The Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) has recently organised a very unique workshop titled “Policy Issues In Tech Spaces” in collaboration with Nation e Governance Division – NeGD , Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India.
The workshop was conducted to prepare mid level public officials by empowering them to investigate the ensuing developments in the techno-legal space in India so that they are able to establish clear guidelines for imbuing emerging technologies in their respective work areas.
The workshop featured various trend-setting sessions which included “Basics of Public Policy Formulation- Steps, Issues and Challenges”, “Cyber Security Policy Of India”, “Public policy formulation using AI as a case”, “Global Best Practices for Digital Transformation”.
During the inauguration of the workshop, S.N.Tripathi, IAS Director General (IIPA) and Prof Charru Malhotra (Workshop Coordinator, IIPA) echoed the same thoughts that rapidly evolving digital trends have baffled all and hence guardrails need to be established to bridle the misuse of emerging technologies. Sh.Tripathi also reminded the participants that this decade is “India’s Moment” to establish its supremacy through its key events of Digital Public Infrastructure(platforms likeOEDC) and Digital Public Goods UPI, Aadhar, Digi Locker,eSign and so on).
Prof Charru Malhotra highlighted that robust public-policy making serves as
the foundation stone of development in a country.
Abhishek Singh, IAS (Guest of Honour) talked about need for capacity building in India to combat policy issues in tech spaces. These issues include dilemmas like ” should public agencies resort to in house capabilities or should outsource such projects ? are open source solutions better than proprietary solutions? how to protect basic rights of privacy and security of Indian citizen? and last but not the least how to combat emerging ethical concerns while resorting to Generative AI in public service delivery?
The inaugural address of Dr. R.S.Sharma, IAS(Chief Guest) was laced with wit and wisdom while he highlighted gaps between tech spaces and legal spaces. The first piece of advice through him was that all policy formulation in tech spaces must stay tech-agnostic and jargon-agnostic. He further affirmed that tech-regulations in India should always ensure democratisation of tech spaces such as Net-Neutrality and assured that Big tech companies do not become gatekeepers to the internet by levying discriminatory pricing. Principles of interoperability may stay sacrosanct. He also appreciated Digital India initiatives with particular mention to advents like India stack and CoWin, ONDC and ABDM as platforms.
“The inaugural session has set the tone of the event very well”, remarked Prof. Malhotra. Mr. S.N.Meena profusely thanked the dignitaries and the participants for evincing interest in this unique NeGD sponsored workshop.
The first session – “Basics of Public Policy Formulation- Steps, Issues and challenges” – which was presented by PROF.CHARRUMALHOTRA, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION focussed on deep rooted deliberations on all core concepts of the workshop agenda ranging from key issues and challenges of data privacy, cyber security, digital divide, and ethical use of emerging technologies. The second session – “Cyber Security Policy Of India” – session focused on the landscape of prevalent digital transformation related governance frameworks in India. A detailed discussion took place on National Artificial Intelligence strategy, national blockchain strategy, Digital personal Data Protection Bill, National Cybersecurity Policy and digital India Act. This session was presented by Col InderjeetBrar, Chief Security ,Officer and Policy Analyst, VaraTechnologies.
The third session which delved upon “Public policy formulation using AI as a case” revolved around aspects of responsible AI and Explainable AI, policy framework of AI in India and future of public policy in tech spaces using AI as a case. This session was presented by Cmdr.NareshChhabra. He made participants go through the journey of AI from stories to science fiction to a practical reality. Further continuing with artificial intelligence he explained it as a cognitive function which can be associated with humans under various grounds like exercising creativity, etc.
The fourth session which was focussing on “Global Best Practices for Digital Transformation” was presented by Mr.Vikas Kanungo Sr.Consultant, The WorldBank highlighted the need for raising awareness on global trends in public policy formulation for implementing new age technologies in governance.
The fifth session – “Future Policy Trends in National Tech Spaces:
Digital India Act and Blockchain Policy ” was headed by Col Inderjeet Brar where he gave beautiful examples like the Government of Telangana came up with a regulatory framework for all its start ups. He also focused briefly on national cyber security policy, 2023 making India a safe cyberspace.
The workshop concluded on high notes leaving the attendees with a great deal of information on such burning issues.