A Two Day Conference on Digital Bharat 2015, a “Conversations for Advancing ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ ” was organized by FICCI at FICCI Federation House, New Delhi from 14th May to 15th May 2015. Mr. Amar Saraswat, Assistant Professor (CSE Department), Ms. Poonam Singla, Assistant Professor, (EEE Department) and Ms. Priyanka Mahani (ECS Department) of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the conference.

The motive of the event was to discuss the 2 flagship programs of the Prime Minister of India – ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’.

Mr. Virat Bhatia, Chairman, Communications and Digital Economy Committee, FICCI delivered the welcome lecture. The launch of FICCI-EY report, titled “Speeding Ahead on the Telecom and Digital Economy Highway” was done by the following dignitaries, Dr. Jyotsna Suri, President, FICCI, Mr. Prashant Singhal, Global Telecommunication Leader, Mr. Joseph Alhadeff, Chairman, USIBC Digital Economy Industrial Group, Mr. Anant Goenka, Director and Head, New Media Express Group and Shri Rakesh Garg, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications & IT, Govt. of India under esteemed presence of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister of Communications & IT, Govt. of India.

‘Digital Bharat 2015’ is a platform for having transformative exchanges and deliberations, organized jointly by the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology and Government of India. The conference aimed at advancing meaningful dialogue between industry and government on issues that will impact growth and investment in digital economy sector, by taking innovative solutions to advance the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ program.

Mr. Prashant Singhal focused on many aspects such as Digital infrastructure as a utility for rationalizing taxes and levies, which provide financing needs, developing clear spectrum road map and providing adequate resources at reasonable needs, security and governance issues of internet. The FICCI-EY Report focused on aspects such as Digital infrastructure as a utility, rationalizing taxes and levies, which provide financing needs, developing clear spectrum road map and providing adequate resources at reasonable needs, security and governance issues of internet.

Mr. Joseph Alhadeff talked of India’s ICT opportunity. He said that India is a global economy and thus verbal policies and standards are not enough. He motivated about taking initiatives to manufacture in India and for that how enhanced cooperation is required by everyone in India.

Mr. Anant Goenka during the Theme Address talked about importance and need of digitalization in India and focused on how to achieve Digital Bharat in a sustainable and consistent way.

Mr. Rakesh Garg discussed about importance of IT in every sector and focused on quality of education given in villages and rural areas. He discussed how Digital India has become a widespread issue and that the challenges and opportunities both are big in this mission as India has become a global hub.

Hon’ble Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, focused on emerging women entrepreneurs, and digitalization of every sector such as post offices. He also emphasized on improving the manufacturing sector, to support the Make in India. He said that skill development at the ground level is very important and Make in India should be coupled with Digital India to make skilled India. Looking at the way mobile phone and internet user’s penetration is growing, he added that there should be more manufacturing of electronics in India and concentrations will be on providing skills. He also assured the industry that the auction of spectrum in the future too would be conducted in a timely, fair and transparent way. The hallmark will be good governance and “the road map will be fully disclosed in advance to that industry can put its act together in a planned manner”.

A plenary session on “Are the Next Gen politicians ready to embrace a Digitally Empowered India”, was moderated by Mr. Sunil Jain, Managing Editor, Financial Express.

The panel members for the session were:

1. Shri Baijayanyt Jay Panda, MP, Lok Sabha

2. Shri Manish Tiwari, National Spokesperson, Indian National Congress

3. Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, MP (BJP), Lok Sabha and

4. Shri Pavan K. Verma, MP (JDU), Rajya Sabha

5. Mr. Sunil Jain, Managing Editor, Financial Express (Moderator)

The prime discussion in the session focused on how actually today’s politicians are not ready to embrace the digital world with great ease but they are merely being forced to do so. There was extensive discussion on the major issue of today i.e. Net Neutrality. The panelists also discussed how Internet and Social Media have decentralized power to a great extent. The discussion was followed by a brief Question-Answer Session.

The conference provided a mix of inspiring key notes, high octane plenaries, and exclusive industry-government dialogue during its sessions. It helped in understanding the policies and measures that are adopted by the government to make the various initiatives successful in both rural and urban India.

Some Glimpses: