On March 22, 2021, Minister of State(MOS) for Communications, Shri Sanjay Dhotre represented India at the virtual ‘World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2021’which is one of the world’s largest annual gatherings of the ‘ICT for development’ communities.
- The WSIS Forum is co-organized by International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators.
Initiatives Highlighted at the forum by Shri Sanjay Dhotre:
The Minister highlighted the policies and programs undertaken by his Ministry such as,
- Arogya Setu platform used to monitor and alert the health status of citizens.
- CovidSavdhan system used for targeted messaging in a specified area
- Public Wi-Fi is effectively used under the PM-WANI scheme enabling effective service delivery for the citizens across the country.
- Telecom infrastructure development in remote areas through the flagship program BharatNet, nearly 6,00,000 villages are being connected through the laying of more than 4,00,000 Km length of optical fibre cable and use of satellite communication services
- Using submarine cable networks small and remote islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep and other inaccessible areas are being connected with funding from the Government.
Participants of WSIS Forum:
- Participants: Secretary-General of ITU (Houlin Zhao), Ministers of Russia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe and Iran have participated in the forum.
- The final week of the WSIS Forum 2021 will be held on May (17-21), 2021
Recent Related News:
On 26th February 2021, Union Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ addressed the inaugural session of the 16th Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Higher Education Summit 2021. On the occasion, he also released the FICCI EY Report titled “Higher Education in India: 2040”.
About Ministry of Communication:
Union Minister – Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad (Constituency – Patna Sahib, Bihar)
Minister of State – Shri Sanjay Dhotre (Constituency – Akola, Maharashtra)
About World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2021:
It was a two-phase United Nations-sponsored summit on the information society
Chairman – H.E. Maxim Parshin
The first summit of WSIS – held in 2003, Geneva
