Digital India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “Digital India Week” on 1st July, 2015
Following are the projects and products that have been launched, or are ready for deployment, as part of the initiative:
- Digital locker system to minimize usage of physical documents and enable their e-sharing via registered repositories.
- MyGov.in as an an online platform to engage citizens in governance through a “Discuss, Do and Disseminate” approach.
- Swachh Bharat Mission Mobile app to achieve the goals set by this mission.
- e-Sign framework to allow citizens to digitally sign documents online using Aadhaar.
- e-Hospital system for important healthcare services such as online registration, fee payment, fixing doctors’ appointments, online diagnostics and checking blood availability online.
- National Scholarship Portal for beneficiaries from submission of application to verification, sanction and disbursal.
- Digitize India Platform for large-scale digitization of records in the country to facilitate efficient delivery of services to the citizens.
- Bharat Net programe as a high-speed digital highway to connect all 250,000 gram panchayats of country — the world’s largest rural broadband project using optical fibre.
- BSNL’s Next Generation Network to replace 30-year old telephone exchanges to manage all types of services like voice, data, multimedia and other types of communication services.
- BSNL’s large scale deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country.
- “Broadband Highways’ as one of the pillars of Digital India to address the connectivity issue while enabling and providing technologies to facilitate delivery of services to citizens.
- Outsourcing Policy to create such centres in different northeastern states and in smaller towns across the country.
- Electronics Development Fund to promote innovation, research and product development to create a resource pool within the country as also a self-sustaining eco-system of venture funds.
- National Centre for Flexible Electronics to promote research and innovation in the emerging area of flexible electronics.
- Centre of Excellence on Internet on Things (IoT) as a joint initiative of the government agencies and private institutions such as Nasscom.
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
- The Digital India programme is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
- In order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information technology, the Government of India has launched the Digital India programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
- E-governance initiatives in India took a broader dimension in the mid 1990s for wider sectoral applications with emphasis on citizen-centric services.
- The major ICT initiatives of the Government included, inter alia, some major projects such as railway computerization, land record computerization, etc. which focused mainly on the development of information systems.
- Later on, many states started ambitious individual e-governance projects aimed at providing electronic services to citizens.
- Though these e-governance projects were citizen-centric, they could make less than the desired impact due to their limited features. The isolated and less interactive systems revealed major gaps that were thwarting the successful adoption of e-governance along the entire spectrum of governance
- They clearly pointed towards the need for a more comprehensive planning and implementation for the infrastructure required to be put in place, interoperability issues to be addressed, etc. to establish a more connected government.
The Digital India programme is centred on three key vision areas:
- Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen
- Governance and Services on Demand
- Digital Empowerment of Citizens
Approach and Methodology for Digital India Programme are:
- Ministries / Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT Infrastructure established by GoI. DeitY would also evolve/ lay down standards and policy guidelines, provide technical and handholding support, undertake capacity building, R&D, etc.
- The existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be suitably revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India. Scope enhancement, Process Reengineering, use of integrated & interoperable systems and deployment of emerging technologies like cloud & mobile would be undertaken to enhance the delivery of Government services to citizens.
- States would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional state-specific projects, which are relevant for their socio-economic needs.
- e-Governance would be promoted through a centralised initiative to the extent necessary, to ensure citizen centric service orientation, interoperability of various e-Governance applications and optimal utilisation of ICT infrastructure/ resources, while adopting a decentralised implementation model.
- Successes would be identified and their replication promoted proactively with the required productization and customisation wherever needed.
- Public Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible to implement e-Governance projects with adequate management and strategic control.
- Adoption of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification, authentication and delivery of benefits.
- Restructuring of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT support to all government departments at Centre and State levels.
- The positions of Chief Information Officers (CIO) would be created in at least 10 key Ministries so that various e-Governance projects could be designed, developed and implemented faster. CIO positions will be at Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary level with over-riding powers on IT in the respective Ministry.
How Digital India will be realized: Pillars of Digital India
Digital India is an umbrella programme that covers multiple Government Ministries and Departments. It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them can be implemented as part of a larger goal.- Each individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the larger picture. Digital India is to be implemented by the entire Government with overall coordination being done by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY)
- Digital India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely Broadband Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access Programme, e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology, e-Kranti – Electronic Delivery of Services, Information for All, Electronics Manufacturing, IT for Jobs and Early Harvest Programmes. Each of these areas is a complex programme in itself and cuts across multiple Ministries and Departments.
DIGITAL INDIA WEEK
Digital India, a flagship programme of the Government of India, aims to “transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy”. This programme centres on three key vision areas of “Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen”, “Governance and Services on Demand” and “Digital Empowerment of Citizens”. The Digital India Week is a mega event planned for national launch of the Digital India programme. This national event will have participation of all Central Ministries/ Departments and all States/UTs.
Vision of Digital India Week
- To formally launch the Programme, a one week programme in the coming month comprising of awareness and communication events will be ear-marked as the Digital India Week to
- Effectively deliver the message of Digital India
- Expand visibility of Digital India by way of effective branding across various platforms with special focus on new media and public interface touch points.
- To establish credibility of message by ensuring value proposition in terms of demonstration of service delivery to citizens by converging existing and new services, usage of digital infrastructure under Digital India
- Sustained connection with people by identifying and engaging serious stakeholders through ICT platform and increasing the demand for e-services.
- Communication in vernacular languages as far as possible
Digital India Week Objectives
- Inform, educate and engage with citizens through organization of events at large number of Digital Points of Presence such as CSCs/ Post Offices, Schools, Gram Panchayats etc
- Connect all citizens through Digital Media campaigns and events
- Inform all about the vision, services and benefits of the Program
- Popularise and expand the reach of existing e-services, plan and launch new services
- Educate citizens on functional digital literacy, cyber security, cyber hygiene, ensure better utilization of Digital infrastructure during the DI Week and beyond
- Incentivize, motivate and connect citizens with the Digital India Program.
