Good Governance is something that many countries have aspired for. How do you eradicate poverty, bureaucracy, apathy, mismanagement, black money, tax evasion and many other social evils? In a country as vast as India with such a huge population how can the weakest people living in the most remote areas be provided the services of a Government? Many people all over the world still are blissfully unaware of the seismic changes taking place in India. These changes are being driven by the digital revolution.
The beginning of India’s digital revolution was the 2010 launch of a biometric identification program called Aadhaar, which assigns everyone a unique 12-digit number that can be verified by fingerprint or iris scan. Most of India’s 1.3 billion people are now registered in the government’s digital database. The Government wants to move away from
from cash based transactions to digital transactions whether through bank debit cards, credit cards or mobile wallets. Aadhaar Card has paved the way for another program called Jan Dhan. It is aimed at ensuring that every household in India has a bank account and easy access to those accounts. Since this financial inclusion initiative began in 2014, Indians have opened some 285 million bank accounts. This had led to huge empowerment of women, farmers and many others. Money goes directly in their Banks cutting out all obstacles in the form of officialdom.
Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India in order to ensure the Government’s services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology. The initiative includes plans to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks. Digital India consists of three core components: the development of secure and stable digital infrastructure, delivering government services digitally, and universal digital literacy. Launched on 1 July 2015, by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi it complements other key Government of India schemes, such as BharatNet, Make in India, Startup India, Smart City etc. As of 31 December 2018, India had a population of 1.3 billion people. It had 1.23 billion Aadhaar digital biometric identity cards, 1.21 billion mobile phones, 446 million smartphone holders and 560 million Internet users. The Government of India’s entity Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) which executes the BharatNet project is the custodian of Digital India (DI) project. Some of the facilities which will be provided through this initiative are Bharat net, digital locker, e-education, e-health, e-sign, e-shopping and national scholarship portal.
Botnet cleaning centers. It is an initiative to create a secure cyberspace by detecting botnet infections in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end users so as to prevent further infections.
National e-Governance Plan is aimed at bringing all the front-end government services online.One of the most important benefits of e-Governance is that it empowers citizens. Through transparent information about government procedures and responsibilities, citizens become more aware of their rights. … e-Governance allows the government to serve better, and allows the citizens to demand more from the government.
MyGov.in is a platform to share inputs and ideas on matters of policy and governance. It is a platform for citizen engagement in governance through a “Discuss”, “Do” and “Disseminate” approach.
UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is a Government of India all-in-one single unified secure multi-channel, multi-platform, multi-lingual, multi-service freeware mobile app for accessing over 1,200 Central and State government services in multiple Indian languages over Android, iOS, Windows and USSD (feature phone) devices. Services such as AADHAAR, DigiLocker, Bharat Bill Payment System, PAN, EPFO services, PMKVY services, AICTE, CBSE, tax and fee or utilities bills payments, education, job search, tax, business, health, agriculture, travel, Indian railway tickets bookings, birth certificates,
eDistricts are the de facto front-end of the government where most Government-to-Consumer or G2C interaction takes place. The eDistrict project was conceptualized to improve this experience and enhance the efficiencies of the various Departments at the district-level to enable seamless service delivery to the citizen. For a host of issues like getting Certificates, Police Clearance, Passport, Pensions and Ration Cards eDistrict is the app.
eSign framework allows citizens to digitally sign a document online using Aadhaar authentication.
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mobile app is being used by people and Government organisations for achieving the goals of a Clean India.
eHospital application provides important services such as online registration, payment of fees and appointment, online diagnostic reports, enquiring availability of blood etc.
Digital attendance: attendance.gov.in was launched by PM Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015 to keep a record of the attendance of government employees on a real-time basis. This initiative started with implementation of a common Biometric Attendance System (BAS) in the central government offices located in Delhi.
Black money eradication. The 2016, Union budget of India announced 11 technology initiatives including the use of data analytics to nab tax evaders, creating a substantial opportunity for IT companies to build out the systems that will be required.
The Digital Literacy mission will cover sixty million rural households. It is planned to connect 550 farmer markets in the country through the use of technology.
Digital Locker facility will help citizens to digitally store their important documents like PAN card, passport, mark sheets and degree certificates. Digital Locker will provide secure access to Government-issued documents. It uses authenticity services provided by Aadhaar. It is aimed at eliminating the use of physical documents and enables the sharing of verified electronic documents across government agencies.
BPO and job growth: The Government is planning to create around 38,000 seats of BPOs in various states and set up at least one Common Service Centre in each of the gram panchayats in the state. This is to create youth employment opportunities in the IT sector and to expand the IT industry in smaller towns and the North East of the country. It will tap into the huge pool of talent away from the big cities.
e-Sampark Vernacular. To connect rural India with Digital India the Government of India encouraged email service provider giants including Gmail, Office and Rediff to provide the email address in regional languages. An Indian-based company, Data Xgen Technologies Pvt Ltd, has launched the world’s first free linguistic email address under the name ‘DATAMAIL’ which allows creating email ids in 8 Indian languages as well as in English and three foreign languages – Arabic, Russian and Chinese. Data XGen Technologies is working to provide email service in 22 other languages of India.
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan is being executed by PMGDisha with an outlay of over Rs 200 million with the objective of making 60 million rural households digitally literate. It will reach around 40% of rural households by covering one member from every eligible household.
This is only a snapshot of changes taking place. I have compiled the above information from various sources. I hope this will prompt the reader to look at India in a new light.
Nitin Mehta
12 April 2020.
Surat, India.
India’s Digital Revolution.
