Tech Sabha 2022 – Day 3: How technology is a critical tool to deliver good governance

Day Three, the last day of the Grand Technology Sabha, Kolkata, was equally eventful, with lots of learning experience for the audience. 

The day started with a Key Address by Majon Kumar Pattnaik, IAS, CEO, Odisha Computer Application Centre, Odisha who underlined the significance of technology as an enable and said that technology is a critical tool to deliver good governance. “Most eGovernance services involve multiple departments so technologies like blockchain can enable the government to efficiently and effectively deliver eServices,” he added. He further apprised the audience of a variety of law enforcement and security tools which are emerging like cyber defence, facial recognition and more. “AI-based solutions are the driving force behind the development of such tools,” Pattnaik added. 

Next, was an address by Panneerselvam M, Chief Innovation Officer from T-Hub, Telangana, who explained how T-Hub is building a bridge between the startup ecosystem and the government ecosystem. T-Hub helps entrepreneurs fetch funding, drive results and collaborate for success. “We have around 9 entities including Telangana State Innovation Cell which is helping in plugging the gaps between the government and the technology ecosystem,” he added. 

Following this, another speaker from the state of Telangana took centrestage – Rajendra Nimje, Director General, Centre for Good Governance, Telangana. Nimje spoke about how eGovernance has moved beyond mere information dissemination portals. He added that infusion of emerging technologies in every government sector is a must to enhance efficiency and improve service delivery. “We re-engineer the government process for refinements and offer over 1500 government services,” Nimje mentioned. He also opined that governments across the states need to come up with more robust citizen-centric services to improve governance. 

After Nimje, it was Swapneel Paul, Director, Directorate of Information Technology & Electronics Communication, Assam who apprised the audience of the various initiatives  including DBT Framework – being undertaken by the department in Assam. “We have taken up the development of a common functional database for social programs known as social registry (SR) in Assam… We have also developed a DDIS architecture that enables the Government to have a plug and play model for all the DBT-based schemes,” Paul added. 

The conference next hosted a detailed presentation on Management of two Railway Rolling Asset Maintenance Application – CMM & FMM, which was presented by Lokesh Singh, GM, Centre for Railway Information Systems. Singh explained that MIS has been of great help to monitor performance against predefined metrics and proper allocation of resources. “We’re having over two lakh coaches and over three lakh wagons. Maintenance of these becomes a huge task.Technology tools have posed as an enabler to enhance our efficiencies..our CRIS digital platform has been developed in-house and we have an open-source data management platform,” Singh added. 

The event also witnessed a brief talk by Sanjay Karanik, Additional Director, Department of Information Technology & Communication, Government of Rajasthan who briefed the audience on various initiatives being undertaken by the state of Rajasthan in the IT sector.