Digital Mela with 200+ stalls draws over 10,000 visitors and participation of Government schools from tribal areas
Digital Mela extended till 10th July 2022
New Delhi: The third day of the Digital India Week celebration began on 6th July, 2022, with the inaugural ceremony to launch various initiatives of the Government of Gujarat. Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) delivered the welcome address. It was followed by a special address by Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, MeitY where he expressed his gratitude towards the government of Gujarat for helping MeitY in making Digital India Week 2022 a successful event. He also expressed that Digital India Week is not just a celebration but also a platform for cross fertilization of good ideas.
The Digital Expo being showcased in parallel has been extended till 10th July 2022. Yesterday, it saw a huge footfall of over 10,000 visitors who witnessed futuristic digital solutions and emerging technology products at over 200 stalls. The expo attracted students, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and common people from across India. The highlight of the Digital Expo was the enthusiastic participation of Government schools from tribal areas. The Digital Mela also had drones, AR/VR, Interactive Robots and cutting edge futuristic technologies displayed by startups from across the country.
Shri Jitubhai Vaghani, Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat launched ‘MyGov Gujarat’, a platform that shall empower 6.67 crore Gujaratis to contribute even more, towards nation building. He also addressed the gathering and applauded Gujarat for being a champion in implementing and adopting the initiatives under Digital India & increasing transparency, efficiency and accountability. Shri Vijay Nehra, Secretary, Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat delivered the vote of thanks.
The first session of the day on “Public Digital Platforms & Citizen-Centric Public Services” was moderated by Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY. The panelists of the session included Shri J. Satyanarayana, Adviser, WEF, Shri Dinesh Tyagi, Managing Director, CSC- SPV, Shri Saurabh Gaur, Principal Secretary (IT &C), Government of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Sameer Vishnoi, Special Secretary & CEO, CHIPs, Government of Chhattisgarh, Shri Kumar Vineet, Special Secretary (IT&E), Government of Uttar Pradesh and Shri Amit K Sinha, IPS, Director ITDA, Government of Uttarakhand. The panelists deliberated on how India’s unique platformisation strategy of building public digital platforms across sectors is playing a key role in government-citizen engagement by empowering citizens, ensuring ease of governance & ease of doing business.
Second panel discussion of the day on “Aadhaar for States: Enabling Ease of Living” was moderated by Shri Amod Kumar, DDG, UIDAI and saw the participation of Shri Santosh Kumar Mall, IAS, Principal Secretary (IT), Government of Bihar, Shri V. Ponnuraj, IAS, Secretary, DPAR, Government of Karnataka, Shri Abhijit Agarwal, Project Director, (MP-SWAN) and Deputy Secretary DST, Government of Madhya Pradesh, and Shri Amit K Sinha, IPS, Director ITDA, Government of Uttarakhand. The session involved a contemplation on how states are using Aadhaar in different ways for easing the daily lives of the citizens, specially the most marginalized and deprived class through seamless delivery of subsidies, benefits & other services.
Third panel discussion on ‘Metaverse & Web 3.0’ was chaired by Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY. The eminent panel included Shri Rajiv Aggarwal, Head of Public Policy, Meta, Shri Srinivasa Reddy, VP, Mixed Reality, Microsoft India, Shri Kanishka Agiwal, Head Service Lines, India & South Asia, AWS and Prof. Manindra Agrawal, Department of Computer. The session was loaded with insightful thought exchange and explored topics ranging from current landscape of metaverse technologies, policy and regulatory standards in metaverse, capacity building for Web 3.0 to the transformation that we are likely to witness across sectors by both these technologies.
The fourth session of the day on “5G and the future of internet in India’s Techade” saw participation from Dr Ashok Kumar Tiwari, Member (Technology), DOT, Shri Vishnu Soni, VP, Product Engineering, Tejas Networks, Dr. Dhivigar Bhaskaran, Principal Engineering, CeWIT, Shri Aayush Bhatnagar, Sr. Vice President Reliance Jio. The Panel deliberated on the impact of introducing 5G on the economy, current landscape of the 5G ecosystem in India, impetus that can be provided through 5G roll out in the rural areas and the role of 5G in India’s digital transformation.
The last session of the three day long Physical Event of Digital India Week was moderated by Shri Abhishek Singh, President & CEO NeGD. The session entailed six ‘Presentations on Impactful and Scalable Projects by States’ by Shri Ramakrishna Chitturi, Joint Secretary (Planning), Government of Meghalaya, Shri Praveen Volvotkar, Director IT, Government of Goa, Shri Sachin Gusia, Director (ICT & eGovernance) & MD (GIL), Government of Gujarat, Shri Abhijit Agarwal, Director(IT), Government of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Srinivas Pendyala, Joint Secretary, Govt of Telangana, and Shri Abhishek Sharma, IAS, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), JaKeGA. The presentations demonstrated how technology is being leveraged for improving governance across states. The highlight of the session was detailing of Meghalaya Enterprise Architecture, IT Policies of Goa, Gujarat e-Sarkar system with simplified, responsive, effective and transparent working of all government offices, GIS based system in MP, Digital J&K and use of Machine Learning and Deep Learning in Telangana.
Shri Abhishek Singh, President & CEO NeGD concluded the session and the events of Digital India Week in Gujarat by thanking the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Minister of Electronics & IT, Hon’ble Minister of State, Chief Minister of Gujarat, Government of Gujarat, Startups, Industry partners and everyone involved for making this event successful.
Digital India Week celebration will continue in the virtual mode with India Stack Knowledge Exchange from 7th to 9th July 2022.
