Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology; Earth Sciences and Minister of State for PMO, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh was recently in the city of destiny for the 28th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG).

The conference served as a platform for States and the Centre to exchange best practices in governance, enabling replication of successful models across the country.

Thanking the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu, for facilitating the organization of the conference in Visakhapatnam he said the choice of venue was apt given the State’s tradition of pioneering governance reforms. 

The Union Minister praised the Andhra Pradesh Government for pioneering citizen-centric innovations—ranging from real-time governance to digitized service delivery—and recalled how practices first tried in the State decades ago, such as outsourcing of civic services, were later adapted in other parts of India.

He added that Andhra Pradesh continues to play a leading role in India’s growth story, pointing to upcoming projects such as a quantum data centre at Amaravati and an additional space launch pad at Sriharikota. 

Reviewing governance reforms over the past decade, Dr. Jitendra Singh said more than 1,600 obsolete rules had been repealed, outdated practices like mandatory attestation of documents scrapped, and amendments brought into the Prevention of Corruption Act to ensure accountability on both sides of bribery.

Looking ahead, he said technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and the Internet of Things would increasingly shape India’s governance landscape—AI enabling predictive administration, Blockchain reducing corruption through transparency, and IoT strengthening service delivery.  At the same time, he stressed the importance of “digitizing every function but humanizing every service,” making technology a bridge of empathy and empowerment. 

Dr. Singh conferred the National Awards for e-Governance 2025 which saw record participation with more than 1.44 lakh nominations from Gram Panchayats, reflecting the growing reach of digital governance at the grassroots. 

He also felicitated winners of the Online Hackathon on Data-Driven Innovation for Citizen Grievance Redressal and announced the launch of the 2026 awards scheme.

During the inaugural session, Mr V. Srinivas, Secretary, DARPG, said the conference has emerged as a key forum for institutionalizing best practices, promoting state-to-state learning, and sharing award-winning innovations.