Guwahati, August 11: The Union Minister Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology and Law and Justice released the document ‘Digital North East Vision 2022’ today at the Radisson Hotel, Guwahati, Assam. The Vision Document was released in the presence of the Chief Ministers and IT Ministers of North East States and senior officials of Central Government Ministries including DoT and DoNER and officials from State Governments of NE States.
The Union Minister in his speech, said, “We are bridging the Digital Divide through this attempt. Digital India is a mass revolution; it is designed to become a mass movement. The Prime Minister of India has, after coming into power, ensured that Delhi come closer to NE in terms of bringing all opportunities to this region.”
The minister also said that the North East will become the growth engine for the country with the government’s Act East Policy. The Minister also informed that the Government has been able to save 90000 Crore rupees during these years by eliminating middlemen by promoting digital payment. Asserting the importance of Electronic Manufacturing, the Minister said that it will become an important component for development in the years to come.
He informed that in 2014 there were only two mobile manufacturing factories and now there are 127 mobile factories all over the country. He urged all the Chief Ministers to give emphasis towards electronics manufacturing.
Talking about the BPO centers in the country, he said, “Till now, India’s BPO centers were all in big cities, but now we have transformed small towns into BPO hubs. There are BPO centers in Kohima, Guwahati and Dibrugarh now which has opened multiple job opportunities for the youth.” He also urged the Chief Ministers present in the event to give the BPO sector a boost in their respective states.
The Minister also pointed out, “We have opened bank accounts for the poor across the country, and connected them to Aadhar. We are also improving the “Bhim app” so that the poor people can easily access digital transaction.”
The Union Minister also said that e-Pragati will be available in all the NE States through Digital India. There will be e-classroom facilities in the medical colleges of Shillong, Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Agartala and Imphal. “We are making India a digital superpower, digital is the future.” he added. The minister also announced that 50,000 state government employees of the North East will be trained in digital technology with capacity building in GST.
During the event for release of Digital North East Vision 2022, several projects were launched covering all NE States. Foundation stone was laid for four NIELIT (National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology) permanent centres in Guwahati, Shillong, Lunglei and Gangtok. NIC (National Informatics Centre) launched the Secure, Scalable and Sugamya Website as a Service (SwaaS) websites for Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.
To take participative governance to last mile citizen, State MyGov portals were launched for Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura. STPI (Software Technology Park of India) incubation facility was inaugurated in Agartala, Aizawl and Shillong. A BPO centre under the North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) was inaugurated in Majuli, Assam.
Manipur State Data Centre (SDC) was migrated to the Cloud Platform. ERNET (National Research and Education Network) India is enabling virtual classroom facility in Tripura. Digital Locker was being integrated with Secondary Education Board Assam and with Nagaland e-District. A comprehensive GIS based Decision Support System for North East States and North Eastern District Resource Plan Geo-Portal (NEDRP) was also launched.
The Digital North East Vision 2022 was released by Hon’ble Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice in the presence of Hon’ble Chief Ministers of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura, IT Ministers of NE States and Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and senior officers from Government of India and State Governments of NE States.
As part of the Digital North East Vision 2022, a cloud hub for north east will be created at Guwahati. Capacity building for 50,000 State Government employees will be taken up in use of digital technologies including GST and digital payments. The number of seats planned for BPOs in North East States will be doubled from 5,000 to 10,000. Network of Common Service Centers (CSCs) will be expanded to cover all villages. High speed broadband connectivity to all gram panchayats or equivalent bodies and mobile connectivity in all uncovered villages in the North Eastern Region shall be provided.
‘Digital North East’ is envisioned as an integral part of the Digital India programme. The Vision Document emphasizes leveraging digital technologies to transform lives of people of the north east and enhance the ease of living. The Document identifies eight digital thrust areas namely, Digital Infrastructure, Digital services, Digital empowerment, Promotion of Electronics Manufacturing, Promotion of IT and ITes including BPOs, Digital Payments, Innovation & Startups and Cyber security.
State-wise roadmaps for implementing digital initiatives in the North East States have been developed. Through these, the Vision Document aims to empower the people of North Eastern region. It would help in leveraging the power of Information Technology to leapfrog the overall development of the north east region and realize its full potential.
Three parallel sessions were held in the forenoon, preceding the event for release of the Vision 2022. These comprised a Networking Workshop on Hub and Spoke Model for BPOs, a session on expanding the role and reach of Common Services Centre and another session on Government eMarket Place (GeM).
These sessions/workshop exposed the participants to the implementation and the role of these initiatives in providing employment opportunities, delivery of various services digitally to rural population and enhancing efficiency of governance.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister of Assam Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Meghalaya Shri Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister of Tripura, Shri Biplab Kumar Deb, Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Shri Chowna Mein, Minister IT, Assam Shri Keshab Mahanta, Minister IT, Meghalaya, Shri Hamletson Dohling, Minister Health Sikkim Shri Arjun Kumar Ghattani, Minister PHE Nagaland Shri Jacob Zhimoni, Secretary DoNER, Secretary, MeitY and other senior officials of the Central and State Government.
