<span style="color: #222222;">In Meghalaya, the two-day-long 22nd National Conference on E-Governance was inaugurated by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma in the presence of Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region Dr Jitendra Singh today at State Convention Centre, Shillong.<br />''</span><br />''In his address, the Union Minster congratulated Meghalaya State Government for organizing an elaborate and successful National Conference on e-Governance. <br />''<br />''Altogether 28 states and all Union Territories participated in the conference, which itself is a testimony of the commitment shown by state Governments across the country towards e-Governance, he said.<br />''<br />''He said that the Ministry of DoNER is keeping up with the pace of digitization and service delivery through electronic means. It has constantly engaged itself with promoting e-governance initiatives that are being taken up by the North Eastern states and that it has extended its support to various externally aided projects proposed by the different NE States in the field of Health (Telemedicine), Education (Digitization of Classrooms) etc, he added.<br />''<br />''He further said, in the last five years the Government has made significant progress in the direction of achieving e-Governance mandate being discussed at the highest level. For making digital literacy universal, the Government has taken key initiatives like Aadhaar and Jan-Dhan Yojana and has laid down the target completion by 2022.<br />''<br />''Meanwhile, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma elaborated on how application of technology is close to his heart and how important it is for achieving effective citizen-centric governance.<br />''<br />''"It is not the best technology that matters, but it is how best the available technology is applied for the larger good of the masses," the Chief Minister said. He talked about the challenges of digital connectivity in the North East, especially Meghalaya and the other North Eastern States.<br />''<br />''The Chief Minister also talked about the e-initiatives taken up by the Meghalaya Government for revolutionizing farming and entrepreneurship sectors in the State. He stressed on the need for focusing on villages and leveraging technology to make them SMART, in addition to creating SMART CITIES.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The Conference is being attended by senior government officers from across India, researchers and eminent personalities from the IT industry. <br />''<br />''The two-day-long Conference is being jointly organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India; Government of Meghalaya; NASSCOM and Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology, Government of India.</span><br />