Social justice should be the prime objective of digital innovations: President
Author: BI Bureau
New Delhi: Social justice should be the prime objective of digital innovations, said President Droupadi Murmu while speaking at the 7th edition of the Digital India Awards presentation ceremony here on Saturday.
The President said that the Digital India Awards 2022 acknowledge, inspire and motivate not only government entities but also startups to attain the vision of a digital India. The awards are but a step towards transforming India into a digitally empowered society where people’s potential is unleashed by effective use of digital governance, she said.
Congratulating the awards winners, she said that it was heartening to see the diverse range of innovations made to benefit the people - from citizen empowerment and data sharing platform to the ease of doing business.
The President said that social justice should be the prime objective of digital innovations. India would develop into a knowledge economy only when the digital divide is substantially bridged through use of technology.
She expressed confidence that India is setting the right example of ensuring the inclusion of vulnerable and marginalised sections of society, strengthening economic, social, and cultural rights in our journey towards Digital Antyodaya.
The President said that India’s story of digital transformation is a story of innovation, implementation and inclusion. She emphasized on the need to create collaborative platforms to find innovative solutions to make the world a more accessible and equitable place.
The President said that Indian IT companies have done a remarkable job in making the world realise the value of the Indian talent. “We should leverage prevailing policies and enable the ecosystem to position the country as a global powerhouse for software and hardware products by building innovative Made-in-India technologies,” she added.
The President said that data is the cornerstone of creating new knowledge, insights and thus solutions; and leads to whole new fields of application. We should focus on democratising the use of government data so that young technology enthusiasts can use it to build localised digital solutions, she said.
The President was happy to note the innovative initiatives undertaken by Government entities at the grassroots level and also in collaboration with startups to foster public-private partnership.
She said that we have to keep challenging ourselves to deliver innovative solutions to improve the ease of living for all citizens, be it in the judiciary, land registration, fertilizers or public distribution system. /BI/
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The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
