The former Secretary to the GoI, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Mr Ajay Prakash Sawhney, was recently in the city of destiny to deliver an inaugural address at IIM Visakhapatnam.

In his address, he underscored the imperative of leveraging the strengths of various government initiatives. 

Through the example of UPI (Unified Payments Interface), he captured the audience’s attention by illustrating how the magic of modernday technologies can unify different ecosystems onto a single platform to cater to the needs of the citizens.

Mr Sawhney highlighted that India has proven its potential in building businesses for the world, with particular focus on grassroot and real-life problems and solutions that have immense scalability.

He asserted that India has been able to produce more unicorns than all of Europe combined, leveraging national public digital platforms, and promoting ease of doing business and ease of living by building citizen awareness and fostering participation in decision-making processes.

Mr Sawhney emphasized the importance and immense use for Bhashini, the AI-based language tool and ONDC, the Open Network for Digital Commerce. 

Exciting times are ahead for digital governance in the healthcare and education space as well, remarked the former secretary, GoI.

Mr Sawhney was addressing a select group of All-India Service Officers, including those from the Central Staffing Scheme, Central Secretariat Service, and Central Secretariat Stenographer Service, who were recently given a 5-day Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), GoI sponsored Training Program on Digital Governance and Management at the Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam (IIMV) A.U. Campus.

IIM V Director Prof. M. Chandrasekhar briefed the participants about the journey of the institute and how it has been contributing to the capacity building of experienced government officers and other professionals through its various hybrid program offerings such as the Post Graduate Program in Digital Governance and Management

The program directors Prof. Bhavya P S and Prof. Abhishek Srivastava extended their warm welcome to the participants and briefed them about the training modules and the program outcomes envisaged.

Twenty senior civil servants from the Government of India Ministries/Dept.s and states attended the program.