By Jagdish Mitra

The biggest life-lesson we have learnt in the past two years of suffering and acclimating our lives through the global pandemic is about the inherent gregariousness and undeniable interconnectedness we share as human beings. What happens in one region of the world cannot be isolated as Covid-19 has shown us. In the face of the pandemic, technology acted as our saviour; it kept us connected in a physically distant world.

Leveraging Technology to Sculpt a ‘Smart State’

With over 200 million inhabitants, Uttar Pradesh is a state with tremendous growth opportunity, waiting to be availed. Acknowledging this potential, the state government is striving to become a prosperous, advanced, and self-reliant state, especially by harnessing the power of technology. Its strategy of ‘Reform, Perform, and Transform’ is driving the tech revolution extensively to reach the very last person in the social chain.

Tech Mahindra is leveraging its technological expertise and innovative solutions to facilitate various state governments in creation of smart, safe, and sustainable cities. Through solution competency, range, and depth of alliance partners and proven system integration capabilities, we are supporting governments to deliver effective, efficient, and effortless Governance and Administration Services and improve the quality of life.

We are also working closely with the UP Government on key initiatives and development projects, the Kanpur Smart City project being one such. We have deployed a technology-enabled Intelligent Traffic Management Solution in Kanpur, which detects 3000 violations per day and augments public transport facilities. Additionally, we have also created a single window platform for citizens to apply for services pertaining to birth, death, marriage, income, caste, domicile and so on. Harnessing the power of digital technologies has enabled us to address 85% complaints on the same day through the Complaint Management System and also keep pollution levels in the state under check through environmental sensors that monitor and display pollution levels.

Caring During Covid- Sowing the Seeds of Relief

During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, we set up a Covid-19 control room, within 24 hours, to manage tracking of patients, lockdown violations, supply of essential items and health supplies, among others. Further, we not only created, but also worked closely with the Kanpur Smart City ‘Integrated Command & Control Centre’ (ICCC) team to set up a 24×7 Covid-19 war room. The facilities that were extended included, video conferencing, monitoring, mobile app & portal, which were used for citizen engagement.

Leveraging technology for ‘good’ – Culling Crime and Criminals

Uttar Pradesh has the largest police force of the world consisting of armed battalions and other specialized branches relating to Intelligence, Investigation, Anti-corruption, Technical, Training, Forensic Science etc. To aid in their noble task of protecting citizens, Tech Mahindra’s police emergency response management system has indeed played a pivotal role. Assuredly, innumerable interactions are being handled daily across phone calls and social media. Additionally, our automated management platform enabled response to98% calls in under 5 seconds, which has led to many lives being saved. 

Thanks to the Bina-Panki Multiproduct Pipeline Project, the people of Kanpur and surrounding areas will get access to a wide range of petroleum products. pic.twitter.com/B3edWsUC6M

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 28, 2021

Further, we have also integrated and implemented an emergency response management platform across 112 call centres which are manned by an all-women team of 700 working in Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Prayagraj. These call centres have helped in encouraging more women to come forward and share their challenges more openly. This has created a database for the authorities to understand the root cause of the issues faced by women, thereby strengthening the law and order of the state while also improving the safety and security of women.

Abetting the growth of another Digital State of Digital India

State Gross Domestic Product (SGDP) of UP which stood at INR 11 lakh crore in 2017, grew rapidly to INR 22 lakh crore in 2020-2021. This account for 8.7% of the country’s GDP and is second only to Maharashtra. These figures are a clear indication of the remarkable progress made by UP by ensuring the ease of doing business in the state. Uttar Pradesh is now focusing towards strengthening its infrastructure and Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath aims to make Uttar Pradesh a $1 trillion economy to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call of making India a $5 trillion economy. In all this, I foresee IT as the ‘ultimate enabler’ which will turn aspirations to successes!

Looking at the future, we believe technology, especially IT and IT enabled services will have a huge impact in supporting the growth of Uttar Pradesh. Since the IT sector provides for direct & indirect employment for 10 million job seekers nation-wide, it can certainly help in streamlining UP’s 1 million + kiranas and other retail & manufacturing facilities. Additionally, agriculture is the backbone of Uttar Pradesh and IT can transform the lives of farmers through Agritech. Most importantly, the IT sector can ensure delivery of critical education services to UP’s students, thereby providing meaningful development to the next generation.

Together we shall rise

Good governance has been a guiding mantra for the UP government for long and it is bearing fruit now. Uttar Pradesh should not be perceived as just another state but must be considered as a big, developing part of a growing nation. The huge population of the state is its biggest asset which will create a comprehensive pool of talent, skills, and manpower and this can become a differentiator for UP, making it comparable on a global stage. Technology has transformed various facets of Uttar Pradesh and Tech Mahindra, with its ‘Udyog, UPyog, Udaan’ mantra, is proud to be part of the ground-breaking work being accomplished by the state government.

(Jagdish Mitra is the Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra. Views expressed are personal and exclusive to India Narrative)

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