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India’s innovation ecosystem is witnessing a rapid transformation across its key sectors and it’s time to fast emulate the finest industry practices or else we risk losing a competitive advantage that very well looks in sight now, according to Dr Neeta Verma, Director General, National Informatics Centre, MeitY.

She was speaking at Elets Technomedia’s 13th eINDIA Digital Transformation Summit 2018 held on Thursday in the national capital. Dr Verma also stressed upon the importance of rapidly employing industry best practices prevalent across the globe.

The summit, which brought together the finest minds in IT sector including many Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and policymakers, was inaugurated by Dr Verma along with Pedro Ivo Ferraz da Silva, Head – Energy, Environment and Science, Technology & Innovation Section, Embassy of Brazil, New Delhi and Padma Jaiswal, Secretary, Directorate of Information Technology, Government of Puducherry.

Apprising the relevant stakeholders about the key initiatives being undertaken by the Department of Urban Development, Government of Nagaland, Abhishek Singh, Commissioner-cum-Secretary to the Chief Minister, Secretary, Department of Urban Development and Secretary, Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Government of Nagaland, said, “numerous best industry practices from across the Indian states are currently being handpicked for their implementation in the State of Nagaland.”

Talking on ‘Importance of Digital Transformation in PSUs in the era of Digital India’, Rajit Punhani, Chief Vigilance Officer, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) spoke about the utility of establishing an NTPC e-office along with an e-procurement desk, geo-fencing, document tracking system and biometric measures — as few of the recent initiatives being put into place at NTPC. Speaking on the same topic, Manish Bhardwaj, Managing Director, Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, further added that online bidding procedure now in place with end to end digital functionality which has led to significant saving for the State exchequer.

While taking part in another panel discussion on ‘CIOs as Driver of Digital Disruption: The One Stop Place for Everything in Innovation,’ Zahid Ansari, Head – IT, Dyson Technology India Private Limited,  highlighted that in today’s digital age, investment in tackling data privacy issues, and finding foolproof solutions remains a major focus area for CIOs and IT heads.  Echoing similar views, Sunil Gupta, Chief Information Officer, ERU – Ministry of Steel, Government of India opined that skilling & reskilling holds the mantra for success for today’s CIOs.

“Latest paradigms in digital era call for a regular and consistent upgrade of skillsets and technical knowhow to better face latest challenges. Such a preparedness is the need of the hour for all CIOs” reiterated Vipul Anand, Group Chief Information Officer, Hindware. The other tech expert taking part in the deliberations included: Dominic Vijay Kumar, Deputy Vice President & Head-IT, Art Housing Finance India Ltd; Sunil Gupta, Chief Information Officer, ERU – Ministry of Steel, Government of India Rajiv Malhotra, General Manager, Operations and Innovation, Vistara – TATA SIA Airlines Ltd;  Saurabh Gupta, Chief Information Officer, Kent RO Systems Ltd and  Vishwajeet Singh, Head of Technology, Aptech.

Speaking on the topic, “Reaching Last Mile with Government Service Delivery,’ Gaurav Jain, Senior Consultant, Electronic Service Delivery & Mee Seva, Department of Information Technology, Government of Telangana, highlighted the uniqueness of ‘Scalability’ and a ‘standardised format’ as the key USPs of the State’s Mee Seva initiative.

“Under our ‘Degree online Services, Telangana (DOST) i,e, a digital transformation of the admission process, annually more than 2.5 lakhs students are admitted into more than 1100 colleges” underlined  Arpita Khare, Director, Center for Good Governance, Telangana.

M A Masood Khan, CIO, Dept of Agriculture, Govt of Telangana spoke about various ways in which digital technology is being used by the   Govt of Telangana for minimising farmers’ concerns with regard to claims, bills, pension etc.

Sundar Balakrishna, Director, MeeSeva, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said the Government should always remain an enabler for delivery of various citizen services and in this pursuit, IT can play a critical role.

“Digital solutions aimed at inter-state portability of different Public Distribution Systems (PDS) are being implemented. This has brought significant saving and ease of doing business, ” said Balakrishna.

Highlighting the key similarities between Brazilian and Indian economies, Pedro Ivo Ferraz da Silva, Head – Energy, Environment and Science, Technology & Innovation Section, Embassy of Brazil, New Delhi, said: “Numerous mutually beneficial areas of cooperations including in various futuristic technologies are being explored.”

