The two-day 18th National Conference on e-Governance with the theme “Digital Governance-New Frontier” has concluded in Gandhinagar.
Addressing the valedictory session on Saturday, Governor of Gujarat, Om Prakash Kohli said e-Governance is important because it is the most easy, effective and economical governance. He said it is one of the most useful fields of Information Technology and brings about Empowerment, Equity, Efficiency besides being the most economic mode of governance.
He added that this conference has been very useful in creating awareness among officers dealing with e-Governance.
Kohli mentioned the successful implementation of various e-Governance Programmes executed by the Gujarat State Government. He mentioned that Mobile technology is a preferred mode for delivery of services under the e-Governance.
He expressed the hope that the Government, Industry and Academia would forge stronger ties to create programmes and institutes with focus on Skill Development in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). He stated that Indian youth will bring development to our nation through the use of ICT.
The second day of the conference started with a panel discussion on “Skill Development and Employability” within the perspective of e-Governance, being the focus sector of this year’s Conference. Further, panel discussions on “Partnership with Industry – New Business Model and Service Delivery”; and “Citizen Services in a Smart City – New Paradigm” were also held. In all the panel discussions held during the two-day conference, eminent personalities from Government, Industries, IIM, e-Governance Board, Estonia, ILO, World Bank, etc participated as panelists.
Govindbhai Patel, Minister of State, Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat also addressed on this occasion. He emphasised the need for all the States to work towards restructuring and re-focusing of existing schemes so as to implement them in a synchronized manner by introducing process improvements at minimal costs.
He urged to take a few steps to enable access, make it affordable, allow for an environment for development of applications and encourage people to adopt internet. Patel expressed confidence that this would lead to a self-sustaining process.
The Conference was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Gujarat, Anandiben Patel yesterday.
During the inaugural Session, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his message on Twitter that e-Governance is an essential part of our dream of Digital India. The two-day Conference was organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat.
The National Awards on excellence in e-Governance for the year 2014-15 were given by Gujarat Chief Minister on Friday.
—ANI