Urban Development and Information Technology minister of Telangana KT Rama Rao today said that the state stands in number one position in the country in the number of digital transactions.
Today, Telangana is at the apex of a digital revolution, asserted KTR. “This stands testimony to the digital prowess of the state. We are creating the requisite infrastructure, we are skilling our youngsters and we are promoting innovation,” added KTR.
KTR recently participated in the inaugural ceremony of ICT4D, an annual conference of ICRISAT. During the ceremony, Mr. Rao said this initiative of Telangana Government is a revolutionary and transformative project that aims to democratize access to internet and also increase transparency by providing all government services online.
KTR further added that, “The Fiber-Grid Project is a novel initiative, which was not attempted anywhere in the country - perhaps not attempted anywhere in the world. The project aims to piggyback on the drinking water grid project and attempts to connect every household in the state with Optic Fiber.” The citizens of this state will not only get clean drinking water but are also connected to a fibre optic grid, said KTR.
“Once the project is completed, it will open up a large number of opportunities and will change the landscape of this state. At the doorstep of every citizen, would be services delivered ranging from e-health to e-education.” “Substantial employment for the youngsters of this state, will also be generated by the new business models that evolve based on the Fiber Grid infrastructure.”
The Telangana State has one of country’s most robust and comprehensive E-Governance initiatives. Rao added that, “Taking E-Governance services to the next level, the Telangana Government very soon would be offering all these Government to Citizen Services (G2C) through mobile apps too. The e-panchayat initiative has also been launched by the state, which intends to offer a range of G2C, Financial, Insurance and other allied services at a Village Panchayat level. The Women Village Level Entrepreneurs will operate these services,” KTR added.
“We understand that providing digital infrastructure and services has no meaning if citizens are not digitally literate. The state government has taken up an ambitious program to make one person in every family to be digitally literate,” Rama Rao said.
KTR, while praising the state CM, K. Chandrashekhar Rao said, “Our Chief Minister firmly believes that technology which does not alleviate the problems of a common man is of no use. Couple of years back, Telangana government has established T-Hub, India’s largest tech incubator. Here, young Indians are trying to come up with viable tech solutions in important sectors like Agriculture, CleanTech and Transportation. We are already seeing some promising solutions being developed at T-Hub.”
The government is also actively collaborating with ICRISAT, on several initiatives, and one such important initiative is the digital agriculture initiative. This agricultural initiative aims to provide technology solutions to our farmers, said KTR.
He further added that, Telangana is one of the first states to have launched exclusive policies for Data Analytics, Open Data, and Cyber Security. These policies are intended to help research and development in these emerging sectors and also facilitate investments. KTR also made a special mention about their Open Date initiative launched recently.
KTR said, “Telangana is only the second state in the country to come up with an Open Data Policy. The government of Telangana likes to share data proactively and we believe this data will then be used by enthusiasts to develop solutions and visualizations.”
SUPRAJA
