Express Technology Sabha’s 18th edition sees record gathering of e-governance practitioners

The three day event focuses on full breadth and depth of the eGovernance projects that are being undertaken across the country

The 18th edition of India’s premier eGovernance forum, the Express Technology Sabha, which kicked off on 18th June at The Lalit Golf & Spa Resort, Goa, was a record-breaking gathering of key practitioners of eGovernance from all over India. The full breadth and depth of the eGovernance projects that are being undertaken in the country was represented at the event in the presence of key government officials, thought leaders and representatives of private companies.

The three day mega event focused on the theme “9 Pillars of Digital India: Taking eGovernanace to the next level.”

The event was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, in the presence of Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM; Mr. Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Govt. of India; Mr. Srivatsa Krishna, Secretary, Dept.of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka; Mr. Anant Goenka, Wholetime Director & Head – New Media, The Indian Express Limited.

In his keynote address, Rajeev Chandrasekhar made many interesting observations on the subjects of urbanisation, smart cities, penetration of Internet and the need for a comprehensive policy on IoT   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 candid conversation between Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Anant Goenka. On the questions of how present government is performing when it comes to the technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “In the past, huge contract has been given for egovernance project but outcome has not been satisfactory, but present government’s digital India initiative has huge potential and government is committed to it.”

One of the highlights of 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,  Mr. R Chandrashekhar; Mr. Shankar Aggarwal; Mr. Srivatsa Krishna, Secretary; Mr. Amer Warsi, Director – Commercial & Public Sector, Enterprise Group, Hewlett-Packard India, explored the entire range of benefits that the Digital India Programme could bring to the citizens of the country. They highlighted several scenarios where the process of providing government services to citizens was becoming much more easy, efficient and transparent through the use of latest technology. The session was moderated by Mr. Akhilesh Tuteja, Partner and Head of Technology, KPMG India.

Presenting the day two keynote address, R. Chandrashekhar spoke on how private sector can drive eGovernance in the country. During his presentation Chandrashekhar observed that 70% of the Digital India projects are outside the ambit of the Government of India. He asserted that the right kind of policy framework must be developed to enable the IT industry to make maximum contribution to the Digital India project. He explained the ways by which the Cloud and Big Data infrastructure was now creating multiple opportunities for the state governments.

Mr. R S Sharma, Secretary, DeitY, Govt. of India participated in the event through video conferencing. He explained to the audience about the overall vision of the Digital India project and stated that the goals of the project could not be achieved unless we were able to create digital infrastructure for every citizen.

The panel discussion on “Cyber Security for Digitally Empowered India”, which was held after the VC presentation of Mr. R S Sharma, 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 19th June. Mr. R Chandrashekhar presented the recognitions to the most important eGovernance projects that had been identified by the Express Computer team based on various parameters.

The day three of the event, began with the presentation of Mr. Shankar Aggarwal ‘IT and Employment-way forward for job creation’. He spoke on the IT & Job system that is now all set to be launched across all departments in the government.

There were two panel discussions during the day—the first was on “ICT for Inclusive Education & Skill Development”, and the second was on “NeGP 2.0: Taking eGovernance to the Next Level”.

The event was supported by government organisations such as Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY), National Informatics Centre (NIC), National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT), National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), Government of Goa with participation from India’s top IT companies. The three day event ended with an entertaining Bollywood theme celebration on 20th June 2015.