Samagra launches ‘Code for Gov-Tech’, India’s first Open Source GovTech mentoring program for engineering students

New Delhi : Mission-driven governance consulting firm, Samagra, today announced the launch of India’s first Open source Gov-Tech mentoring program for engineering students called ‘Code for GovTech’ (C4GT). This experiential summer coding program will run from mid-May to August. Engineering students from across India can apply to the program for an opportunity to work on governance problems with mentorship from pioneers of the Indian GovTech. The program is being organized by Samagra and supported by Omidyar Network India.

Code for GovTech will provide contributors an opportunity to interact & learn from leading GovTech practitioners, within and outside the government. They will also receive hands-on 1:1 mentoring by pioneers in the ecosystem; eg: EkStep, Tekdi, NavaDhiti, etc. This is an opportunity for students to contribute to actively evolving Digital Public Goods that impact millions and a chance to start a high-impact career in prominent GovTech companies.

Digital Public Goods are open-source – software, data, AI models, standards and content. These goods adhere to privacy, other applicable laws and best practices that do no harm by design and help attain Sustainable Development Goals.

Commenting on the C4GT launch, Gaurav Goel, CEO & Founder, Samagra said, “In a country of 130 crore+ citizens, the importance of technology in ensuring last-mile delivery of public services in a standardized manner, cannot be underestimated.  The role of GovTech in solving the pressing governance challenges of our times is only going to increase. And therefore there is a need for the best engineering talent in the country to become a part of and lead the next wave of GovTech innovation. Code for GovTech has been designed as a way to create a robust tech talent pipeline which can solve some of the most complex challenges facing India.’’

The seasoned list of C4GT mentors include names like Ashwin Date, CTO Co-founder of Tekdi Technologies, Bachi Allamsetty, Co-Founder of NavaDhiti, Chakshu Gautam, SamagraX, among others.

C4GT will be conducted on the Open Source platform GitHub.