can’t replace people.” He advocated for more coordination between police and civil society.
B. L. Swarnkar, Director, Secondary Education, Government of Rajasthan shared some of the initativee taken by secondary educaton department in the field of digital literacy. He said, attempt are being made to proliferate ICT in education at large scale in Rajasthan. Pankaj Choudhary, SP, SCRB, Government of Rajasthan shared his views of IT initiative in SCRB. He said the adoption of IT among young officers are more than the senior officers.
Replying to many questions raised by the panelists, Sanjeev Rege, Regional Business Manager, Microsoft India gave broad overview of cloud and other Microsoft technology. He emphasised that technology has immense role to play in governance, education and health sectors. He advocated for creation of sustainable IT infrastructure in the state.