Digital India
The government of India has launched the campaign "Digital India" to make government services available to citizens electronically by enhancing online infrastructure, increasing Internet connectivity, or giving the nation digital empowerment in the technology sector.
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, unveiled it on July 1, 2015. The initiative includes ideas for establishing high-speed internet networks in rural areas.
The three main elements of digital India are as follows.
- building digital infrastructure
- service provision via digital means
- digital competence
In order to improve digital literacy and connect rural areas to high-speed Internet networks, Prime Minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi launched Digital India on July 1, 2015. Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen, Governance & Services on Demand, and Digital Empowerment of Citizens are the three key areas that make up the vision of the Digital India program, which seeks inclusive growth in the areas of electronic services, products, manufacturing, and job opportunities, among other things.
Vision Areas:
- Every citizen benefits from digital infrastructure.
- On-demand services and governance.
- Citizen empowerment through technology.
Objectives of Digital India
The motto of the Digital India Mission is "Power to Empower." Three main pillars support the Digital India plan: the development of digital infrastructure, the delivery of services digitally, and digital literacy.
The following is a list of this initiative's main goals:
- To provide high-speed internet to each gram panchayat.
- To enable everyone in the region to access the Common Service Center (CSC).
- The "Digital India" initiative unifies all of these ideas into a single, comprehensive vision so that each can be understood as a part of a larger goal.
- The Digital India Program also emphasizes reorganizing multiple current programs that can be implemented in unison.
KEY PILLARS
The Digital India program is based on the following pillars:
Broadband Highways
In accordance with this program, 250,000 villages, numerous government agencies, universities, etc., will be connected by high-speed broadband coverage highways. In order to provide high-speed connectivity to various government departments, the National Information Infrastructure (NII) will also make sure that the network and cloud infrastructure within the nation is integrated.
Networks like the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), National Knowledge Network (NKN), National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), Government User Network (GUN), and the MeghRaj Cloud are among these components. Mobile connectivity is accessible to all. In India today, there are about 55,619 villages without mobile service. A comprehensive development plan to be implemented in stages has been started to cover remote villages in the northeast.
Public Internet Access Programme
This initiative aims to operationalize 250,000 Common Service Centers (CSCs) at the gram panchayat level to provide government services. Similar steps will be taken to transform 150,000 post offices into multi-service facilities.
E-governance: Reforming government through technology
Government processes will be streamlined, automated, and made simpler through the use of business process re-engineering. Less information will be collected overall because forms will be made simpler. Similarly, the status of online applications will be monitored. Online repositories for diplomas, certificates, and identity documents will be encouraged to streamline the procedure further. This will remove the need for the physical submission of these documents.
Ekranti - Electronic Delivery of Services
The use of technology for service delivery, including e-education, e-healthcare, technology for planning, final inclusion, etc., is emphasized by this pillar.
General information
This aims to make publicly available online documents and information from the government. Social media and online platforms will allow two-way communication between the public and the government. MyGov.in, a platform for citizen engagement in governance, was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 26, 2014, as a way for people to communicate their ideas or suggestions to the government. It is the biggest success story.
Electronics manufacturing
Through implementation in areas like taxation, economies of scale, skill development, public procurement, etc., this program aims to achieve net zero imports by 2020.
IT for jobs
This step will give young people the necessary education and training to help them find employment in the IT/ITes sector. The establishment of BPOs to facilitate ICT-enabled growth is another focus of this component.
Early harvest programmes
Various projects must be completed within the constrained time frames of these early harvest programs. There are features like a messaging platform for IT, e-greetings from the government, biometric attendance, Wi-Fi in all universities, and more.
Important Digital India projects
According to the following list, a number of projects and products have already been launched
- With the help of the Digital Locker System, agencies can share electronic documents more easily and use fewer physical documents. By using authorized repositories, sharing e-documents will ensure the validity of the online documents.
- Through a "Discuss," "Do," and "Disseminate" methodology, MyGov.in has been put into place as a platform for citizen engagement in governance. These features would be available to mobile phone users through the MyGov mobile app.
- To achieve the Swachh Bharat Mission's objectives, individuals and government organizations will use the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) mobile app.
- Citizens could digitally sign a document online using the e Sign framework and Aadhaar authentication.
- A new feature of the eHospital application is the Online Registration System (ORS). These essential services are provided by this application, including online registration, fee and appointment payment, online diagnostic report access, online blood supply checking, etc.
- For all facets of the scholarship application procedure, including student application submission, verification, sanctioning, and final beneficiary payment, the National Scholarships Portal acts as a one-stop shop.
- In order to efficiently deliver services to the citizens, DeitY has launched an initiative called Digitize India Platform (DIP) to digitize records on a large scale in the nation.
- In order to connect all 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats in the nation, the Indian government has launched an initiative called Bharat Net. Through the use of optical fiber, this would be the biggest project ever for rural broadband connectivity.
