Building capacity for data storage top priority of MeitY: Secretary

Building capacity to store data in the country has been accorded top priority by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the department’s secretary, S. Krishnan, said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at Dr. (Mrs.) YGP’s Centenary Celebrations, Mr. Krishnan said India generated 20% of the world’s data, but had the capacity to store merely 4%. “Unless we create capacity, we can’t even store the data. At the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, it is our top priority to see how we build this strength over a period of time in every space,” he added.

The present geopolitical context was a stark departure from the past — free trade and exchanges have been replaced by trade barriers and restrictions. This meant that resilience had to be built, country by country, Mr. Krishnan said.

Recalling Mrs. YGP’s efforts to promote pure science and mathematics among young students, which formed the backbone of research, he stressed the importance of encouraging people to get into these fields. India, he said, invested 0.7% of its GDP in research and development. Of this, 0.6% is spent by the government.

Sridhar Vembu, Founder and Chief Scientist, Zoho Corporation, said Israel, with a population smaller than Chennai’s, invested 6% of its GDP in research and development. Technologies developed by that country were being used extensively to support agriculture in dry and semi-arid areas in the State.

Answering a question from the audience, Dr. Sridhar said his company was planning to launch a marketing campaign, in about a month’s time, for the new messaging and calling app, Arattai. “All good things take time. To build anything that truly lasts, takes time,” he added.

Five distinguished alumni of the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Group of Schools — Air Marshal P.V. Shivanand of the Indian Air Force, Major General Praveen Badrinath of the Indian Army, Commodore Sreekumar Srinivasan of the Indian Navy, Chithra Madhavan, Historian, and S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, Educationist — were felicitated on the occasion.

Lakshmi Devanath, biographer of Mrs. YGP, was also felicitated. Sheela Rajendra, Dean and Director, Padma Seshadri Group of Schools, spoke.