Dehradun :  The National e-Governance Division (NeGD), in collaboration with the Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA), Government of Uttarakhand, conducted a two-day workshop on the OpenForge platform on May 19^th & 20^th, 2025 at Hotel Aketa, Rajpur Road, Dehradun.

The workshop aimed to promote open-source collaboration, enhance transparency, and strengthen digital governance through hands-on training in using the OpenForge platform. More than 65 participants each day, including developers, software engineers, and project managers from over 50 departments of the Uttarakhand Government, actively took part in the sessions. The workshop served as a vital initiative to foster the use of modern development tools and encourage a collaborative ecosystem in government software projects.

OpenForge is India’s official open-source platform, developed under the Digital India initiative to encourage transparent, secure and reusable software development across e-Governance applications. It supports version control, project dashboards, issue tracking, CI/CD integration, and collaborative documentation.

Key Highlights of the Workshop

• The workshop was inaugurated by Ms. Nitika Khandelwal (IAS), Additional Secretary, IT, Government of Uttarakhand, who emphasized the critical role of secure and optimized software practices in public systems
• Mr. Tirath Pal Singh, Additional Director, ITDA, commended the initiative and advocated its statewide adoption
• Mr. Ram Unyal, DGM, ITDA, encouraged participants to integrate OpenForge into their departmental development processes
• Mr. J.L. Gupta, Director, NeGD, appreciated the participants' enthusiasm and encouraged adoption of collaborative, open-source approaches in governance
• Live demonstrations and hands-on sessions were given by NeGD experts Mr. Amit Kumar (DGM, NeGD) and Mr. Sanjay Patel (Sr. Manager), who showcased the full capabilities of the platform
• Mr. Ravi Shankar Singh, Head SeMT, Uttarakand and Mr. Arun Bisht, Senior Executive, ITDA, skillfully moderated the sessions

Workshop Modules Covered

• Introduction to OpenForge and its strategic relevance in Digital India
• Demonstration of core features such as Git-based version control, project management, and CI/CD pipelines
• Case studies of successful e-Governance projects on OpenForge
• Hands-on training in creating and managing repositories, workflows, and documentation

Departments in Participation

The workshop witnessed active involvement from departments such as ITDA, UPCL, PTCUL, State Tax, Agriculture, Livestock Dev. Board, Pollution Control Board, SCERT, NHM, Higher Education, Smart City Ltd, Labour, Ayush, and many others.

The event concluded with a Q&A session, feedback collection, and certificate distribution to all participants. This initiative reflects ITDA’s commitment in bolstering software development capacity in the state and aligns with NeGD’s broader vision of building a collaborative, transparent, and scalable digital public infrastructure.

By enabling government departments to harness platforms like OpenForge, the workshop represents a significant step forward in realizing the objectives of Digital India and creating a more interconnected, efficient, and open e-Governance ecosystem.

 

(Release ID: 2130359)