SRINAGAR: In a 2-day workshop organized by the J&K Planning, Development & Monitoring Department for administration and academia, Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta today stressed on the fact that there is absolutely no scope for those who would lag behind in adopting technological advances like Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Metaverse etc.
The Chief Secretary took this occasion to impress upon the participating Academics and Officers to understand that the future would entirely be driven by those who embrace the changes. He said that there would be a stark contrast between the ‘Tech haves’ and ‘Tech Have-nots’ and the latter’s technological superiority would be a key driver. He asked the Universities of UT to come up with a roadmap to embrace these changes with openness and rationality.
Dr Mehta made out that every aspect of life be it teaching-learning, administration, entertainment, agriculture, commerce and industry will undergo a sea of change that even can’t be imagined today. He reiterated that the technology lag is ill-affordable and needs to be addressed before it is too late. He noted that the birth of tools like Metaverse, Block Chain, Augmented & Virtual Reality, or for that matter the coming of Extended Reality are going to pose challenges in each facet of our lives. He added that if we are caught unprepared, we shall have to suffer.
The Chief Secretary maintained that each of Department or Institution should embed it in their plans to have both short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals by reimagining their future challenges and corresponding solutions. He cautioned the participants about challenges like Cryptocurrency and the crime world of the Dark Net and told them to build safeguards against these right away.
He pointed out that J&K has shown the capacity to leapfrog and unshackle itself toward a brighter future. He said that in the IT sector, the UT has done a commendable job in the last one and a half years and the momentum gave us a happier community excelling in every sphere of life.
Former Secretary Ministry of Corporate Affairs GoI, Anurag Goel who participated as an expert in the Workshop gave a brief about the workshop structure and the process. He complimented the Jammu and Kashmir administration for achieving remarkable milestones during the last few years.
During his presentation, Goel threw light on different kinds of advancements made the world over in the fields of Science and Technology. He exhorted upon all to foresee the future to prepare for it. He observed that future challenges beyond the near timeframe are quite difficult to fathom.
By showing an array of educational videos and presentations he acquainted the audience with the fact that the future is going to be steered by those having hold over data and digital technology. He emphasized on having its own version of Artificial Intelligence for India that would best meet its needs and expectations.
He also talked at length about the future concepts of Education and Educational Institutions with the emergence of concepts like Personalized Learning, Prompt Engineers, etc. He asked for readiness for the impact of bioengineering and exponential technologies like Quantum Computing, Mixed Reality, Cloud Computing, IoT, Robotics, and Nanotechnology. He asked for having ‘strategic foresight’ in order to achieve a ‘preferred future’ a couple of decades from now.
