From Our Special Correspondent - Bengaluru
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Nov 17: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah launched the state government’s ambitious programme of providing free WiFi facility to all the 2650 grama panchayats in the state. This facility will be offered to the first batch of 500 GPs at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2017, which kicked off in the city on Thursday.
The Chief Minister launched the programme at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2017 during which Virgin Hyperloop One signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in India with the Government of Karnataka to conduct its preliminary study and NASSCOM announced its decision to establish the first Centre of Excellence on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Sciences.
The inaugural programme of the Bengaluru Tech Summit was attended by Anne Berner, minister for transport and communications, Finland, R V Deshpande, minister for large and medium industries and infrastructure development, Priyank Kharge, minister for IT, BT and tourism, Dr Subhash C Khuntia, chief secretary, S Gopala Krishnan, chairman, VGIT and co-founder, Infosys, Vanitha Narayanan, chairman, IBM India and other dignitaries.
The Bengaluru Tech Summit is hosted by the department of IT & BT and is a creative mix of two flagship events- the 20th edition of Bengaluru ITE.biz and the 17th edition of Bengaluru India Bio under one platform.
The state government’s unique programme to strengthen rural Karnataka by providing free WiFi to grama panchayats, is a move to ensure availability of comprehensive data to villagers at their fingertips. The project’s first phase will see 500 grama panchayats get free WiFi facility from Thursday.
Under the State Government’s programme, all individuals within a radius of one kilometer from the WiFi-enabled grama panchayat will get free access to 100 MB data at high speed and can have all the government facilities accessible via internet.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah said access to knowledge and information should not be confined only to the people in the urban areas but should also be made available to the rural people as well. The project was seen as a clear indication of the government’s commitment to an outcome driven development of the State.
The State IT, BT and tourism minister Priyank Kharge said the initiative will be implemented in phases. “The rural people, especially the youth, must get the facilities available to their urban counterparts and must get an opportunity to access the internet to get themselves enlightened, enriched and also to communicate or share data.”
The 3-day mega event is the result of Karnataka combining its two flagship events- the 20th edition of Bengaluru ITE.biz and the 17th edition of Bengaluru India Bio under one platform, Bengaluru Technology Summit-2017, to facilitate creative collaboration between multi-disciplinary stakeholders and entrepreneurs from around the
world.
The summit also included a separate element for women entrepreneurs, “She Drives Technology" by ‘She the People’ to highlight women leading innovation and how women returning to work can be a game changer for IT.
Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman VGBT and CMD, Biocon, addressed the development in the life sciences space and heralded in a new age of digital health using advanced technology, AI and data sciences.
Vanita Narayanan said, "Technology helps bring industries together and this goes a long way in influencing government policies. Technology has become a pervasive platform for all industries.”
Anne Berner highlighted the need of the moment as data sharing. Quoting an example of Finland she said, “Instead of ownership of data, sharing data is better as it helps the overall infrastructure. Quality and speed will only increase as technology increases and with shorter delays in data transmission forecasting becomes more accurate. We have a high quality automated reality.”