US Vice-President Kamala Harris to be invited for Bengaluru tech meet in Nov 17-19
Bengaluru, July 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice-President Kamala Harris will be invited to the Karnataka government's flagship annual event Bengaluru Tech Summit-2021 (BTS-2021) from November 17-19.
Announcing this on Monday, Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan said the summit would be held in hybrid format.
Narayan, who also holds the IT/Bt and S&T portfolio, convened a preparatory meeting with officials of the Department of Electronics, IT/Bt and S&T, and Chairpersons of the Vision groups today.
Kris Gopalakrishna, Chairperson, State Vision Group for I-T, Dr Kiran Majumdar Shaw, Chairperson, State Vision Group for BT, Prashanth Prakash, Chairperson of State Vision Group for Start-ups, virtually attended the meeting.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited to inaugurate the conclave and US Vice-President Kamala Harris will be invited to participate in the event," Narayan said.
In view of the possible third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the conclave Driving the Next would be organised in the hybrid format comprising more of virtual and a part of the physical model, the Deputy Chief Minister was quoted as saying by his office in a release.
Last year, the event held in virtual mode for the first time evoked an overwhelming response from experts and delegates, and more than 25 countries had participated.
This is expected to further increase in the forthcoming event, he added.
According to the release, the first day of the summit would be Thought Leadership Day (Hall of Fame), the second day would be 'Technologies and Strategies Day (Hall of Techies) and the third StartUps Day (Hall of Future).
Prior to these, Beyond Bengaluru events would be conducted in Mysuru, Hubballi, and Mangaluru during September and October. The dates would be decided upon shortly.
Central Ministers Nirmala Sitaraman, Ravishankar Prasad, Harsha Vardhan and Nitin Gadkari, among others, would be invited to participate in the programmes, Narayan said.
During the Beyond Bengaluru events, the reports pertaining to Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Engineering R&D, and IESA (Indian Electronics and Semi-conductor Association) would be released, he said.
To give prominence to academic participation in the events, it has been decided to involve Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) and Higher Education Council, the release said.
The iconic #BengaluruTechSummit2021 dates announced! It is on November 17th, 18th and 19th 2021 in an online-offline hybrid model.
— Dr. Ashwathnarayan C. N. (@drashwathcn) July 5, 2021
The BTS event has emerged as the leading technology event in the country to watch out for. Discussed the event modalities today. @BSYBJP @ITBTGoK pic.twitter.com/YLB1j1piCc
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
