Networks are the key to transforming India into a knowledge-based society and a digital economy, said P.P. Chaudhary, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice and Electronics and Information Technology.
He was the chief guest at the 43rd Asia Pacific Advanced Network Meeting 2017 held in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The Minister emphasized India's strong position at the digital frontier, riding on the back of the National Digital India Mission, the Jan Dhan-Aadhar-Mobile (JAM) trinity, the role of Direct Benefits Transfer in reaching welfare schemes to the poor and a robust e-Governance infrastructure enabling delivery of citizen centric services to the last mile. He also pointed out the dynamic role played by the Village Level Entrepreneurs in empowering the villages of India and fostering social inclusion.
Inviting international collaboration on high quality research on digital technology, Dr Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India said that the Asia Pacific region comprises the vortex of internet activities and it is essential to create strong linkages through a number of collaborative efforts like the Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme and Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA), that are supported by the Government of India. He called upon the Asian Pacific countries to play a greater role in global internet governance policy making through greater collaboration and participation.
Dr Neena Pahuja, Director General, ERNET in her address highlighted that technology has helped in creating transparency and disruptive changes. With the base of high speed advanced networks, we are now on the verge of witnessing another wave of disruptive change both in industry and also in day-to-day life's. In Industry, the connected environment is helping in better productivity and applications such as preventive healthcare, disaster mitigation, remote soil health check-ups are now becoming reality.
She added that India has very big plans to empower every citizen with access to digital services, knowledge and information, and is investing in large scale connected environment. The ambitious project of creating 100 Smart Cities in India will also ride on strongly connected cities.
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Vaishali Dar is a Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld and Editorial Head with BW Disrupt. She writes on corporates, start-ups, hospitality and travel
