India Ascending: From Digital Infrastructure to Intelligent Governance

Technology Sabha 2026 | DAY 1 | 21st August 2026 | Jaipur


Speakers in this video:
• Archana Shivhare, Inspector General, Central Reserve Police Force
• Dr Saumya Mishra, DG – Prisons, Government of Telangana
• Ravi Gupta, Executive Vice Chairman and Director General, Centre for Good Governance (CGG), Government of Telangana

Topic: India Ascending: From Digital Infrastructure to Intelligent Governance

Key Highlights:
[1] Archana Shivhare, Inspector General, Central Reserve Police Force:
• Gujarat Police digital transformation: Successful shift from paper registers to online FIRs and investigation records, contributing to consecutive NCRB Best Practices Awards.

• Field-ready mobile apps: Deployment of mobile applications giving officers instant access to vehicle, suspect, and FIR data—reducing unlawful detentions and improving on-road identification.

• Data quality & hygiene challenge: Repeated emphasis that AI/predictive policing effectiveness depends on accurate, up-to-date, and well-structured data (photos, text, vehicle/chassis IDs).

• Cost, procurement & localization issues: High technology costs, L1 procurement constraints, language/text challenges (Gujarati FIRs), and the need for cost-effective, locally adapted solutions and public–private partnerships.

• For policing AI to deliver real impact at the last mile, prioritize practical, user-friendly tools for frontline officers plus rigorous data hygiene and public–private collaboration—technology alone isn’t enough without accurate data and human-centered design.

[2] Dr Saumya Mishra, DG – Prisons, Government of Telangana:
• Technology has become central to building transparent, efficient and process-driven governance, particularly in the criminal justice system.

• The new criminal laws have strengthened the role of digital evidence, making technology critical to its collection, presentation and acceptance in courts.

• Telangana is working towards greater digital integration across the four pillars of criminal justice—police, judiciary, prosecution and prisons.

• India’s strong digital infrastructure provides a solid foundation for taking technology-enabled prison administration and governance to the next level.

• Technology must go beyond administration to ensure better facilities, services and protection of the basic rights of inmates.

[3] Ravi Gupta, Executive Vice Chairman and Director General, Centre for Good Governance (CGG), Government of Telangana:
• India has built Digital Public Infrastructure at an unprecedented scale with platforms such as Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker and UMANG creating interoperable foundations for thousands of citizen services.

• The next leap is from digital government to intelligent government- one that can understand citizens needs, anticipate them, take evidence-based decisions and continuously learn from outcomes.

• Data is the backbone of intelligent governance.Clean, connected and usable data can help governments identify citizen needs, target welfare schemes better and move from assumptions to evidence-based policymaking.

• Telangana is already applying AI to real-world governance challenges, from automated fire-safety scrutiny of building plans to AI-based monitoring of housing projects, making processes faster, more accurate and efficient.

• As governments become increasingly AI-driven, privacy, security, consent and responsible AI safeguards must be built into systems from the beginning. Citizen data must be protected through measures such as data masking and data minimisation.

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