: Nagpur, March 21, 2023

The Fourth Plenary Session of the CIVIL20 India 2023 Inception Conference at Nagpur today, dealt with ‘Civil Society Organisations as Drivers of Innovation and Technology’. The session was chaired by Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, Sherpa, Civil 20 India, 2023. The session covered the following Working Groups of CIVIL20 India 2023: Technology, Security, and Transparency; Preservation and Conservation of Traditional Arts, Crafts and Culture; Traditional and Innovative Ways of Livelihood and Employment; Education and Digital Transformation. The session also covered the Special Committee on Financial Issues.

The speakers in the session included Alison Lynn Richards- Director, Intel Corporation; Jaya Jaitly - President and Founder, Dastkari Haat Samiti; Veronika Soboleva - Director of Development at International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Global Foundation; Binny Buchori, Member of the Civil20 India 2023 International Advisory Committee; and Vishpala Hundekari, founder of ekibeki.

Vijay Nambiar, Ambassador and Sherpa C-20 2023 chairing the Plenary session organised on ' Civil Society Organisations as Drivers of Innovation and Technology ' in the second day of C-20 inception meeting at Nagpur.

The coordinators of these Working Groups, who also spoke in the session, Dr. Krishnashree Achuthan, Dean, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, and Dr Prema Nedungadi, Founding Director at AmritaCREATE.  Deepti George from the Dvara Research, who is the convenor of the Special Committee on Financial Issues, also spoke during the session.

Dr Krishnashree Achuthan said that all of us have a deep impression in another world which is the digital world. Technology is the bridge between real world and digital world. She said that negative impact of technology must be examined before adopting it. She then talked of the importance of cybersecurity and said that cyber pandemic would be far more severe than the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology addiction was another issue of concern. Technology is a good servant but a dangerous master, she said.

Vishpala Hundekari said that today around 200 crafts in India were endangered. In case of handicrafts, there were two concerning issues, On the demand side, there was lack of awareness of authentic handicrafts and on the supply side, artisans don’t have the financial capacity to move on. She said that we can use handicrafts as a tool for social change.

Dr Prema Nedungadi said that her working group was focussing on the following issues in education: education for Life and Global Citizenship, education for person with disability, skill development, learning equity and emerging technologies, digital transformation and digital accessibility and education in emergencies. She informed that her working group was also conducting a ‘persons with disability awareness campaign’.

Dr.Prema Nedungadi, Chair, School of Computing,Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, sharing her thoughts in the Plenary session organised on ' Civil Society Organisations as Drivers of Innovation and Technology '.

Deepti George said that financial systems powered governments as well as enterprises. She said that challenges on finance are deepening further.  Financial gap is a big constraint and developing countries have to always make a trade-off in their policy decision, she stated. G20 need to scale up development on innovative financial tools.  Exclusion of developing countries in international finance mechanism also needed to be  addressed. There was a need for a humane mechanism to discharge debt, she said.

Alison Lynn Richards said that India, which is the heart and soul of the world, was hosting the G20. She then spoke of technology and said that what was shown in fiction in the past was now becoming a reality.The future of technology was advancing at a very fast pace. However, there was also a downside of technology, for example addiction and phishing. Cyberattacks were on the rise and senior persons, in particular, could be taken advantage of.  AI was also being used for disinformation and fake news, she said.

Jaya Jaitly appreciated the fact that crafts had become a part of discourse. She spoke of the need to change the colonial understanding of crafts which viewed crafts as only a decorative article. She said that understanding crafts was essential to understanding India. Today, crafts was becoming a product and the element of culture was missing, she further said.

Jaya Jaitly, President and Founder, Dastkari Haat Samiti, speaking in the Plenary session organised on ' Civil Society Organisations as Drivers of Innovation and Technology ' in the second day of C-20 inception meeting at  Nagpur.

Veronika Soboleva talked of role of Civil Society Organisations in education and digital transformation sector. Civil Society Organisations are connected to the community and they are real actors who can bring a change in education as CSOs are acting on grassroot level as well as the global level. Civil Society can also advance technology, she said.

Veronika Soboleva , Director of Development at ICPC Global Foundation, is addressing

the Plenary session organised on ' Civil Society Organisations as Drivers of Innovation and Technology ' in the second day of C-20 inception meeting at  Nagpur.

Binny Buchori emphasised that with all advancements in technology, there are still nations which were left behind. We needed to acknowledge the digital divide which was because of unequal access to finance, she said.

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SVS/SC/PM

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