Bangla Govt embracing infotech: E-governance, fintech, AI, student competitions, cyber security

Under the initiative of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the State Government has embraced the use of information technology wholeheartedly. Every Bangla Government office, be they in Kolkata or the districts, is either wholly computerised or in the process of being so. The Government is also encouraging students to work on software technologies to create apps and other useful technologies.

E-governance has been made the norm. As a result, work has become faster – both for the Government offices as well as for the public being served.

All information technology-based aspects of the State Government are handled by the Information Technology & Electronics Department. Thus the department is playing a leading role in the digitisation of governance.

A report published by the McKinsey Global Institute last January had stated that Kolkata is poised to emerge as one of the top Indian cities and one of the epicentres of global financial activities by 2030. According to the report, by virtue of its relative proximity to Singapore and Hong Kong, Kolkata stands a bright chance of becoming a big IT hub.

The department is investing in the latest aspects of information technology. It has formed a core group which will interact with various stakeholders and prepare a repository of case studies of projects involving artificial intelligence (AI). Such cases will be taken up which can be adapted by various departments of the State Government.

The IT&E Department is coming up with is a Centre of Innovation. In an effort to give fresh graduates rent-free space for churning out ideas and designing innovative models, the department is setting up a Centre of Innovation at the IT park being built in Bantala, Kolkata. The blueprint for the centre has already been prepared. It will be functional from this financial year, and will have top academicians, scientists and industry members as its mentors.

The department is also encouraging software-based solutions from students, technical professionals and common citizens, particularly for the day-to-day problems of common people. For the last two years (2017 and 2018), the department has been organising Bengalathon, a competition for the development of apps for day-to-day needs.

Another sector the IT&E Department is actively promoting is fintech (short for ’financial technology’). Fintech is an emerging industry that comprises companies which use digital technology to provide financial services. These companies are involved in digital payment, automatic digital banking, share market analytics, insurance predictions and asset management.

The State Government has taken a leading role in developing fintech. A fintech hub is coming up in New Town, with plug-and-play infrastructure. Several companies have already rented space. The department came up with a stellar show at the Singapore FinTech Festival, held last November.

The department has already started working on emerging technologies like cyber security, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, animation, IoT (internet of things), Industry 4.0 (a standard), analytics, animation and e-sports. Summits are being held every month on different emerging technologies.

An important avenue of growth and safety that the State Government has identified is cyber security. It has set up a Cyber Security Centre of Excellence in order to successfully confront cyber crimes.

The cyber security centre collects, analyses and disseminates information on cyber security incidents, executes emergency measures, coordinates response, and issues guidelines, advisories and vulnerability notes. It also acts as a monitoring authority for the State, which looks at every single incident and incorporates the information for research and development.

Harnessing technology in the best possible way tops the Bangla Government’s priorities, and the above measures provide ample proof of that.

Kalyani Analytics Hub raises industry hope

The proposed analytics city in Kalyani is likely to attract investments of more than Rs 3,000 crore in next three years. In the first phase, being developed over 52 acres off Kalyani Expressway, the hub will accommodate academic, residential and commercial centers apart from real estate projects.

According to Kallol Dutta, the immediate past president of BCCI, the original plan is to set it up on 250 acres. In that case, the investment will go up to Rs 6,000 crore.

Holistic solution to consumers

While MNCs in the field of banking, insurance, retail, telecom and automotive industries have in-house data and analytics facilities, there is no analytic hub that can provide holistic solution to analytics consumers. While a number of small boutique analytics service providers have come up in the country, the state is looking at bringing the majors under one umbrella.

With research facilities being proposed inside the city, there are proposals to tie up with the education institutions. Apart from universities in the country, efforts are on to tie up with foreign universities. Apart from organizing road shows, chief minister Mamata Banerjee will showcase the project during her visit to London.

Data and analytics, which require strong science, puts India in an advantageous position with a ready talent pool. “We have a large talent pool in Bengal who work in other cities. The analytics city will have access to the talent pool available within the state,” Sen said.

 

Excerpted from a story that appeared on The Times of India on 20.06.2015

Sugata Bose speaks on the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill | Full Transcript

Full Transcript

I rise to speak on behalf of my Party on the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill brought by this Government.

What this Bill attempts to do is to remove any ambiguities regarding the territorial jurisdiction of cases that are to be tried under Section 138 of the Act. I would like to ask the Minister of State for Finance — who is present in the House – – to give us a clarification on the scale of the problem that we are facing.

I find that in an answer given by the Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley, on 9 December 2014, it was stated that:

“The total number of cases pertaining to cheque bounce and dishonour pending in various courts up to 31 July 2013 were 21,94,022 cases.”

