Photo Gallery
(L-R) Prof. R. Srinivasan, Chairperson, CDPG, IIMB; Viraj Tyagi, CEO, eGov Foundation; Usha Padhee, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha; Prof. U. Dinesh Kumar, Director In-charge, IIMB; and Dr. Santhosh Babu, Chief Mission Director, Information Kerala Mission, Government of Kerala, formally inaugurated the annual Policy Conclave 2025, under the theme ‘Reimagining India's Urban Future Through Digital Innovation and Institutional Reform’, hosted by the Centre for Digital Public Goods (CDPG) at IIMB and eGov Foundation.
Dr. Santhosh Babu, Chief Mission Director, Information Kerala Mission, Government of Kerala, called for a type of reform in citizen-centric public administration that was “transformational” rather than “incremental”.
Prof. R. Srinivasan, Strategy area, delivered the welcome address.
Viral Tyagi of eGOV and alumnus of the PGP Class of 1993, drew into focus the transformative potential of DPI-based solutions to improve urban livability.
(L-R) Prof. Gopal Naik, Jal Jeevan Mission Chair Professor, IIMB; Arun Sharma, Senior Development Specialist, The World Bank; Dr. Debolina Kundu, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs; CV Madhukar, CEO, CoDevelop; Usha Padhee, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha; and Anand Iyer, Chief Policy and Insights Officer, Janaagraha, deliberated on ‘Transforming the citizens' experience and local governance through digital infrastructure’.
Tikender Singh Panwar, Member of the Kerala Urban Commission, Sr. Fellow, IMPRI, Former Mayor of Shimla, warned against corporate-driven “smart city” models that concentrate capital and exclude citizens during the Lightning Talks – Voices from the Frontlines session.
(L-R) Executive Officers from the Government of Odisha - Ashalata Rachmala and Soumya Ranjan Mishra - shared implementation lessons from multi-sectoral digital transformation efforts.
Hrishikesh TMM Iyengar, Extended Term Consultant — Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, The World Bank, discussed the role of DPGs in social protection systems in Africa.
(L-R) Dr. Jyotirmoy Dutta, Principal Scientist, Center for Data for Public Good, IISc Bangalore; Prof. Anjula Gurtoo, Data Management, IISc Bangalore; Dr. Ramki Srinivasan, CEO, Mobility and Intelligent Transportation Collaborative, MInT, IIT Madras; and Manish Srivastava, CTO, eGov Foundation, shared perspectives on ‘Unlocking the Potential of Urban Data Exchange’.
Suresh Sethi, MD and CEO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd, offered lessons from India’s digital journey and its next frontier of public service delivery.
(L-R) Gokul CV, Asst Director General, Department of Posts; Balakrishnan Mahadevan, IIMB CDPG, ex-COO NPCI, ex-World Bank; and NSN Murty, Partner and Leader Government and Public Services, Deloitte, weighed in on ‘Public-Private Partnerships in Urban Innovation: Models, Challenges, and Opportunities’.
(L-R) The penultimate session of the conclave featured Shehnaz Ahmed, Sr. Resident Fellow and Lead, Applied Law and Technology Research, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and Prof. S Rajagopalan, President, MOSIP, IIITB, in conversation with moderator Anumita Raj, Associate Director, eGov Foundation, for the session on ‘Guardrails for DPI/DPGs: Data Protection and Privacy by Design’.
The event concluded with a session on ‘The Way Forward’, where Gautham Ravichander, Director – Policy & Advocacy, eGov Foundation, and Prof. R. Srinivasan, Chairperson, CDPG, IIMB, presented the key insights and actionable recommendations emerging from the discussions.
A section of the audience during the Policy Conclave 2025.