BW Events: Taking India To The Next Level

<p>BW Businessworld hosted its second Digital India Summit in association with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology on 26 August 2015 at The Oberoi, New Delhi. The event was inaugurated by Union minister for communication and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad.<br><br>The summit discussed how 'digital access' was a catalytic agent that needed to be universally accessible. The discussions sought to map new business models and solutions to unlock the potential to enable digital citizens. With a mission of moving from e-governance to m-governance, the summit also discussed India’s pivotal role in the world by giving innovative and credible solutions. It also witnessed various stimulating panel discussions which presented the participants with a chance to interact with the speakers and panelists.<br><br>The first session on “Digital India Mission: Empowering the Digital Citizen” focused on the need and ways for empowering the digital citizen. The speakers deliberated and discussed strategies for bridging the digital divide between the haves and have-nots and enabling millions of people in developing and joining the Digital-Nation. Since mobile connectivity may not always mean a connected citizen, the session discussed the need to educate people to participate in ‘citizen to government’ mode of communication using their smartphones.<br><br>The second panel discussion on "Mobiles First: Governance and Services on Demand" witnessed deliberations on the subject highlighting the need for educating and empowering citizens as to how government departments like the Indian Railway and the Passport Seva Programme have made it simpler for people to use mobile based services from e-ticketing to SMS-based interactions, paperless travel as well as easy access to tickets for unreserved travel.<br><br>The third session titled “Securing Digital India: Towards A Safer Cyberspace” discussed the Digital India initiative and its transformational ramifications. The panellists highlighted the nature and scope of threats and vulnerabilities in the cyberspace and discussed how these can jeopardise the smooth rollout of the Digital India programmes.<br><br>They discussed a wide range of issues related to security of cyberspace including the need to coopt security aspects at both the macro and micro levels in the various Digital Indian programmes, the varying nature of threats emanating from social media and their security implications, cyber espionage and deterrence, security of data contents and its flow — end user responsibilities, national/ international level cooperation to strengthen the cyber security framework and the means to inculcate a cyber security culture in the country.<br><br>The session also witnessed an innovative engagement format called The World Café. It was a structured conversational process intended to facilitate open and intimate discussion.<br><br>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 05-10-2015)</p>