However, we find that there is a Law Commission Report, which suggested that, in fact, the number of cases chocking the criminal justice system of this nature amounted to 40 lakh cases, and more than 5.5 lakh are pending in Delhi alone. So, when the Minister of State rises to give his reply, we would like to get a very clear sense of the scale of the problem. But if, in fact, the number of cases pending are, as according to the Finance Minister, just short of 22 lakh until July of last year, then that too, I would say, is 20 lakh cases too many.

There are two points, which make we very said when I see these kinds of statistics. First of all, India, in its economic, monetary and financial history, has always been known for the sophisticated nature of its negotiable instruments. Negotiable instruments that finance long-distance trade, instruments that we knew by the name of Hundi or Suftaja enabled merchants from this country to carry out trade all across the sub-continent and also beyond the shores of this sub-continent in different parts of the Indian Ocean world.

When we have so many cheques bouncing, being dishonoured, what we find is that our whole system of negotiable instruments that had been based on trust seems to have completely broken down because when a cheque is issued, it is not going to be dishonoured. It is basically a violation of trust, which was the basis of our negotiable instruments in the past.

The other feature which makes me very said when I see the statistics is the number of pending cases. This particular Amendment Bill only tinkers at the edges of the problem. What we require from this Government is a scheme for comprehensive judicial reforms. Even in the course of ‘Zero Hour’ today, one of my friends from Murshidabad pointed out how many cases are pending in one district, which he represents. So, this will only address a very small part of the problem. I think we need comprehensive judicial reforms to be brought in.

There is another point that I wish to mention. I will not be as harsh as the preceding speaker from the Opposition, who has said that this Bill helps the moneylenders. If this had been an issue between small debtors and extortionate moneylenders, then we would wholeheartedly be on the side of the small debtors, but in this instance, it is a question of cheques that are being issued which are not being honoured because of either lack of integrity or because of insufficiency of funds, and whoever is issuing these cheques ought to know that these cheques will not be honoured. That is why we are prepared to go along with this particular amendment.

However, who are the people who are the so-called stakeholders who came to the Government as soon as the Supreme Court judgment of 1st August 2014 was delivered? We are reading not just in the media, but also in the Objects and Reasons spelled out by this Government that these were financial institutions and industry associations that were most concerned.

I can see that this Government responds very swiftly when the issue is one of ease of doing business. But will this Government also respond with such alacrity when the question is about small consumers and not businesses? We constantly hear in this House about many banking norms are being simplified.

We have heard the fanfare with which the Jan Dhan Yojana has been advertised throughout the country. But when I go to my constituents in my own Jadavpur Constituency, I constantly hear complaints from people who live either in the City of Kolkata or in the villages to the South of Kolkata which I represent that they face huge difficulties even now for fulfilling KYC norms. This is a genuine difficulty and there is a gap between what is said in this House about easing various norms and the actual difficulties that consumers face.

As was pointed out, there are many villages, there are many Gram Panchayats where there are no banks whatsoever so that there is no question of drawing cheques on those banks which may or may not bounce. So, I would urge this Government that just as they have responded to the concerns of industry associations and of financial institutions, they should also respond to the concerns of small consumers, people who are still denied access to the banking sector. So, I will simply say that this is actually a very small piece of legislation.

What the country requires are major legislations that have to be brought to bring about comprehensive judicial reforms and comprehensive banking reforms which will help very ordinary people in our country to gain access to credit so that they can actually be able to write cheques. That is the basic right that is denied to vast numbers of our people, living particularly in the villages of the subcontinent. Finally, I would simply like to urge this Government that let their rhetoric of being people-friendly not be simply limited to rhetoric.

Let them act, let them legislate and let us implement those legislations for the benefit of the citizens of this country.

Poor people are the backbone of the country: WB CM

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called for better coordination between states and the Centre for overall development of the states and the country.

“If the states and the Centre work together in coordination, it will help in the overall development of the masses,” Ms Banerjee said at a function at Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata.

She also urged the Centre to ensure that at least every panchayat in the country is covered by banking services.

“After I came to power in 2011 more than 1,000 panchayats out of 3,500 in the state did not have banks. Then we offered one rupee rent to banks and asked them to open branches. We have been able to open 171 banks out of the 1,000 left. I would request the Centre to see that at least every panchayat is covered by banking services so that it helps the poor,” she said.

Citing the achievements of the TMC government in the empowerment of girls, WB CM spoke about the success of the ‘Kanyashree’ project which has covered 24 lakh girl child in the state. She said while Centre allocated only Rs 100 crore for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Bengal had allocated Rs 1000 crore for Kanyashree scheme.