TIMES NETWORK Hosts Digital India Summit and Awards 4.0

TIMES NETWORK, a part of India’s largest media conglomerate, The Times Group, launched the fourth edition of its ‘Times Network Digital India Summit and Awards 4.0’ today. Attended by some of the most valued dignitaries in India, the summit aimed at deliberating on key challenges and laid out key imperatives and framework for turning the vision of ‘Digital India’ into a reality, through a series of panel discussions and deliberations.

The summit kicked off with the keynote address by the Chief Guest, Honorable Union Minister for Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad. The participants at the first session of the panel discussion themed "Digital India- Where Do Things Stand? A Real Time Assessment” were Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, DoT; Ms. Debjani Ghosh, President Designate, Nasscom; Mr. Rajkiran Rai, MD & CEO, Union Bank of India; Mr. Sri Rajan, Chairman, Bain & Co India and Mr. Karan Bajwa, MD IBM India.

Talking extensively about the growth, opportunities and possibilities of the digital connectivity in India, Honorable Union Minister for Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad stated, "Digital India which is a flagship initiative the government is designed to empower and to help the poor and the underprivileged. We are focusing on providing the affordable and inclusive digital media to the masses. Today we have well over 1 billion mobile phones in the country with 350 million being smartphones which defines the digital identity of the nation. Low cost technology for inclusive growth is crucial." The Honorable Minister also touched upon the benefits of digital India in the wake of enrolling Aadhaar. He added, "With enrollment of 1.18 billion Aadhaar cards, we were able to save 49,000 crore of the exchequer which was previously looted by the middlemen in the public distribution system." Further talking about the inclusion of the digital resources, he highlighted that "India has digital aspiration, appetite and customer. We are heading towards a revolution of digital media in this country."

Commenting on Times Network Digital India Summit 4.0, Mr. MK Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network said, "Over the last 3 years, Digital India Summit & Awards, has enjoyed tremendous response from both delegates and participants alike. With an unwavering focus on building a digitally empowered India, the 4th edition of Digital India Summit is another step towards bridging the 'digital divide' and finding solutions and opportunities to create a robust security architecture."

Rajkiran Rai, MD and CEO, Union Bank of India said, “Digital India is one of the biggest government programs in the world to bring about sustainable and inclusive societal transformation using digital technologies. The process of making India into a trillion-dollar digital economy has begun and Digital India is making this dream a reality. We at Union Bank are committed to help India achieve its digital vision. We are proud to partner Times Network for the last 3 years in this impact initiative.”

In the intriguing session on ‘Digital India- Where Do Things Stand? A Real Time Assessment’, Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, DoT, said, "Digital India is an aspiration. We are focused to enable digital opportunities to reach to the masses and leverage them.” She additionally highlighted the issue of data protection in the discussion as she stated, "We are planning a robust data protection framework to empower the digital mandate. Data protection is beyond Aadhaar; issue of privacy is a global threat."

Stating the issue of data protection in the digital domain, Debjani Ghosh, President Designate, Nasscom said, "Critical end to end data policy is a must. The emerging technology needs solid building blocks of data privacy which will enhance the dependency on the digital media. Digital solutions can enhance the employment in the rural areas if we cater it to the most underprivileged parts of India."

Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI speaking on the vision of 5G in India emphasized on the periphery of competitive landscape of the telecom industry. He said, "We need to position ourselves in the telecom industry with the spectrum auctions pricing methodology. We need more spectrum in the upcoming time to leverage the last customer of a telecom company."

Dr. TP Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship addressed a panel discussion on the theme of 'Developing A Digital Workforce- The Ground Realities'. He said "Skills acquisition needs to be more aspirational. Our jobs are not aspirational. Soft skill developments programs including life skills and ITI which are the game changers under the Skill India campaign of the government can play pivotal role in shaping the skill development sector in this country."

The summit had discussions on the relevance of 5G in India, how Fintech has helped in the growth of Digital India and discussed the importance of data security in India.

The ‘Digital India’ Awardees are:

Sr.No	Award Category	Winner
1	DIGITAL START-UP INNOVATORS	Radikal Tribe
2	DIGITAL ENTERPRISE SERVICE	Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
3	DIGITAL ENTERPRISE MANUFACTURING	Shree Cement
4	DIGITAL SOCIAL INNOVATION	Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals
5	DIGITAL INNOVATION IN E-GOVERNANCE SOLUTIONS	APTOnline
6	DIGITAL INNOVATION IN E-HEALTHCARE DELIVERY SOLUTIONS	Department of Information Technology & Communication - DOITC, Government of Rajasthan
7	DIGITAL INNOVATION IN SMART CITY SOLUTIONS	Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited
8	DIGITAL INNOVATION IN E-EDUCATION LEARNING SOLUTIONS	Department of Information Technology & Communication - DOITC, Government of Rajasthan
9	DIGITAL INNOVATION IN AGRICULTURAL SECTOR SOLUTIONS	Agent Technologies Software
10	DIGITAL INNOVATION IN SKILLS & EMPLOYMENT SOLUTIONS	Department of Information Technology & Communication - DOITC, Government of Rajasthan
11	DIGITAL INNOVATION IN SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT SOLUTIONS	Department of Information Technology & Communication - DOITC, Government of Rajasthan Project: Mukhya Mantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan

The session extensively talked about the opportunities and challenges in the digital world when the country is looking for economic independence.