The Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Policy 2018-2023 promises to establish, support infrastructure and strengthen existing mechanism in thrust areas such as internet of things (IOT) and artificial intelligence (AI), according to Revenue, Disaster Management & IT Minister R.B. Udayakumar.
Inaugurating the ITCA Academy of TN Global Technology Forum 2020 through video-conference at the Collectorate here on Wednesday, he said the State was a leader in the country in e-governance, IT and BPM exports, presence of globally recognised software as a service (SAAS) companies, attracting investments and creating jobs. Even during a pandemic, the State government signed MoUs worth more than ₹20,000 crore and launched block chain policy, ethical AI and cyber security policy to ensure safety of digital mode.
Mr. Udayakumar said the commissionerate of e-governance had taken a few initiatives in the State including Arasu e-seva centre, Makkal number and Amma e-grammam.
Lauding the Centre of Excellence in Emerging Technologies (CEET), the Minister said detecting internal bleedings under CEET from CT scan, identification of pest, diseases and nutrient deficiency of crop using AI, computer vision based attendance system, State family database, creating a chatbot for facilitating delivery of government services to the citizens were some of the projects undertaken.
The CEET was created only in January 2019 and, within a short period, the government had been able to penetrate into key areas. The objective was to bridge the knowledge gap between development and application of emerging technologies in various government departments.
The Minister also said the State government was the first to sign an MoU and collaborate with a premier research institute like the IIT Madras for harnessing the power of AI and block chain technology in areas of health, education and agriculture.
ICT Academy of TN head Lakshmi Narayan presided. HansRaj Verma, additional chief secretary, IT Department, M. Sivakumar, CEO, ICT Academy of TN, among others, addressed technical sessions.
The five-day conference was expected to deliberate on upcoming IT policies and give impetus to e-governance initiatives in government departments, officials said.
In a brief interaction with media persons, Mr. Udayakumar said the north-east monsoon was set to begin on October 20. All 38 districts in the State had been instructed to take measures, and Collector-level preparedness meetings had been held.
“The official machinery is geared to tackle emergencies that may arise out of the monsoon,” he responded to a specific query.
He said there was an additional 24% rainfall from the south-west monsoon, which had greatly benefitted agriculture operations in many districts across the State. The water bodies that were desilted would be able to conserve water for irrigation and drinking purposes.
The government had formed zonal-level groups to handle the situation. The weather forecast suggested that there would be moderate rainfall in southern parts of the State and heavy to very heavy rain in some northern parts of Tamil Nadu. All hill stations were also being closely watched, Mr. Udayakumar added.
