Co-ordinated digital initiatives needed to fight covid-19: G20
- G20 IT ministers agreed that digital platforms can help in containing the crisis and save lives
- World needs to embrace other forms of digital technologies that will impact livelihood, accelerate various sectors, strengthen the supply chain and cybersecurity, says Ravi Shankar Prasad
A co-ordinated global response using digital technologies is needed to fight covid-19, with greater impetus on strengthening IT and cybersecurity, in addition to enabling non-personal data exchange in a secure manner and promoting use of digital solutions in healthcare. This was agreed upon by G20 IT ministers including Electronics & IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in a virtual meeting earlier today.
Prasad later tweeted, "represented India at the meeting of #G20 Digital Economy Ministers held through video conferencing to discuss the challenges posed by #COVID19 pandemic and to forge a globally coordinated response harnessing digital technologies organised by G20."
Prasad also said that India is an attractive destination for anyone who wants to set up supply chain in the country. "Spoke about the need for developing more resilient global supply chains which use modern innovations and are digitally connected. India is an attractive destination for businesses who are willing to set up such resilient supply chains," he said in the tweet.
The government has been time and again reiterating to make the best use of the global pandemic to become an attractive investment destination and become more self reliant in terms of production.
The emphasis on enabling exchange of non personal data in a secure manner has been a bone of contention between the industry and government. This comes in the backdrop of the proposed Personal Data Protection Bill which would give government access to non personal data.
Non personal data includes anonymised information which cannot be used to identify users.
Further, during the meeting, the G20 ministers agreed that digital platforms can help in containing the crisis. Prasad emphasised that all measures taken during and after this crisis must be with a strong focus on building more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies that are more resilient in the face of the ongoing pandemic.
Prasad also talked about the steps taken by Indian government and encouraged the world to emulate them, while urging stakeholders to build solutions that can address issues related to social distancing, distributed workforce and the changing nature of global supply chain.
Prasad hailed the critical role of Indian IT-ITeS Industry for maintaining global business continuity and enabling remote working. He tweeted, "Work from home may become a new norm. Spoke about the tremendous role played by Indian IT/ITeS industry in providing uninterrupted support to global businesses during #COVID19 by switching to work from home mode."
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First Published:30 Apr 2020, 08:36 PM IST
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