Telangana stands number one in number of digital transactions: KTR

Urban Development and Information Technology minister of Telangana K.T. Rama Rao on Monday said Telangana stands number one in the country in the number of digital transactions.

He asserted that Telangana is today at the cusp of a Digital Revolution.

"This stands testimony to the digital prowess of the state. We are creating the requisite infrastructure, we are skilling our youngsters and we are promoting innovation," he added.

Rao who participated in the inaugural ceremony ICT4D, an ICRISAT annual conference said that this initiative of Telangana Government is a revolutionary and transformative project that aims to democratize access to internet and also increase transparency by providing all government services online.

"The Fiber-Grid Project is a novel initiative, which was not attempted anywhere in the country - perhaps not attempted anywhere in the world. The project aims to piggyback on the drinking water grid project and attempts to connect every household in the state with Optic Fiber," he said.

Rao said the citizens of this state will not only get clean drinking water but are also connected to a fibre optic grid.

"Once this is complete, it will open up a plethora of opportunities and will transform the landscape of this state. Services ranging from e-health to e-education would then be delivered at the door step of the citizen.

New business models that evolve based on the Fiber Grid infrastructure, will also generate substantial employment for the youngsters of this state," he added.

He also asserted that Telangana has one of country's most robust and comprehensive E-Governance initiatives.

"Taking E-Governance services to the next level, very soon the Telangana Government would be offering all these G2C Services via mobile apps too. Telangana state has also launched the e-panchayat initiative, which intends to offer a range of G2C, Financial, Insurance and other allied services at a Village Panchayat level. These are being operated by Women Village Level Entrepreneurs," Rao added.

"We understand that providing digital infrastructure and services has no meaning if citizens are not digitally literate. The state government has taken up an ambitious program to make one person in every family to be digitally literate," Rama Rao said.

While praising Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Rama Rao said, "Our Chief Minister firmly believes that technology which does not alleviate the problems of a common man is of no use. Couple of years back, Telangana government has established T-Hub, India's largest tech incubator. Here, young Indians are trying to come up with viable tech solutions in important sectors like Agriculture, CleanTech and Transportation. We are already seeing some promising solutions being developed at T-Hub."

He said the government is also actively collaborating with ICRISAT on a lot of initiatives, adding that one important initiative is the digital agriculture initiative, which aims to provide technology solutions to our farmers.

"Telangana is one of the first states to have launched exclusive policies for Data Analytics, Open Data, and Cyber Security. These policies are intended to aid research and development in these emerging sectors and also facilitate investments," he added.

Ram Rao made a special mention about their Open Date initiative launched recently.

"Telangana is only the second state in the country to come up with an Open Data Policy. The government of Telangana likes to share data proactively and we believe this data will then be used by enthusiasts to develop solutions and visualizations," Rao said.