India's IT Secy appointed to high-level UN panel on internet governance

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed India's Electronics and Information Technology Secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma to a panel of eminent experts on internet governance

Electronics and Information Technology Secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma
Electronics and Information Technology Secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma (Photo: PiB)
IANS United Nations
2 min read Last Updated : Aug 17 2022 | 8:12 AM IST

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appointed India's Electronics and Information Technology Secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma to a panel of eminent experts on internet governance.

Internet pioneer Vint Cerf and Nobel Prize-winning journalist Maria Reesa were also appointed to the 10-member Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Leadership Panel, Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

In addition, Guterres' envoy on technology, Amandeep Singh Gill, will also be on the panel.

The panel was set up under the mandate of the IGF and the recommendations in Guterres's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.

The panel's role is to deal with "strategic and urgent issues" of the Internet and provide strategic advice to the IGF.

Sharma is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Kerala cadre.

A former secretary in the Cabinet secretariat, he has also worked with the UN Development Programme as the national project director for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation.

A former diplomat, Gill had been India's permanent representative to the UN Conference on Disarmament and was the chief executive officer of the International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR).

Cerf is sometimes called "the father of the internet" for being one of the developers of the internet's architecture and the TCP/IP, which are the standards that enable devices and programmes to communicate over digital networks.

Reesa, a Filipino-American journalist who had been arrested in her home country Philippines, received the Nobel Prize in recognition of her "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression".

(Arul Louis can be contacted at aru.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

--IANS

al/arm

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Subscribe to Business Standard digital and get complimentary access to The New York Times

Quarterly Starter

₹900

3 Months

₹300/Month

SAVE 25%

Smart Essential

₹2,700

1 Year

₹225/Month

Save 46%

Super Saver

₹3,900

2 Years

₹162/Month

Subscribe

Renews automatically, cancel anytime

Here’s what’s included in our digital subscription plans

Access to Exclusive Premium Stories Online

  • Over 30 behind the paywall stories daily, handpicked by our editors for subscribers

Complimentary Access to The New York Times

  • News, Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter & The Athletic

Business Standard Epaper

  • Digital replica of our daily newspaper — with options to read, save, and share

Curated Newsletters

  • Insights on markets, finance, politics, tech, and more delivered to your inbox

Market Analysis & Investment Insights

  • In-depth market analysis & insights with access to The Smart Investor

Archives

  • Repository of articles and publications dating back to 1997

Ad-free Reading

  • Uninterrupted reading experience with no advertisements

Seamless Access Across All Devices

  • Access Business Standard across devices — mobile, tablet, or PC, via web or app

More From This Section

Topics :United Nations Secretary-General Antonio GuterresInternet

First Published: Aug 17 2022 | 8:12 AM IST

Next Story