- Next Generation Network (NGN), an IP-based technology to manage all types of services like voice, data, multimedia/video, and other packet-switched communication services, has been introduced by BSNL to replace exchanges that are 30 years old.
- Wi-Fi hotspots have been extensively deployed across the nation by BSNL. The user can connect to the BSNL Wi-Fi network through their mobile devices.
- Having widespread connectivity is essential for providing citizen services electronically and enhancing interactions between citizens and government agencies. Incorporating "broadband highways" as one of the pillars of Digital India demonstrates the government's recognition of this need. While connectivity is one requirement, the other is the availability of technologies that will make it easier to deliver services to citizens.
Advantages of the Digital India Mission program
- Twelve thousand rural post offices could now be electronically connected thanks to the Digital India Scheme.
- This scheme increases the number of electronic transactions related to e-governance.
- Under the Bharat Net Program, an optical fiber network covering nearly 1.15 lakh Gram Panchayats and costing Rs 2 74,246 km has been connected.
- Under the National e-governance project of the Indian government, which provides access to information and communication technology, a Common Service Center has been operational. The CSCs produce multimedia content on various topics, including e-governance, health, education, entertainment, telemedicine, and other public and private services, through computer and Internet access.
- The area of the digital village was built with well-equipped facilities like solar lighting, an LED assembly unit, a facility that makes sanitary napkins, and a Wi-Fi couple.
- An essential tool for service delivery and urban internet penetration is internet data. It has almost reached 64%.
- From 10-15 million daily users, daily active internet users have now surpassed 300 million.
Challenges Facing Digital India Implementation
High rate of digital illiteracy: Most Indian towns and villages have a high rate of digital illiteracy. Cities have embraced digitalization, but only to a certain degree. A fully digitalized society uses Internet services to obtain official documents and conducts daily cashless transactions. This calls for adjustments to the administrative structure, taxation, and public perception. In order to support the new system, citizens must take responsibility for doing so.
Connectivity to remote areas: Maintaining connectivity with every village, town, and city is a monumental task. Due to the fact that every state has different laws governing how it should be implemented, the connectivity problem is a complicated one. Making a database that can store such a large amount of data is also difficult for centralized authorities.
Compatibility with central state databases: Due to the diversity of each state, each has a unique set of internet protocols. Language diversity as well as diversity in terms of religion. Software compatibility is, therefore, a key concern.
Cyber Crime: There is a cyber threat all over the globe, and digital India will not be an
exception. Hence we need a strong anti-cybercrime team that maintains the database.
Moreover, it protects it round the clock Inter. Departmental Coordination: Within the government, various departments should be integrated. Integration has technical as well as corporate issues. Corporate in the sense of self-ego of the officers and staff of our government services is a hurdle in the change. Also, the middleman policy will be eliminated because of digital India. Hence there will be imminent resistance from the working staff.
Finance:
India has resources, but a significant capital cost is to be invested, and a few years from now, the return on the investment will be received.
The debate over net neutrality is ongoing, and we are heedlessly pursuing digital India. We must maintain net neutrality and ensure that no digital India is without it. The Indian economy and its citizens would suffer greatly from neutrality.
Adapting your perspective: Once the funds and supplies are allocated, these ideas will become obvious, but when it comes to actually putting them into practice, the majority of them will be reluctant to alter their behaviour. People are unwilling to change because they have become accustomed to years of the same behaviour.
Exchange of information: Other government agencies should make use of the information stored. For instance, digital India can easily solve police, surveillance, and other security issues, but coordinating will take enormous effort. It involves security and privacy issues in addition to being a technological issue.
Digital India Campaign's Effect
The Digital India campaign has had an impact in many areas since its launch in 2015:
- The majority of the 12000 post office branches in rural areas have electronic connections.
- The Make in India initiative has improved India's electronic manufacturing industry.
- By 2025, the Digital India plan could increase GDP by $1 trillion.
- The fields of healthcare and education have also grown.
- Online infrastructure development will strengthen the nation's economy.
Way Forward
- Its successful implementation is hampered by a number of obstacles, including digital illiteracy, subpar infrastructure, slow internet, a lack of coordination between various departments, taxation-related problems, etc.
- The above challenges need to be addressed to realise this programme's full potential.
Here are six specific actions the government can take to assist the country's digital transformation into the new normal for Digital 4.0, adding to India's success story and realizing the country's goal of having a five trillion dollar economy.
- Fostering a scientific mindset in which judgment is not used to guide action.
- Data accessibility and decreased device costs, particularly for smartphones.
- Seamless connectivity and fast technology (5G, 6G).
- Local language content of high quality.
- A protected and safe online environment with designated areas for dispute resolution, ombudsmen, and grievance officers.
- Renewable energy, a single power source, environmentally friendly technology and a growing number of government services are being brought online with more departments talking to each other.
