Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations at UN to focus on digital empowerment

United Nations: Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations at the United Nations on Thursday will focus on the empowerment of the poor and the marginalised using information and communication technologies to achieve the UN`s sustainable development goals.

The theme of the 126th Birth Anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, the architect of India`s constitution, at the UN reflects his vision of "equality, social justice and empowerment of the poor and the marginalised sections of the society", according to India`s UN Mission.

The UN mission is organising the event in association with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and US NGO Foundation for Human Horizon.

Deputy Secretary General Amina J Mohammad will be the keynote speaker at the celebrations which will feature a panel discussion on "Empowering People through Digital Technologies for Social and Financial Inclusion" that will be moderated by Stan Kachnowski, chair of the Healthcare Innovation Technology Lab (HITLAB) at the Columbia University.

The panelists will be Katherine Newman, vice chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Julia Glidden, IBM`s general manager for Global Government Industry, Padmaja Chunduru, State Bank of India`s Country Head-US operations, Ravi Narvekar, founder of The Indian Network, and Olivier Rabeschlag, the Head of Creative at Google.