Good Governance is something that many countries have aspired for. How do you eradicate poverty, bureaucracy, apathy, mismanagement, black money, tax evasion and many other social evils? In a country as vast as India with such a huge population how can the weakest people living in the most remote areas be provided the services of a Government? Many people all over the world still are blissfully unaware of the seismic changes taking place in India. These changes are being driven by the digital revolution.
The beginning of India’s digital revolution was the 2010 launch of a biometric identification program called Aadhaar, which assigns everyone a unique 12-digit number that can be verified by fingerprint or iris scan. Most of India’s 1.3 billion people are now registered in the government’s digital database. The Government wants to move away from
from cash based transactions to digital transactions whether through bank debit cards, credit cards or mobile wallets. Aadhaar Card has paved the way for another program called Jan Dhan. It is aimed at ensuring that every household in India has a bank account and easy access to those accounts. Since this financial inclusion initiative began in 2014, Indians have opened some 285 million bank accounts. This had led to huge empowerment of women, farmers and many others. Money goes directly in their Banks cutting out all obstacles in the form of officialdom.
Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India in order to ensure the Government’s services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology. The initiative includes plans to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks. Digital India consists of three core components: the development of secure and stable digital infrastructure, delivering government services digitally, and universal digital literacy. Launched on 1 July 2015, by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi it complements other key Government of India schemes, such as BharatNet, Make in India, Startup India, Smart City etc. As of 31 December 2018, India had a population of 1.3 billion people. It had 1.23 billion Aadhaar digital biometric identity cards, 1.21 billion mobile phones, 446 million smartphone holders and 560 million Internet users. The Government of India’s entity Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) which executes the BharatNet project is the custodian of Digital India (DI) project. Some of the facilities which will be provided through this initiative are Bharat net, digital locker, e-education, e-health, e-sign, e-shopping and national scholarship portal.
Botnet cleaning centers.
It is an initiative to create a secure cyberspace by detecting botnet infections in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end users so as to prevent further infections.
National e-Governance Plan is aimed at bringing all the front-end government services online.One of the most important benefits of e-Governance is that it empowers citizens. Through transparent information about government procedures and responsibilities, citizens become more aware of their rights. … e-Governance allows the government to serve better, and allows the citizens to demand more from the government.
MyGov.in is a platform to share inputs and ideas on matters of policy and governance. It is a platform for citizen engagement in governance through a “Discuss”, “Do” and “Disseminate” approach.
UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is a Government of India all-in-one single unified secure multi-channel, multi-platform, multi-lingual, multi-service freeware mobile app for accessing over 1,200 Central and State government services in multiple Indian languages over Android, iOS, Windows and USSD (feature phone) devices. Services such as AADHAAR, DigiLocker, Bharat Bill Payment System, PAN, EPFO services, PMKVY services, AICTE, CBSE, tax and fee or utilities bills payments, education, job search, tax, business, health, agriculture, travel, Indian railway tickets bookings, birth certificates,
eDistricts are the de facto front-end of the government where most Government-to-Consumer or G2C interaction takes place. The eDistrict project was conceptualized to improve this experience and enhance the efficiencies of the various Departments at the district-level to enable seamless service delivery to the citizen. For a host of issues like getting Certificates, Police Clearance, Passport, Pensions and Ration Cards eDistrict is the app.
eSign framework allows citizens to digitally sign a document online using Aadhaar authentication.
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mobile app is being used by people and Government organisations for achieving the goals of a Clean India.
eHospital application provides important services such as online registration, payment of fees and appointment, online diagnostic reports, enquiring availability of blood etc.
Digital attendance: attendance.gov.in was launched by PM Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015 to keep a record of the attendance of government employees on a real-time basis. This initiative started with implementation of a common Biometric Attendance System (BAS) in the central government offices located in Delhi.
Black money eradication. The 2016, Union budget of India announced 11 technology initiatives including the use of data analytics to nab tax evaders, creating a substantial opportunity for IT companies to build out the systems that will be required.
The Digital Literacy mission will cover sixty million rural households. It is planned to connect 550 farmer markets in the country through the use of technology.
Digital Locker facility will help citizens to digitally store their important documents like PAN card, passport, mark sheets and degree certificates. Digital Locker will provide secure access to Government-issued documents. It uses authenticity services provided by Aadhaar. It is aimed at eliminating the use of physical documents and enables the sharing of verified electronic documents across government agencies.
BPO and job growth: The Government is planning to create around 38,000 seats of BPOs in various states and set up at least one Common Service Centre in each of the gram panchayats in the state. This is to create youth employment opportunities in the IT sector and to expand the IT industry in smaller towns and the North East of the country. It will tap into the huge pool of talent away from the big cities.
e-Sampark Vernacular. To connect rural India with Digital India the Government of India encouraged email service provider giants including Gmail, Office and Rediff to provide the email address in regional languages. An Indian-based company, Data Xgen Technologies Pvt Ltd, has launched the world’s first free linguistic email address under the name ‘DATAMAIL’ which allows creating email ids in 8 Indian languages as well as in English and three foreign languages – Arabic, Russian and Chinese. Data XGen Technologies is working to provide email service in 22 other languages of India.
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan is being executed by PMGDisha with an outlay of over Rs 200 million with the objective of making 60 million rural households digitally literate. It will reach around 40% of rural households by covering one member from every eligible household.
This is only a snapshot of changes taking place. I have compiled the above information from various sources. I hope this will prompt the reader to look at India in a new light.
Nitin Mehta
12 April 2020.
Surat, India.
Please visit www.nitinmehta.co.uk for more articles.