AN ESSAY/ SPEECH ON DIGITAL INDIA-OBJECTIVES AND CHALLENGES:
DIGITAL INDIA- OBJECTIVES AND
CHALLENGES
The vision of Digital India is to transform
the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It would
ensure that government services are available to citizens electronically. This programme
was launched on 2nd July, 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative
includes plans to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks and
improving digital literacy.
This programme will be
implemented in phases till 2018. This programme has been envisaged by the
Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) with the active
participation of the Ministry of Communications and IT, Ministry of Rural
Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Health.
Right from the day of
its launch, the programme has managed to garner praises from across the
different sectors and is considered to play an important role in the
transformation of India's digital infrastructure. It will act as a catalyst for
the investment in the information technology sector and thus, generate
employment
Digital India
programmes are centered on three key vision areas viz., infrastructure as
utility to every citizen, Governance and services on demand and digital
empowerment of citizens.
(i) Digital
infrastructure as a utility to every citizen includes high speed internet as a
core utility shall be made available in all Gram Panchayats. Cradle to give
digital identity, unique, lifelong, online and authenticable. Mobile phones and
bank accounts would enable participation in digital and financial space at
individual level. Easy access to the Common Service Centre within their
locality. Shareable private space on a public cloud. Safe and secure cyberspace
in the country.
(ii) Governance and
services on demand includes government services available in real time from
online and mobile platforms. All citizen entitlements to be available on the
cloud to ensure easy access. Government services digitally transformed for
improving ease of doing business. Making financial transactions above a
threshold, electronic and cashless. Leveraging Global Information System (GIS)
for decision support system and development.
(iii) Digital
empowerment of citizens includes universal digital literacy. All digital
resources universally accessible. All government documents/certificates to be
available on the cloud. Availability of digital resources/services in Indian
languages. Collaborative digital platforms for participative governance.
Portability of all entitlements for individuals through the cloud.
In lieu of the vision of a Digital India, the
government aims to provide high-speed internet connectivity as a utility to
every citizen, ensure fast delivery of public services utilising the online
platform and build digital literacy among the masses. The programme aims at
connecting India’s cities, towns and villages via high speed broadband, along
with a system of networks and data centres called the National Information
Centre.
Some of the facilities
which will be provided through this initiative are
Government launched a
digital lock under the name ‘DigiLocker’. DigitalLocker System aims to minimise
the usage of physical documents and enable sharing of c-documents across
agencies.
e-hospital portal will
help the citizens to avail health services online by issuing a Unique Health
Identification number. Attcndance.gov.in is a website 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.
My.Gov.in is a
platform to share inputs and ideas on matters and governance. It is a platform
for citizen endorsement in governance, through a ‘Discuss’, ‘Do’ and ‘Disseminate’
approach. Early harvest programmes aim at developing an IT platform for mass
messaging and biometric attendance for all the government employees. It also
aims at setting up Wi-Fi facilities in all the universities. e-Kranti
programmers will be helpful for electronic delivery of services such as health
care, education, justice, educating farmers etc.
National scholarship
portal is one stop solution for end to end scholarship process right from
submission of student application, verification, sanction and disbursal to end
beneficiary for all the scholarships provided by the Government of India.
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mobile APP is being used by people and Government
organisations for achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat Mission.
The aim of Digital
India programme is to achieve zero imports of electronics by 2020 through
increased level of manufacturing of electronic items such as consumer and
medical electronics.
With the help of smart
cards, efforts will be made to provide clarity incentives, skill development,
government procurement and taxation. The programme also intends to train one
crore people in towns and villages in five years. The digital platform is
expected to serve nine verticals namely, e-Governance, e-Kranti, public
internet access programme, broadband highway, information access for all,
mobile connectivity, early harvest programme, IT for jobs and electronic
manufacturing.
As a utility, the
internet has a tangible value and should be helpful in reducing the leakages in
the welfare scheme and provide huge economic benefits by enabling better
decision making. The citizen portal mygov.in acts as a connecting link between
the citizens and the government.
The challenges of
‘Digital India’ project are:
• In order to accommodate such a vast
amount of data, India will require massive data centres with mirroring. Data
mirroring means backing up the data at alternate sites.
• This would require a
large amount of investment in order to set-up the state of art facilities in
different parts of the country. These data centres have to be technically
robust in order to prevent any failures.
• The biggest
challenge of Digital India is cyber security, in order to safeguard the data,
the government needs to place a robust security mechanism into the picture.
• The cyber laws of
the country need to be strengthened and updated according to the international
standards.
The overall
scope of Digital India is to prepare India for a knowledge future. Being
transformative is to realise IT (India Talent) + IT (Information Technology) is
equal to IT (India Tomorrow). Making technology central to enabling change. On
being an umbrella programme covering many departments. Each individual element
stands on its own but it is also part of the larger picture. The weaving
together makes the mission transformative in totality.
The global investors have applauded the Digital India programme. Many of them have come forward to support this initiative. If the government is successful in implementing the Digital India programme, it will play an important role in the development of the economy and stabilise its position in the international market.
AN ESSAY/SPEECH ON DIGITAL INDIA- OBJECTIVES AND CHALLENGES PDF: