Digital Mela with 200+ stalls draws over 10,000 visitors and participation of Government schools from tribal areas

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 & moderated 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 Science at IIT Kanpur. 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 was on 5G and the future of internet in India’s Techade. The session was chaired & moderated by Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY. The key speakers for panel discussion were Shri R K Pathak, Deputy Director General, DoT, Shri Jishnu Aravindakshan, Principal Architect – CTO’s office, Tejas Networks, Shri Dhivagar Baskaran, Principal Research Engineer, Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology, Shri Abhishek., Partner – EY Telecom Domain and Shri Ravi Lakhotia, Member, Governing Council, TSDSI. The panel apprised the audience about the recent launch of 5G in India and it discussed how the industry has been stepping up to introduce new age interventions in the connectivity space. The panel deliberated how India’s exposure to the global delivery supply chain, matured suppliers, updated ICT infrastructure, adoption of disruptive technologies, innovative business models and regulatory efforts will lead to a higher growth trajectory for shared services.

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 & e-Governance) & MD (GIL), Government of Gujarat, Shri Abhijit Agarwal, Director(IT), Government of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Abhishek Sharma, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), JaKeGA and Shri Srinivas Pendyala, Joint Director (eGov) Secretary, Govt of Telangana. 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 Chief Minister of Gujarat, Hon’ble Minister of Electronics & IT, Hon’ble Minister of State, Government of Gujarat, Startups, Industry partners and everyone involved for making this event successful. Shri Abhishek Singh said “Let’s work together for India’s Techade” and formally closed the session.

Digital India Week celebration will continue in the virtual mode with India Stack Knowledge Exchange from 7th to 9th July 2022.