Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad remotely laid the foundation stone of a permanent campus of the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) at Benthang in Pakyong, East Sikkim from Guwahati on Saturday.
The function was also attended by the Minister for Health Care, Human Services and Family Welfare Arjun Kumar Ghatani, who represented the state of Sikkim in One Digital North East Summit.
The state government has allotted 8.54 acres of land for setting up of the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology NIELIT in the state. The Union Minister also laid foundation stone for setting up of NIELIT at Shillong in Meghalaya, Guwahati in Assam and Lunglei in Mizoram on the occasion.
On the occasion, the Digital North East: Vision 2022 was officially released by the Union Minister in presence of the Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Tripura Biplab Kumar Deb, Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad K Sangma, Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Chowna Mein, PHE Minister Nagaland Jacob Zhimomi, IT Minister Meghalaya Hamletson Dohling, Secretary Department of Telecommunication, Secretary DoNER, officials from the government of India and NE states.
In his keynote address, Union Minister called upon all northeastern states to move together in joint venture of Digital North East vision. He said the government of India has been dedicated to connect all the states of North Eastern region digitally into the mainstream. He urged everyone to go through newly released Vision Document for Digital NE 2022 thoroughly and to initiate action accordingly in their respective states.
On the occasion, Union Minister also announced to provide training on capacity building for 50,000 state government employees for the use of digital technologies including GST and Digital Payment. He also announced to double the existing five thousand seats in Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) in NE regions to ten thousand seats. He also announced to establish e-Pragati enterprise in all North Eastern states and also outlined strategies and specific initiatives to achieve digital empowerment for the citizens of NE states.
“India is emerging as Electronic Manufacturing Centre and Economic Power House in the global scenario where eight states of NE region have significant role to play for transformation by the use of technology. Newly released vision document identifies eight digital thrust areas namely Digital Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Promotion of IT in BPOs, Digital Payments, innovations, Startups and Cyber Security,” he said.
On the occasion, Sikkim Health Minister Ghatani raised issues of Telecommunication connectivity constraints in the state of Sikkim and submitted two demands for establishment of state’s own telecom circle and strengthening of internet connectivity from district to sub division and block level.