The three-day long “Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers” began on 1st October 2022 and concluded in the national capital on Monday, said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

On the first day, detailed discussions on key priority areas of Digital India initiatives were held with States and Union Territories under the chairmanship of the Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology and Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw. It was graced by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Minister of State for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan and IT Ministers from 12 States and UTs, namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Puducherry.

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In his concluding remarks, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated, “Connectivity is vital for Digital India and its reach to every corner of the country. He announced that Rs 26,000 crore had been approved to install new 25,000 towers in the next 500 days.”

He congratulated all States and UTs for their speedy onboarding at PM Gati Shakti. He also shared that the special assistance to States for capital expenditure worth Rs 2000 Crore has been supported.

He encouraged the States to be proactive and make business-friendly policies to attract businesses to their States. Emphasizing the motto of Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas, he stated that the commitments from all States and UTs, large as well as small States, are vital in taking Digital India to a higher level and in realizing the AatmaNirbhar Bharat and Trillion Dollar Digital Economy.

On the second day i.e. October 2, 2022, MeitY organized three sessions on important aspects like ‘IT Rules, Online Gaming and Data Governance’, ‘Digital India Bhashini and Digital Payment’, and ‘MyScheme and Meri Pehchaan’.
The demo on eligibility and profile-based service discovery at MyScheme was shown. In the concluding remarks, the Secretary, MeitY, Alkesh Kumar Sharma encouraged the States and UTs to align their policies in sync with the policies published and in-making by the Central Government.

He also said that States and UTs should leverage the latest initiatives of the Central Government for improving the citizen-centric and business-centric services, resulting in further ease of living and ease of doing business.
On the third day, MeitY organized five-panel discussions titled ‘Attracting Startups to Tier 2 Cities and Sustaining Them’, ‘Use of Emerging Tech in Public Services’, ‘Making India Talent Nation’, ‘Realization of Digital Government in States’, and ‘Make-in-India for the Globe – India as Semiconductor Nation’.
The keynote speakers included Rohan Verma, CEO, MapMyIndia, Prakash Kumar, CEO, Wadhwani, Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, Tanmoy Chakravarty, Senior Government Affairs Officer, Tata Sons and Santhosh Kumar, MD, Texas Instruments.

The panel discussion was moderated by Senior Officers from MeitY, and the panel consisted of Senior officers from State Governments.
In the concluding remarks, the Secretary, MeitY, Alkesh Kumar Sharma congratulated all States and UTs for sharing the latest progress of Digital India initiatives in their States.

He also appreciated the contributions of Industry representatives for sharing Industry perspectives and global best practices. He said that the Government of India is committed to promoting technology startups beyond tier-1 cities.

He emphasized collaboration, start-up-friendly policies and incentives at the state level for creating a thriving start-up ecosystem. On emerging technology, he emphasized data-driven decision-making and data and process-driven innovations using AI, Blockchain, Drone, IoT etc.

“India is the destination of the first choice for getting highly skilled resources at a competitive price,” said Sharma.
Team India – Government, Industry and Academia should work together to constantly train/retrain youths and professionals on deep technologies to make them future-ready and establish India as Talent Nation.

He mentioned that the ‘Digital By Default’ approach and principles of Presence-less, Contact-less, Paperless, Anytime, Anywhere and Invite-less services are vital to improve and deliver personalised and proactive services.
He said that a big opportunity is to be tapped in terms of establishing a semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in the country and thereby generating employment and accelerating value addition to a digital economy.

He also mentioned that, in addition to incentives announced by the Central Government, State level friendly policies and financial incentives would be the guiding force for attracting companies that will generate jobs and revenue.
The conference ended with a vote of thanks from Shushil Pal, Joint Secretary, MeitY.