Digital India

‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’

That’s PM Modi’s mantra. Providing access to internet is one of PM Modi’s pet projects. From online registrations, availability of forms to other important document work – everything has been made easier through online procedures.

What is Digital India?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India programme is like a giant umbrella under which several big projects will run, aiming to bring broadband speeds to India’s rural areas, which suffer from lack of connectivity.
“E-Governance is going to change into M-Governance. M is not Modi Governance, it is mobile governance,” said MODI.
Digital India will be vast in scale and ambitious in its aims in true Modi style. India’s top businessmen committed Rs 4.5 lakh crore to build various parts of the program, expected to generate 18 lakh jobs. Modi hopes to reduce corruption in government services by making most of that available online.

Vision of DIGITAL INDIA

Centered on 3 key areas:-
• Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen.
• Governance & Services on Demand.
• Digital Empowerment of Citizens.

Modernized Economy

The below picture displays revolutions that took place which lead to growth of economy at a faster pace.
In this modernized economy, Digital Revolution has led to a programme to transform INDIA into digital empowered society and knowledge economy.
Here are the 9 pillars of DIGITAL INDIA:-
1. Broadband Highways: India is suffering from digital divide – meaning there are millions of people who do not have access to broadband and the opportunities it provides – and that needs to be bridged. Broadband highways will be routes through which internet connectivity will reach 2, 50,000 gram panchayats by December 2016. Reliance Jio’s 4G plans will also figure in this ambitious programme, which will make for a National Fiber Optic Network by 2016.

2. Digital Locker: This online locker will be able to store all documents issued to people by the government, and will require an Aadhar card as identification for the first time. After that people will be able to set their own password and even link it with a Google or Facebook account. Services such as passport applications might become fully online when the relevant authorities are able to access verified documents of applicant online. People won’t be required to go to a government office with a folder full of documents

3. e-Kranti: This is perhaps the biggest program within Digital India. The government will fast track approvals using IT, and mandate standards and protocols for software and hardware. A National Cyber Security Co-ordination Centre will be set up to combat cyber-attacks, which have the potential to disrupt large parts of Digital India. Major IT companies such as TCS, Wipro and Infosys are expected to work on projects to make this possible. E-Kranti provides electronic delivery of services depicted through the following.

4. Mobile connectivity:Over 42,000 villages will have seamless mobile connectivity by 2018. This will require Rs 20,000 crore worth of investment, and companies such as Airtel, Idea and Reliance will all play a role along with state-owned BSNL and MTNL.

5. Jobs:Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centers will be set up in states that have lagged in development, such as the North-Eastern states and rural areas. One crore students will be trained in smaller towns and cities in five years, to develop a skilled workforce for such BPOs and the IT sector. Telecom service providers have agreed to train 5 lakh people in smaller towns to work in their projects.

6. Manufacturing: Digital India seeks to spur electronics manufacturing to the extent that there would be net zero imports that is exports will equal imports — by 2020

7. MyGov.in MyGov.in has been launched as a medium to exchange ideas/ suggestions with Government. It will facilitate 2-way communication between citizens and government. Online messaging to citizens on special occasions/programs would be facilitated through emails and SMS.

8. Early Harvest Programmes: IT Platform for Messages
A Mass Messaging Application has been developed by Department of Electronics & Information Technology that will cover elected representatives and all Government employees. 1.36 Cr mobiles and 22 Lakh emails are part of the database.

9. E-Governance-Reforming government through technology: The guiding principles for reforming government through technology are:
• Form simplification and field reduction.
• Online applications, tracking of their status and interface between departments should be provided.
• Use of online repositories e.g. school certificates, voter ID cards, etc. should be mandated so that citizens are not required to submit these documents in physical form.
• Integration of services and platforms, e.g. UIDAI, Payment Gateway, Mobile Platform, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) etc.

Thus Digital India is where access to information has no barriers. A two way platform will be created where both the service providers and the consumers stand to benefit.