I-BHARAT CONFERENCE

On 1st August 2014, Ms. Gunjan Chhillar (Roll no 14031) student of CSE Department attended a Conference organized by FICCI at FICCI, Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi - 110001. The conference was being organized with a nobel agenda to make Indian cities smarter through technology. It had number of sessions flashing light on various aspects encountering in transformation of cities.

Key Speakers during the conference were Dr. A Didar Singh (Secretary General, FICCI), Dr. Bibek Debroy (Professor, Centre for Policy Research), Shri. Rakesh Garg (Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & IT), Mr. Avinash Vashistha (Chairman & Geography Managing Director), Mr. Rahul Sharma (Partner & Executive Director), Mr S Ananthanarayanan ( Head – Technology Advisor, Wipro Ltd.)

Conference was divided in two sessions. The Session 1 discussed about “Unmet Potential of ICT- from Insights to Action”. The ability of technology in driving transformation across sectors is enormous. Cities around the world have been at the center of economic growth and technological advances. This session was focused on urbanization that provides economic and social opportunities for our citizens and at the same time throws up a new wave of challenges; from the need to modernize ageing infrastructure to optimally manage the demand for natural resources, scaling up urban amenities, and sustaining the health and safety of our citizens.

The Session 2 discussed about “ICT in Healthcare & Education - Waking up the Elephant”. Given a large demographic dividend, some of the key challenges that lie in front of India’s education system are in the areas of access, affordability, equity and relevance. Focus of this session was Technology that can deal with a lot of these challenges - ensuring that right content is available to our youth, empowering the faculty not just with right training but also mitigating the absence of faculty in certain situations. There are however various ways in which issues related to accessibility, affordability, speed as well as standardization of healthcare services can be 3 resolved with help of technology. If deployed effectively, technology can ensure both cost effective and last mile access of curative as well as preventive healthcare for millions of citizens. This session discussed best cases in use of ICT in education & healthcare domain. Eminent speakers from both government and industry shared their views on not just what is possible, but also what needs to be done in these areas in the coming years.