Prasad announces PhD Scholarship in Digital Technologies for 100 students

NEW DELHI:The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, in collaboration with United Nations University and UNESCO, kicked off a three-day International Conference 10th ICEGOV 2017 at the Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi.

Themed on ‘Building Knowledge Societies: From Digital Government to Digital Empowerment’, the ICEGOV 2017 was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar Prasad,  Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice in the presence of Maria Manuel Leitao Marques, Minister of Presidency and Administrative Modernization, Portugal, P. P. Chaudhary, MoS, Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, P. K. Sinha, Cabinet Secretary and Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.

Prasad has launched Open Forge – Government of India's platform for open collaborative software development of e-Governance applications based on open data and open standards.

He also unveiled the Digital India Global Roadmap, an action plan connecting the focus areas of Digital India with sustainable development goals of UNDP.

Prasad also made the following announcements:

• Under the programme of supporting PhD Scholars in Digital Technologies, India will offer PhD scholarship to 100 students from all the participating countries in Indian Universities, including IITs, IISc and other universities.

• National Knowledge Network (NKN) will now be connected with the Knowledge Network in Portugal - FCCN. NKN connects nearly 1600 Universities and research centres in India on Gigabit network, provides state-of- the-art platform for collaborative research. NKN is already connected to TIEN 4 and GEANT of Europe and Internet2 of US making it possible for researchers in India to work closely with their counterparts in these two regions.

• To ensure the country’s digital march and a more cyber secure world, the Government of India is going to host the next meeting of CERTs from Asia-Pacific in India later this year.

Commenting on India being the host of the 10th edition of ICEGOV in 2017, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, "I welcome all the delegates from across the world at ICEGOV 2017, and urge them to witness the extra ordinary march of India in transforming into a Digital India. I particularly welcome all our foreign guests. The Narendra Modi Government’s vision is to empower citizens and the Digital India program is a personification of this vision.”

“ICEGOV 2017 aims at promoting the great opportunities that India has to offer to the world. It gives a platform to the global community to experience the digital revolution that India is undergoing. Through Digital India, we are deploying initiatives like MyGov, Common Service Centers, verified digital identity of 1 Billion plus Indians through Aadhaar, digital delivery of services, subsidy to poor directly into to their Bank accounts through a very judicious use of technology, to make India an e- empowered society with a conviction "Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas", which means " Development of all with the Co-operation of all", added Prasad.

Speaking on the occasion,Marques, Minister of Presidency and of Administrative Modernization, Portugal said, ”ICEGOV 2017 is all about connecting great minds. Our goal is to create a better world; we are here to come together, share our experiences and work towards that goal.”

Chaudhary, said, “India is delighted to host ICEGOV 2017 as it has a direct goal & vision with Digital India program. ICEGOV 2017 brings together the brightest minds of the society to share experiences and best practices for achieving the objective to harness endless opportunities. It is a platform to discuss new areas of digital inclusion and ways and means to use the technology for sustainable growth of the nation. I wish all a great success."

Sinha, said, “India has made substantial progress in the field of e-governance in the area of administration, healthcare, agriculture in the recent past. However, with the huge penetration of smartphones, India is fast moving to m-governance. We must adopt foolproof measures to ensure a safe and secure IT system to execute Digital Governance.”

Sundararajan, said, “The key objective of ICEGOV2017 is to explore how Digital Governance can lead to Digital Empowerment, relying on locally-appropriated Knowledge Societies as both the means and the end to such empowerment. ICEGOV was envisaged as a platform where each of us can learn from the reserve of experience, insights, knowledge that global community of stakeholders brings to the table. As we embark on a journey to empower 1.25 billion Indians, it is imperative for all of us to share our expertise as well as learn from the global communities. We are overwhelmed by the response that we have received from the thought leaders of the ICEGOV Community from across the world. I am looking forward to fruitful idea exchange sessions.”

Besides,Chaudhary also inaugurated an exhibition of poster papers to describe ongoing work, including new ideas, initial results, open questions, development plans, etc. with potential to contribute to Digital Government research and practice, in the sideline of the ICEGOV 2017.

The theme of ICEGOV 2017 – Digital Government to Digital Empowerment, was exemplified by the presence of more than 50 Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE’S) representing CSC’s from across the country. Through Public Private Partnership of CSC, these VLE’s have been empowered to become self sufficient and they are also providing access to Digital services to people residing in remote areas.

The ICEGOV 2017 received an overwhelming response, with a record-breaking 560 papers from close to 60 countries. About 1000 delegates and guests from all over the world including close 200 foreign delegates are participating in the conference. During the three-day event, along with keynote addresses and plenary sessions, there are special events and invited sessions for focused areas like Capacity Building, GIS, Data Analytics, Smart Cities amongst others.