Tamil Nadu becomes first state with AI, blockchain, cybersecurity policies

In order to promote IT/ITeS and attract more investments, eight SEZs were established in Chennai and tier-II cities

Tamil Nadu became first state in the country to come out with policies on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Cybersecurity policies, when Chief minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami unveiled them at Connect 2020.

The policies go by the names Tamil Nadu Cyber Security Policy, 2020, Tamil Nadu Blockchain Policy, 2020, and Tamil Nadu Safe and Ethical Artificial Intelligence Policy, 2020.

Speaking at the event, Chief Minister said the state has gradually been opening up economic activities in order to return to normalcy at the earliest. 

Tamil Nadu has been attracting investments over the years and 81 projects signed during the Global Investors Meet, 2019, have commenced commercial production, while another 191 are under various stages of implementation, Palaniswami said. Subsequent to the GIM 2019, the state also attracted 63 projects, including those that have taken shape during the CM's visit to the US and UAE, with an investment of Rs 19,000 crore. These projects have the potential to generate 83,300 jobs. 

Palanaswami said, "Even during the Covid lockdown period, we signed 42 MoUs, involving an investment of Rs 31,464 crore, and a potential to create 69,712 jobs."

"Tamil Nadu continues to be a “Destination of Choice” for the IT/ ITeS sector in India. The State has been upgrading its IT infrastructure to facilitate speedy access to information and delivery of various services of the Government of Tamil Nadu to the citizens in a faster and efficient manner," he added. "The Government aims to transform the State as the 

“Innovation Hub and Knowledge Capital” of the country through creation of world class institutions in various fields and by utilising its human talent."

In order to promote IT/ITeS industry in the State and to attract more investments, eight Special Economic Zones were established in Chennai and tier-II cities by Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT) and a start-up warehouses were set up in Chennai and Coimbatore. 

Centres of Excellence in FinTech and in Emerging Technologies (CEET) were also established at Chennai. 

To overhaul the delivery of government services to citizens, the Knowledge Proof Identity Based Services Delivery Project will be implemented by establishing and leveraging the State Family Data Base (SFDB) and Block-Chain Backbone infrastructure. 

This pioneering initiative will “take Government to the Citizens”, thus eliminating the need for the citizens to request G2C services. The ambitious BharatNet and TamilNet projects will be implemented to connect all 12,524 Village Panchayats of the State with minimum 1 Gbps high-speed connectivity, which will help to achieve the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of United Nations, said Palaniswami.