Maiden IT summit to showcase State’s digital prowess

The Information and Technology Summit, scheduled to take place on February 25, will present new and emerging features of Jharkhand to the national and as well as international audience.

The event, as per the plans chalked out so far by the Department, would highlight some of the thrust areas such as skill development and related employment generation, innovations taken place, along with successes achieved in the field of software export.

“So far we have been able to train about 9.5 lakh youths in digital skilling, out of which about 4.5 lakh have even cleared the online tests. During the IT summit those youths would be issued certification about digital literacy. Also, more than 5,000 youths have been given jobs in rural areas in digital transactions and communication related sectors,” said a senior official on Wednesday requesting anonymity.

Another major show during the one-day extravaganza is going to be ‘Rural BPOs’ in which the State has emerged as a leader in the country. “As many as 30 Rural BPOs have been opened in villages and are functional in the State. Important is to note that just 46 such BPOs are operational all over the country. This is a great feat as far as Jharkhand is concerned,” he added.

The Department is also aiming to take the script all along and even further, especially in the field of digital literacy which is coming to the fore due to recent initiatives taken for encouraging greater digital transactions, online trade and cashless system by the government at various levels.

“The summit would also give an opportunity to about 10 Information Technology related companies, which are operational in the State and have focused on software productions and export. This has been made possible through several incubation centres and the IT Park setup in the State. Stalls from these companies related solely to Jharkhand would be in place at the IT summit,” said the official.

Another major attraction is going to be startups coming up in the State. Some of those in the field of art and crafts have been given the responsibility to design the mementoes going to be presented to dignitaries participating into the summit. “We were also mulling to handover jobs like catering to the startup come up in Jharkhand but looking at the magnitude of people attending, it was considered too big a task for them,” he said.

Earlier, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was to attend the summit but due to cancelation of his trip, Chief Minister Raghubar Das would inaugurate the programme in presence of top officials.