‘Digital technology has eased problems during COVID-19 pandemic’

Bhubaneswar: When entire country is facing crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic, digital technology has turned out to be a boon during the tough situation, said State Electronics & Information Technology Minister Tusharkanti Behera during a webinar.

Gracing the 10th ICT Odisha Webinar jointly organised by Odisha Electronics & Information Technology Department and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Bhubaneswar on Friday, the Minister said that the digital technology has somehow eased our problems during the period like lockdown in Odisha.

“As the market has switched to online, now people need not to go out of houses for buying items of their choices due to which the social distancing norms are effectively being followed to break the chain of coronavirus. Even work from home has been proved to be very useful during lockdown to deliver services by the professionals,” Behera said adding that new technology like Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning will turn out to be a great boon to human community in upcoming days and it will make our life more easier.

Participating in the webinar, State Electronics & IT Secretary Manoj Mishra said that COVID-19 pandemic has affected all the sectors in the country, but has brought a huge opportunity for IT industry. However, ‘digital divide’ has emerged as a big challenge in the society that could affect education, employment sectors on a large volume.

“To overcome the situation, we need to provide internet connectivity to everyone in the State,” he said.

“India can be a self-reliant nation by leveraging technologies, talent pool, and the robust ecosystem developed by the government,” underlined Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Director General Omkar Rai at the 10th ICT Odisha Webinar on ‘Digitization Opportunities Post COVID.

CII Odisha State Council Vice Chairman Manish Kharbanda, who is the Advisor for Corporate Affairs, Legal, CSR & New Mines Development and Executive Director, Head of Corporate Affairs, CSR, Environment, Sustainability and HSE Functions at Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, highlighted on the growth of IT industry in the State.

Besides, Digivalley Innovations co-founder Amit Dev and industry experts and business leaders including Salvador Marin, Krishna Venkatesh, Madhu Jamallamudi, Ravi Ranjan, Vikash Malpani, Chandrasekhar Sharma were among others shared their views on enormous opportunities in digital space and how IT can play a major role in transforming India as a self-reliant nation through technology innovations.