“Even countries such as Estonia offer great success story in implementing digital interface for delivery of public services and India can take a leaf out of it,” said Padma Jaiswal, Secretary, Directorate of Information Technology, Government of Puducherry.

Dr Ravi Gupta, Founder Publisher, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Elets Technomedia and eGov magazine, on the occasion, underlined the legacy of facilitating the most versatile innovation based, knowledge-sharing platform through Elets’ flagship eINDIA initiative.

“Over the years eIndia Summits have acted as a great platform for CIOs, IT heads and policy shapers to brainstorm over overhauling their innovation-based strategies and chalk out a better roadmap ahead,” said Dr Gupta.

On the occasion, a special issue of eGOV magazine, highlighting various facets of the country’s innovation landscape was also launched.

Many industry leaders, international experts, innovators and IT experts from various domains, deliberated upon the importance of cutting-edge technologies revolutionising their respective streams.

Industry presentations were also given by various leading players, including from Krishna Joshi, Director of Engineering, PegaSystems India; Surendran Purshotam, Channel Manager- India Region, Thales eSecurity.

 “Using digital technology to implement transparent ways of governance is a priority,” stated Prem Narayan, Deputy Director General, UIDAI, at the summit, adding that the concept of Smart Mobility, keeping into account the complexity of a country like India needs regular review.

Concurring with Narayan’s views, Rajiv Yaduvanshi, Principal Secretary, Department of Urban Development, Government of Delhi, said, “While building a smart transportation system, we must focus on aspects such as affordability and safety. This is very relevant for a country like India.”

“We are using IT and social media in a big way for the transmission of various Public messages to the last mile,” opined George Kuruvilla, Chairman & Managing Director, Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL).

The notable tech-leaders present included: Rajit Punhani, Chief Vigilance Officer, NTPC ; Manish Bhardwaj, Managing Director, Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited;  Zahid Ansari,Head – IT, Dyson Technology India Private Limited ; Saurabh Gupta, Chief Information Officer, Kent RO Systems Ltd; Vishwajeet Singh, Head of Technology, Aptech.

On the occasion, distinguished players were also felicitated with eINDIA 2018 Awards. The winners included: eGovernance, Department of IT, Government of Andhra Pradesh (awarded under CM Office Real Time Executive Dashboard in Digital India Initiative category); BECIL (Awarded under Innovation in Security Surveillance System in Security Innovation Category); Centre for Good Governance, Government of Telangana  (awarded under Data Centre Initiative of the Year); Pegasystems India (awarded under  ePragati Project in  Digital India Initiative category); Centre for Good Governance, Government of Telangana (awarded under Online Procurement Management System -Mobile App  with Civil Supplies Department in  mGovernance Initiative of the Year category); The Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd  (awarded under Electronic Reverse Auction Management System eRAMS  in eGovernance Initiative of the Year category); Agriculture & Cooperation Department, Government of Telangana  (awarded under Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima and Online Subsidy Seed, Distribution System Initiatives in Farmer’s Friendly and Digitally Empowered Transparent  Initiative of the Year category); Electronics and IT Department, Government of Haryana (awarded under Haryana Cashless Consolidation Portal in  Digital India Initiative category ), National Informatics Centre, Delhi (awarded under Cooperative Core Banking Solution  in Smart Banking Initiative category);  Electronic Service Delivery & Mee Seva, Department of IT, Government of Telangana (awarded  under Citizen Friendly and Hassle Free  Verification System Initiatives in  eGovernance Initiative of the Year category); Electronics And IT Department, Government of Haryana (awarded under Information Security Management in  Cyber Security Initiative category); Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (for  RFID based Inventory Management &  GPS Tracking System in   IoT Initiative of the Year category); National Informatics Centre, Akola (awarded under Framework for eGovernance of  Fundamental Resources Electricity, Water  in   Smart Service Provider of the Year category), Centre for Good Governance, Government of Telangana (awarded under  Election Management System in eGovernance Initiative of the Year category), Karnataka Urban Infrastructure and Finance Corporation, Government of Karnataka (awarded under Land and Building Plan Approval  in  Innovation in Urban Housing category); Shimoga Smart City Corporation, Government of Karnataka (awarded under Smart Parking Solutions within the City in Smart Transport & Infrastructure Initiative category); Elections Department, Government of Haryana (awarded under Digital India Initiative and Signing up Haryana’s Young Voters through Geo-Fence Technology in Innovation for Success initiative category);  Urban Development Department, Government of Nagaland ( awarded under CM’s Dashboard  in Digital India Initiative category).

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