Jayesh Ranjan bats with world of data scientists and professionals for data driven agriculture at Indo Data Week

Hyderabad: Telangana is one of the first two states in India to have Open Data Policy after Sikkim.  The policy which came into being four years back puts responsibility on Government, institutions and other stakeholders Jayesh Ranjan informed a group of Data Scientists and Data Professionals gathered virtually from all over the world at the inauguration of 2nd Virtual Indo Data Week being organised from Hyderabad.
 
The theme of the two day meet is “Applied Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals”, informed Parvathy Krishnan of DAV Data Solutions, the organiser welcoming the gathering.
 
DAV Data Solutions chose Hyderabad for Indo Data Week because of supportive and collaborative governments, its fast adaption of new wave of technologies and their proactive approach and positive response from the stake holders she said.
 
The conference features more than 40 speakers from all over the globe.  Speakers and delegates from organisations such as World Bank, Pulse Lab Jakarta, Emerging Technologies Wing — Government of Telangana, National Health Authority — Government of India,  startups and innovation hubs, Impact Scientist, Knowledge Exchange Innovation Center Thailand, FluxGen Technologies, research and academia  such as Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad, and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad are participating
 
Addressing the 60 plus gathering, the top IT official of the Government of Telangana, Jayesh appreciated the organiser DAV Data Solutions for organising the event despite the current situation. He congratulated Parvathy Krishnan and her youth and intern-lead event team for organising quality deliberations on such a very important subject
 
The theme is extremely aligned with the Telangana Government’s plans. Though there is so much knowledge and Data is available but we are unable to put it to use to the extent desired for the benefit of the communities he said.
 
Speaking further Jayesn Ranjan added the need to seriously look at soil health. How do we protect soil health? He asked. Farm lands are shrinking due to urbanisation. Agriculture is very important for Telangana state. Since January 2020, the year is being observed as Year of Artificial Intelligence(AI) in the state to promote its use in various sectors ranging from urban transportation and healthcare to agriculture and others. We have achieved a lot during past 11 months. We have been focusing on Agriculture and within in it  on Data Sets. We have created many Data Sets in the state covering reports on weather and agriculture prices, location of market yards etc, Jayesh shared with the delegates of Indo Data Week.
 
AI has to be effectively used for social innovation. Modern farmers have to be digital farmers. We at the government embarked on AI for AI(Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation).  Telangana Government uses AI for Agricultural Innovation.
 
AI for AI program is already rolled out to boost agricultural developments. Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, India (C4IR), World Economic Forum and State owned Agriculture University partners besides others. Agriculture is very important domain and we at government aim at digital technology-led agriculture innovations. Through this initiative, we aim to identify the high impact use cases of AI which could benefit both farmers and policymakers, Jayesh Ranjan added
 
He batted for Data Driven Agriculture.   For better farm performance, Data-Driven decision-making is need of the hour, Jayesh observed. It can be used for the Sowing Window Prediction. Target that window,  which,  data can guide us. Crops attract pests, you can predict pests attack. The opportunities for the farmers is endless. Data can be used in Planning, Forecasting, Selecting Crops and many. Multiple areas in Agriculture can use Data predictive tools which help officials better prepared, the IT Principal Secretary explained.
 
But there is a challenge to the Data. State owned Agriculture University is creating a Data Hub and standardising it along with other partners. Dept of Science and Technology, Govt of India supporting us on this. We are also collaborating with IIIT-H. Our government believes in Democratisation of Data. That is why we come out with Open Data policy as latest as in the year 2016 Jayesh Ranjan informed.
 
Indo Data Week began on 16th Novembet and will conclude on 22nd with a global Hackathon on “Climate Resilient Food Security in India” and winners will walk away with INR 0ne lakh prize money. It is supported and sponsored by the Government of Telangana.
 
The inaugural session also included addresses from Petrarca Karetji from UN Global Pulse and Sruthi Kannan from CISCO Launchpad.
 
Kai Kaiser from World Bank (Vietnam); Pranay Patil from Asian Development Bank, currently deputed to the National Health Authority, Govt of India, and Vitasari Anggraeni from Pulse Lab Jakarta spoke at a panel discussion on Big Data and COVID-19 immediately after the inauguration of kick starting the  two days of knowledge sharing, and thought leadership conference  around Data and SDGs.