Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday announced plans that he said could make the state a pioneer in innovation and a knowledge capital of the country. New government policies relating to cybersecurity, blockchain technology and artificial intelligence were released on Saturday.

Chief Minister Palaniswami released Tamil Nadu Cyber Security Policy 2020, Tamil Nadu Blockchain Policy 2020 and Tamil Nadu Safe and Ethical Artificial Intelligence Policy 2020 while participating in a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 'Connect 2020' conference organised by the CII through videoconference.

According to the Chief Minister, the state continues to be a “destination of choice” for the IT and IT-enabled services sector in India with 42 Memorandum of Understandings, involving an investment of Rs 31,464 crore, signed even during the lockdown period. These MoU are intended to create approximately 69,712 jobs in the state.

The press release issued by the government states that the Cyber Security Policy has been made with the intent of protecting the government's database and websites that provide services to the people. Moreover, the state becomes the first in the country to introduce Blockchain Policy that would serve to reimagine governance, the release stated.

It would also help to deliver the state government’s social and economic welfare programs in a fair and transparent manner through the internet. Additionally, it would build better G2G (Government to Government) and G2C (Government to Citizen) work flows and applications to improve the lives of the residents of Tamil Nadu, the release added.

One of the goals of the Artificial Intelligence policy is to augment and improve existing governance workflows and processes with the help of AI. The policy also aims for the adoption of AI in the government’s Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive. Another goal is to encourage research and development in AI by academia, start-ups, private and public enterprises.