Krishna Byre Gowda, Minister for Greater Bengaluru Development, Government of Karnataka, highlighted technology’s role in improving governance, enhancing transparency, and reducing corruption.
Speaking at a fireside chat with Shradha Sharma, Founder & CEO, YourStory and The Bharat Project at TechSparks 2026, YourStory’s annual summit, the minister drew on his previous experience in the state’s Land Revenue Department to illustrate how technology can improve public service delivery.
Gowda said technology-driven solutions could automate government processes, make administration more transparent, and improve public service delivery.
“We implemented a lot of technology-based solutions to completely or partly automate government functioning, make the process a lot more transparent and visible to people, and introduce technology at whatever level possible,” he said, recalling his tenure at the Land Revenue Department.
He said these interventions had significantly improved the government’s ability to deliver results, made processes more transparent, and reduced opportunities for corruption.
“Technology has the ability, if we are willing, to deliver better governance, at least minimise corruption, and be able to meet people's expectations,” said Gowda.
He emphasised that technology can help bridge the trust gap between governments and citizens today. He added that it could do so by enabling governments to respond more effectively and deliver better services.
“I believe—and since I have done it and I could see the results—so now with a lot more confidence, not just as an idea, I can say that the more technology we adopt in governance, the better will be our delivery of services to people, and lower will be the levels of corruption,” he said.
However, Gowda cautioned that technology alone cannot eradicate systemic corruption without a parallel shift in civic behaviour. Stressing that corruption is “not a one-way street,” he noted that “unless two hands meet, the clap doesn’t happen”.
Illustrating the gap in public compliance, he revealed that, out of an estimated 35 lakh to 50 lakh properties in Bengaluru, only 23 lakh possess registered titles (khatas) and a mere 18 lakh pay property taxes. Similarly, on civic issues like waste management, he emphasised that government accountability—such as ensuring daily doorstep garbage collection—must be matched by citizen cooperation, rather than dumping garbade by the roadside.
Addressing the ethical challenges of modern governance, Gowda offered a candid look into political reality.
“In today’s political system, you keep a conscience and try to do the best you can, and don’t sell your soul,” he said, acknowledging that while compromises cannot be entirely avoided, leaders must navigate the system without abandoning their core duty.
Facing steep public scrutiny and administrative friction, he described his daily ethos as simply getting up every morning to “either break your head or break the damn wall” to deliver results.
This administrative push comes against the backdrop of decades of unplanned expansion and infrastructure deficits. Pointing to severe bottlenecks, Gowda noted that planned localities like Jayanagar allocate 23% of their land area to roads, whereas problem-ridden unplanned areas have as little as 8%.
To halt further degradation, the government has stopped new illegal layouts and initiated proactive planning across 2,000 square kilometres—far beyond the current 750-square-kilometre Greater Bengaluru Authority geography—to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past 25 years.
Speaking about the city’s tech ecosystem, Gowda highlighted Bengaluru’s economic weight—the city hosts 40% of India’s GCC investments and generates over 40% of the $300 billion IT service exports.
He urged entrepreneurs and builders to apply their innovation beyond commercial software to real socio-economic challenges, insisting that Indian tech leaders must position themselves at the “head" of the pack—and not follow the pack—to shape the nation’s future.