Niti Aayog will develop a national data and analytics platform to make all government data accessible to stakeholders in a user-friendly manner. Releasing the Vision Document for the National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP), Niti Aayog said that the NDAP will strive to ensure that the data is assured, consistent, coherent and credible. According to the vision document, data across sectors should be coherent to support analysis and dissemination. The NDAP will host multiple datasets, present them coherently and provide visualisation and analytics tools.

The union cabinet has approved sanctions for Digital India, a campaign intended to transform the nation into digital empowered society and knowledge economy, with a cost of Rs 113,000 crore. This programme envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) is to impact the ministry of communications & IT, ministry of rural development, ministry of human resource development, ministry of health and others. This programme will also benefit all states and union territories. The existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India.

The draft of National Cyber Security Strategy 2020, that envisages creating a secure cyberspace in India, is ready and will soon be sent to key ministries for comments before seeking the Cabinet approval. We have got industry inputs, the draft of the (National Cyber Security) strategy is ready, we'll do a quick round of sending it to some 2-3 critical ministries and we will put up to the Cabinet for release to the public. The vision of the strategy ... is to ensure a safe, secure, resilient, trusted and vibrant cyberspace for India’s prosperity,” National Cyber Security Coordinator Rajesh Pant said at an event.

India will no longer be behind the technology curve following the timely launch of fifth-generation or 5G networks, stated Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). He stated that “Now, we have come to a stage where technology develops in India first. With 5G, we will no longer remain behind the technology curve”. There are challenges like funds scarcity and low fibre backhaul for the deployment of the next gen technology in India. There are less than a third of mobile towers connected to fibre backhaul when compared to China that has more than 80% connected.

The Government is revisiting the Information Technology Act, 2000, to upgrade some laws and regulations, including privacy, as many new technologies have changed over the last 20 years and a committee is also being created to look after it. He said the new Act will also factor-in issues like Supreme Court’s judgment on privacy and protection. It will also factor into large issues of Supreme Court judgment on privacy – on the issue of data protection. However, the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill will be purely on data…this (the changes in IT Act) will be for IT – operations, administrations, cyber security, and cybercrime.

In partnership with NITI Aayog, International Energy Agency (IEA) released the first in-depth review of India’s energy policies. The report highlights the achievements of India’s energy policies and provides recommendations to support the government’s goals of promoting well-functioning energy markets and boosting deployment of renewables. India is becoming increasingly influential in global energy trends. The country’s demand for energy is set to double by 2040, and its electricity demand may triple, according to the IEA report. Indian oil consumption is expected to grow faster than that of any other major economy. This makes further improving energy security a key priority for India’s economy, says the IEA.

India’s electricity grid operators will have to install firewalls and other measures used by companies to avert an attack on their information technology systems and check rising hacking incidents of power networks across the world. Grid operators and regulatory agencies will need to have a continuity plan handy in the event of a cyber-attack, according to draft rules published by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. The move is part of a overhaul of the decade-old guidelines.

State-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited has announced the completion of installation of 10 lakh smart meters across India under the centre's Smart Meter National Programme. India needs to establish a manufacturing base of smart electricity meters to ensure adequate supply and should ensure that there are multiple players in the segment, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy. There is a need to augment the manufacturing base of the smart meters to ensure supply of adequate number of meters to be installed all over the country.

Connected consumer device market in India is expected to record a 11% growth by selling devices worth Rs 3,24,960 lakh crore in 2020, as per a forecast by research firm TechArc. “Users in India are moving beyond smartphone connectivity and moving to other connected solutions which apart from making them ‘smart’ substantially increase the utility of such devices,” said Founder & Chief Analyst techARC, while releasing the 1st edition of ‘India Connected Consumer Report.

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