TS Govt launches Swachh Digital Telangana

Hyderabad, July 6 (INN): Telangana's ITE&C Department and TSIIC launched Swachh Digital Telangana Program at Tech Mahindra office in Madhapur here on Monday.

"The launch has the three flagship programs - Cyber Security, Swach IT and 'Make in Telangana'," announced IT Secretary Jayesh Ranajan. "It is important to sync with Government of India's Digital India Program. We have three local variants of the Digital India program. These include: Digital Telangana; Digital Make in Telangana and Clean Digital IT. Digital Telangana focuses on how to make technology available to common masses. The IT buildings and corridors need to be green. We plan to plant 45000 saplings in Cyberabad area under Telangana Government's massive tree plantation initiative of Haritha Haram, he said. We have planted few saplings at Bio Diversity Park and Raheja Mindspace today," he said.

During the program a MoU was signed on Cyber Security with ITE & C Dept, Govt of Telangana and C.R. Rao Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science on Cyber Security. It is a first of its kind of MoU in India to partner and make cyber security a reality in the state

The MoU was signed by the Allam Apparao Director of C.R. Rao Institute and Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary, ITE & C, Govt of Telangana. It was signed in the presence of C.Rangarajan and KT Rama Rao.

Through this agreement the CR Rao Institute will aid the Government of Telangana in further strengthening and protection of Government owned Databases which secures Aadhar Data, Civil Supplies Data, Samagra Kutumba Survey Data etc. It will ensure that there will be no threat to our own databases.

C.R. Rao Institute will set up Cyber Training Academy and will create cyber warriors who will be trained in Cyber Security and can be employed by both government and private agencies informed Allam Apparao, Director of C.R. Rao Institute. We don't have sufficient cyber security experts in the country. We hardly have about 600, while China has 1.25 lakhs and America one lakh. We need to address this issue.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, IT Minister K. Tarakarama Rao said Cyber Security is a great concern. "We haven't done much in this space. Now TS Govt is embarked on the same," he said

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest and former Governor of AP and RBI Dr. C. Rangarajan, who is also the Chairman of CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Sciences, said there exists a huge digital divide. One part of the society has access to the digital world and other section doesn't. We need to bridge this huge gap. Today Technology is the major driving force of the global economy. It is estimated that two thirds of growth comes from adapting technology alone. Now this is the biggest revolution, which is on all over the world. Initially we have used computers to improve our efficiency. But, that never had any impact to the customer. Today it is different. It has greater impact to the customers. Take for instance, the online reservation system. Banking Transactions, NIFT transfers of funds using satellite communication technology, changed the way we bank today. Once a back office machine, computers have transformed to the processing of huge data.

At the same time, the technology can also be misused. Unprotected digital assets can cause a great deal of damages. It can damage country's credibility. We need to be prepared to handle any threats to our digital assets, he said.

In the second part of the program, which is Swach IT, IEID (Industrial Environment Improvement Drive) 2014 Awards were presented to IALA Jeedimetla, TSIIC and IALA Nacharam. Followed by this Green Rating Certificates along with incentives were presented.

A Feasibility Report for e-Waste Management in Cyberabad Zone was released. It was a study of E Waste Management in Cyberabad Zone. It was brought out by NASSCOM Foundation and TSIIC. The report provides critical insights into the current practices of e-waste management by IT companies based out of Cyberabad Zone and also goes on to give recommendations towards creating and culture of responsible e waste management practices. The total e-waste managed by 41 companies who were part of the survey was 615.56 Metric Tonnes per annum informed Srikanth Sinha, CEO of NASSCOM Foundation.

A brochure on Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) for Industrial Parks was released. TSIIC has over 150 Industrial Parks in Telangana. Many SMEs use its infrastructure. Many of these industrial parks were set up 2 to 3 decades back and lack orientation to environmental and climate considerations. The CCA project will help develop methods and tools for climate resilient industrial area development.

The Third part of the Swachh Digital Telangana Program was Make In Telangana. Under this two MoUs were signed. Uber, the technology platform that is changing the way people move around cities signed MoU with Government of Telangana. Under this agreement, Uber plans to invest upwards of Rs US Dollars 50 million into Hyderabad over next 5years to establish a state-of-the-art facility that will house hundreds of new employees. Hyderabad was always a preferred choice informed Uber. This agreement will create thousands of entrepreneurship opportunities and foster greater innovation said Siddharth Shanker, GM Hyderabad of Uber.

Another MoU was signed between Sujiv Nair, CEO of Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK)and Deepak Bhardwaj, VP, Samsung South West Asia. The company will offer the Digital Academy courses in collaboration with TASK. The objective of The Samsung Digital Academy is to create a pool of trained youth who can leverage the software development and testing opportunities presented by innovative digital technologies based on the TiZen OS.

At the end of the program K.T.Rama Rao summed up the day's proceedings. Today Micromax was also supposed to sign a MoU, but couldn't take place as the commissioner of industries was travelling and the same would done in near future he said.