Hyderabad,  The 24th Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) 2020-21 is set to discuss on the theme of "India's Techade: Digital Governance in a Post Pandemic World". The 2-day conference that begins Friday, is being organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, in association with the State Government of Telangana.

Delegates from 28 States and 9 Union Territories along with academia, Research Institutions, IT Industry would be participating in the conference through virtual mode. The delegates attending the National Conference in physical mode would adopt all Covid protocols.

Digital innovation will play an important part in the next decade for governance and this will necessitate conversations around topics and technologies which would shape Digital Governance in the future. This conference will be a platform for discussion on some of these technologies by inviting distinguished speakers to share their knowledge and insights on these topics.

The Conference would provide considerable momentum to the e-Governance initiatives across the country, providing opportunities for civil servants and industry captains to showcase their successful interventions in e-Governance in improving end to end service delivery.

Discussions will be held on six sub-themes in Plenary session during the Conference. The sub-themes include, AatmaNirbhar Bharat: Universalization of Public Services, Innovation, Platformization, Emerging Technologies, Presentations by Gold Awardees (Centre / State), Ease of living through Technology Interventions for Good Governance, Government Process Re-engineering and Citizen's participation in Government processes, India's Techade - Digital Economy (Digital Payments-Building Citizen's Confidence).

There would also be breakout sessions on the themes; Unicorns of 2021: Demonstrating Power of Innovation; Digital excellence at District level; Seamless, End to End Service Delivery without human interference through technological interventions and Replicability and Sustainability in e-Governance - Best Practices. There will also be a breakout session organized by the Government of Telangana on "Creating a Technology Innovation Ecosystem". The award winners of the National Awards for e-Governance 2020-21 from Centre, State and District would showcase their award-winning initiatives in both the Sessions.

The Conference will be inaugurated by the Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Minister of State of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Government of India, and presided K.T. Rama Rao, Minister for IT E&C, MA&UD and Industries & Commerce, Government of Telangana.

National Awards for e-Governance 2021 will be presented under 6 categories of the Award Scheme to 26 e-Governance initiatives at Central, State and District levels and also to Academic & Research Institutions and Public Sector Undertaking. This includes 12 Gold, 13 Silver and 1 Jury Award.

An exhibition will also be organized during the event to showcase India's achievements in the field of e-Governance, along with a Wall of Fame/ photo exhibition on the previous year's award winners.