90% Guajarati have mobiles or telephones, Gujarat govt hosts seminar on mGovernance-

Gandhinagar, 31 July, 2014

After the successful implementation of e-Governance for citizen-centered state administration and good governance , a one-day international-level seminar on mGovernance was today held at Mahatama Mandir here in Gandhinagar for considering the use of mobile technologies to empowering citizens and so as to achieve inclusive developmentin the state.

On this seminar of mGovernance- ‘Towards a more empowered society’, sharing the dais as a chief guest, Science and Technology, Education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said that Gujarat has made the most of e-Governance to enable citizen-centered state administration. He also added that the present chief minister Anandiben Patel and the then chief minister Narendra Modi have given sufficient importance to the maximum use of technology for public administration.

“Gujarat has truly put a whole lot of endeavors to achieve the dream of “Tomorrow India” by the means of Information technology and Indian talents,” he said. Gujarat has rightly made a mark in the field of Information technology by implementing various projects such as e-Dhara, e-Gram, e-Kisan portal etc.

Lauding Gujarat’s achievements, Dr. Varesh Sinha, Chief Secretary to Government of Gujarat said that its Gujarat’s very own success that this state never leaves any work undone.

He added that ‘First Lead’ is a true characteristic of Gujarat and as a result it tops the nation in the successful implementation of technology in e-Kisan portal, GSWAN network, bar-coded ration card and so on. While briefing about Gatisheel Gujarat abhiyan, he said that Gujarat tops in facilitating internet connection to more than 13k villages within 180 days under e-gram Vishwagram project.

Shri R.S Sharma, secretary to Electronics and Information technology, Government of India said that mobile governance has become very powerful medium in a range of fields. About 60 to 70 per cent of citizens possess mobiles in our country. And it’s a matter of concern to focus upon how to creatively make use of the power of mobile technologies, he said. He also called for mobile-friendly software app for keeping in line with the changing technologies. He further emphasized the use of technologies to achieve the dream of “Digital India”.

There has been an exponential growth of mobile phone subscribers in the country over the last decade. It is to be noted that country has 91 crore of mobile phone subscribers with density of 75 %,while Gujarat alone has 5.45 crore of mobile phone subscribers and the tele-density of the state is more than 90 %. Report of Central government’s web portal E-TAAl (e Transactions Aggregation and Analysis Layer) reports that Gujarat tops with over 81.76 crore e-transactions from January 2013 to July 2014, i.e 26% of the total E-transanction across the nation.

As an expert invitee, Mr. J. satyanarayan, advisor to E-governance and IT, Andhrapradesh while describing the impact of such mediums said that we have to focus upon legal framework, field worker’s ability, user friendly application and widespread network to internal parts of the country for enabling rather efficient usages of such medium.

On this occasion Shri Bhupendrashinh chudasama released a booklet of mGovernance. He also facilitated and gave best wishes to the winners of mobile app development competition during the event.

In the beginning of the program, Secretary to Science and Technology Department Mr. S. J. Haider welcomed the guests and experts with the mantra of ‘Collective efforts, inclusive growth”and described the Gujarat’s success in the field of E-governance and M- governance.

As a run up to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit 2015, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat and Gujarat Informatics Limited (GIL) in coordination with iNDEXTb, KPMG and FICCI organized this seminar. In this event, Shri Dr. Shubha Rey, Head IAMAI, Mr. Rajesh Agrawal Principal Secretary to IT Department, Maharashtra and other experts were present in large number. Mr. Gururaja Rao, CMD, Gujarat Informatics Limited, welcomed the guests for bringing their valuable presence in this seminar.