Visakhapatnam: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh recalled how practices tried initially in the state decades ago such as outsourcing of civic services, were later adapted in other parts of India.

Delivering a keynote address at the inaugural of a two-day-long 28th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) in Visakhapatnam on Monday, the Union Minister praised the Andhra Pradesh government for pioneering citizen-centric innovations, ranging from real-time governance to digitised service delivery.

Citing success stories from other states and the Centre, Dr Jitendra Singh explained how expansion of digital grievance redressal through CPGRAMS and adoption of e-Office systems have collectively enhanced transparency, accountability and ease of living for citizens.

The Minister thanked Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu for facilitating the organisation of the conference in Visakhapatnam and said the choice of venue was apt given the state’s tradition of pioneering governance reforms. He added that AP continues to play a leading role in India’s growth story, pointing to upcoming projects such as a Quantum Data Centre at Amaravati and an additional space launch pad at Sriharikota. He said the conference theme, ‘Viksit Bharat: Civil Service and Digital Transformation’, reflects not just an aspiration but a guiding principle for India’s journey towards 2047.

Reviewing governance reforms over the past decade, Dr Jitendra Singh said more than 1,600 obsolete rules had been repealed, outdated practices like mandatory attestation of documents scrapped, and amendments brought into the Prevention of Corruption Act to ensure accountability.

Dr Jitendra Singh underlined that reforms like Mission Karmayogi have transformed civil services training from a rule-based approach to a role-based one, preparing officials for dynamic governance challenges. Over 88 lakh officials have already upgraded their skills on the iGOT platform. He also highlighted innovations such as the digital life certificate through face recognition that eased pension access for millions of senior citizens and the assistant secretary programme.

Looking ahead, he said technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Block chain and the Internet of Things would increasingly shape India’s governance landscape. At the same time, he stressed the importance of digitising every function but humanising every service.

Later in the day, Dr Jitendra Singh conferred 19 national e-Governance Awards in six different categories. Of them, 10 gold awards, half a dozen silver awards and three jury awards were presented to central, state, district authorities, gram panchayats and research institutions. The platform saw record participation of more than 1.44 lakh nominations from Gram Panchayats, reflecting the growing reach of digital governance at the grassroots. The Union Minister also felicitated winners of the online hackathon on Data-Driven Innovation for Citizen Grievance Redressal and announced the launch of the 2026 awards scheme.

Earlier, during the inaugural session, Shri V Srinivas, Secretary, DARPG, said the conference has emerged as a key forum for institutionalising best practices, promoting state-to-state learning, and sharing award-winning innovations. He noted the participation of over 180 speakers from all states and Union Territories in plenary and breakout sessions on themes.

The two-day conference, co-hosted by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) and the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh, features sessions on AI, civil service transformation, agri-stack, service delivery and cyber security. It will conclude with the adoption of the Visakhapatnam Declaration, setting the roadmap for India’s future in e-Governance.