Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said Uttar Pradesh has used technology to provide a digital platform to investors and is attracting large investment.
Inaugurating the first meeting of G20 Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) in Lucknow, Yogi Adityanath said, “Uttar Pradesh is now emerging as a new economy in the world. This can work as a guiding force to the world.”
Uttar Pradesh has streamlined its public distribution system (PDS) by digitalising it to provide subsidised foodgrains to 15 crore people, which has helped the state save ₹1,200 crore annually, the chief minister said at the inaugural session of the meeting organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in the state capital from February 13 to 15.
The chief minister listed government schemes. He said the state with the largest population of 25 crore was using technology to transfer benefits to the people under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.
He said through the DBT, around 2.07 crore farmers were given PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Destitute women and elderly people also got the benefit of an old-age pension through the DBT, he said.
“Digital technology is the need of modern times. Digital technology is bringing about a change in the lives of all the people. Digital economy will help in taking the world forward as a family,” Yogi Adityanath said.
{{/usCountry}}“Digital technology is the need of modern times. Digital technology is bringing about a change in the lives of all the people. Digital economy will help in taking the world forward as a family,” Yogi Adityanath said.
{{/usCountry}}Yogi referred to how the G20 theme “Vasudaiv Kutumbkam” (One world, one family, one future) was being followed in India since ancient times. He used the occasion to refer to the Global Investors Summit-2023 that concluded in Lucknow on Sunday to make his point how the state government created digital platforms to monitor MoUs and incentives and how it was helping in attracting large investment in the state.
“We are bringing about change in the lives of all the people with the transparent system,” he said.
Union minister of state for skill development, entrepreneurship, electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said technology was not meant just for innovation, successes and unicorns but also for transforming the lives of people, and the narratives of governance and democracy.
“In 2015, when the Digital India programme was launched, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid down three goals - technology must empower people, must create more opportunities within the digital economy and should be available to countries that are not historically technology originators,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
He said Prime Minister Modi believed that technology will bring in a stronger governance and build trust between the citizens and the government.
He also said, “Technology today allows benefits, subsidies, government programmes to reach Indian citizens without any delays, leakages and intermediation. This has created in turn, a significant amount of increase in trust between the citizens and the government.” Chandrasekhar said, “As our PM says, this is not the time for war or conflict but the time for our policymakers to work together to make a better future for the youth of the world.”
Union minister for railways, communications, electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said digital technology was part of lives of all the people and India has created a unique framework for the digital economy. He referred to the UPI platform as the best digital payment platform developed in India, adding it was able to transfer money within two seconds. He said 2.2 billion vaccines were administered during the Covid-19 pandemic using the digital platform in India.
Union minister for heavy industry Mahendra Nath Pandey spoke about how the heavy industry ministry was using technology. He also referred to use of technology during the Covid-19 pandemic.