Jharkhand in Microsoft mission to empower citizens

RANCHI: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today said Jharkhand would be in its mission to empower citizens through technology.

"The mission of Microsoft is to empower the citizens through technology and Jharkhand would certainly be in its priority given its unique potential," an official release was made available today quoting Nadella's Boardroom discussion in Mumbai.

State's Information Technology Secretary Sunil Kumar Burnwal represented the state.

In the discussion, Nadella emphasised on building digital capacity of the government and the society and promote the use of cloud space, which Microsoft has developed in India.

Participating in the conference "Future Unleashed- Accelerating India", Burnwal said Jharkhand has a huge potential in the sector with its unique combination of rural population and urbanized industrial cities.

Besides its human resources, Burnwal added, the state is also home to reputed academic and technical institutions like Birsa Institute of Technology Meshra, Indian School of Mining, Dhanbad, National Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management.

Burnwal advocated Microsoft to go for a strategic partnership with the state to increase digital capacity through digital literacy, supporting promotion of startups, innovation and incubation.

Burnwal said connectivity in rural areas of Jharkhand could be increased through use of TV as there was ample unutilized bandwidth under the TV white space and large digital content could be delivered through TV, promoting digital villages.

CII Chairman Kiran Karnik, who was coordinating the discussion, lauded Jharkhand's achievement in recent times by becoming number three state in the country in 'ease of doing businesses.

On behalf of Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Burnwal extended invitation to Nadella to visit Jharkhand during his next visit to the country.