25th SKOCH Summit | Friday | 25th March 2011 | Shangri-La, 19 Ashoka Road, New Delhi
At the 25th Skoch Summit  held in March 2011 , we laid emphasis on Shifting to Demand Side Governance.Since the last few years we are witnessing a paradigm shift, armed with the Right to Information and a hyper-active media, the citizenry is getting more active and participative towards felt needs based governance and has a heightened expectation form public services delivery. Mr. Sam Pitroda talked about how technology has and will play a defining role in reaching the last mile. There are numerous opportunities in this space that need to be further explored. Dr. D.B. Pathak emphasized on the need of Swadeshi Software and it’s importance regarding internal security and digital sovereignty.
Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar talked about how 139 different schemes of the government that ultimately target the same population are being routed through different ministries resulting in grave inefficiencies. There has to be convergence of action between various departments of the govt. machinery. Ms. Devaki Jain diverted our attention towards gender discrimination that is so rampant and why economic policies should also have a gender perspective so as to upliftment one of the most marginalized sections of our society. She also talked about co-operatives and how they could play a major role in financial inclusion.
