HYDERABAD: With an emphasis on bridging the digital literacy divide between the urban and rural India, IT and Industries Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said that there was a need to harness the innovation in rural sector properly.
Ranjan was addressing a webinar along with IT Secretaries of Maharashtra and Kerala at Nasscomm’s ‘Bharat Un-Conference: Build With Bharat’. He said, “Bharat (rural India) has not broken into an anarchy because they come up with local solutions.
If we dive deeper into it, we will find there is a lot of science in it. It is possible to refine the solutions and make it available for commercial purposes.” Ranjan said from his own experience, he found that in rural areas, even if there was digital infrastructure, villagers did not find the need to use it. “We have to convince “Bharat” that they need it,” he said.
The IT Secretary said the State government had a specific wing which looked into rural innovation, and that the State had categorically supported State’s start-up ecosystem. “In the last three years we have procured more than 40 solutions from start-ups,” he added.