The 23^rd edition of the annual National Conference on e-Governance has been inaugurated by Minister for Environment, Tourism & Protocol, Government of Maharashtra, Shri Aaditya Thackeray at National Sports Club of India (NSCI) Worli, Mumbai today (07 Feb, 2020). Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary-Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) and Dr. Kshatrapati Shivaji, Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievance (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, were present among the dignitaries in the conference today. The two-day conference on e-governance has been organized by DARPG and MeitY in association with Department of Information & Technology, Government of Maharashtra this year.

The Government needs to serve the citizens on line and not in-line (queue in front of Government offices) and hence the significance of a digital platform. With the growing change in scenario making positive impact in both Government and private sector, this conference encourages to improve delivery of public services by promoting the use of digital platforms. Health, Agriculture, Education and Land are the priority sectors identified for Public Digital Platforms. Also successful e-Governance solutions that use emerging technologies like Blockchain, Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence are also being discussed.

“Mumbai being the financial capital has greater scope in tapping every upcoming platform for a better tomorrow. Today government services are home delivered to the public,” stated Shri Aaditya Thackeray, Environment, Tourism and Protocol Minister, Government of Maharastra,in his inaugural address at the conference. He also launched the ‘Blockchain Sandbox –Maharashtra’, which will be used for various applications to enhance efficiency in e-Governance. The main attraction of Blockcahin is the security offered by distributed ledger technologies, efficiency of internal system and reduced time and labour in execution of departmental tasks.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary-MeitY, highlighted the ample benefits that digital platforms have brought to the farmers of the country. “Now farmers can deal and access everything under one platform, unlike the past”, he said. The Secretary also mentioned that the four major digital platforms which have emerged broadly over the past few years are Aadhaar, Unique Payment Identity (UPI), GST and Public Financial Management System (PFMS).

In his address today, Dr. Kshatrapati Shivaji, Secretary, DARPG, noted, “we need to serve our citizens online, anytime, anywhere, 24x7, in today’s digital era”. Shri S.V.R. Srinivas, Principal Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra, Dept of Information & Technology, said,“e-Governance means Government is valuing every citizen’s time.” It is the fourth pillar of Digital India programme, he stated. While speaking about the benefits of e-Governance in today’s economy, he cited an example where the coming of online Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) services has reduced the number of Disbursing Officers involved in the process from “a hundred to a handful”.

This year, around 800 participants, that include Central Government and 17 states alongwith private participants from industry, have registered for the two-day conference. Participation has significantly increased in comparison to last year, which indicates the rising significance of e-governance and digital platforms. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Dr.Jitendra Singh and Minister of State for Home (Urban), Housing, Transport, Information Technology, Parliamentary Affairs, Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Government of Maharashtra, Shri Satej D. Patil will attend the valedictory session tomorrow.

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