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Digital india

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Digital india (DI)
Motto"Power To Empower"
CountryIndia
Prime Minister(s)Narendra Damodardas Modi
MinistryMinistry of Electronics and Information Technology
Key peopleRavi Shankar Prasad, S S Ahluwalia
Launched1 July 2015; 8 years ago (2015-07-01)
StatusActive
Websitedigitalindia.gov.in
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
India

Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India to ensure the Government's services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or by making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology.[1][2] 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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is both enabler and beneficiary of other key Government of India schemes, such as BharatNet, Make in India, Startup India and Standup India, industrial corridors, Bharatmala, Sagarmala, dedicated freight corridors and UDAN-RCS.

History[edit]

Digital India was launched by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015 with an objective of connecting rural areas with high-speed Internet networks and improving digital literacy.[3][4][5] The vision of Digital India programme is inclusive growth in areas of electronic services, products, manufacturing and job opportunities. It is centred on three key areas – digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens.[6]

Digital India Initiative[edit]

The Government of India entity Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) which executes the BharatNet project is the custodian of Digital India (DI) project.[7][8] BharatNet will connect all the 625,000 villages of India by December 2018.

Implementation[edit]

New digital services[edit]

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. As part of Digital India, Indian Government planned to launch Botnet cleaning centers.[9]

  • National e-Governance Plan aimed at bringing all the front-end government services online.
    • MyGov.in is a platform to share inputs and ideas on matters of policy and governance.[10] It is a platform for citizen engagement in governance, through a "Discuss", "Do" and "Disseminate" approach.[5]
    • 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, including services such as AADHAR, 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, e-District, e-Panchayat, police clearance, passport, other utility services from private companies and much more.[11]
    • eSign framework allows citizens to digitally sign a document online using Aadhaar authentication.[5]
    • Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mobile app is being used by people and Government organisations for achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat Mission.[5]
    • eHospital application provides important services such as online registration, payment of fees and appointment, online diagnostic reports, enquiring availability of blood online etc.
    • Digital attendance: attendance.gov.in was launched by PM Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015[3] to keep a record of the attendance of government employees on a real-time basis.[12] This initiative started with implementation of a common Biometric Attendance System (BAS) in the central government offices located in Delhi.[13]
  • Back-end digitisation
    • 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.[14] Digital Literacy mission will cover six crore rural households.[14] It is planned to connect 550 farmer markets in the country through the use of technology.[15]
  • Facilities to digitally empower citizens
    • 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. Three key stakeholders of DigiLocker are Citizen, Issuer and requester.[5][16][17]
    • BPO and job growth: The government is planning to create 28,000 seats of BPOs in various states and set up at least one Common Service Centre in each of the gram panchayats in the state.[18]
    • e-Sampark Vernacular email service: Out of 10% English speaking Indians, only 2% reside in rural areas. Rest everyone depends on their vernacular language for all living their lives. However, as of now, email addresses can only be created in English language. To connect rural India with the Digital India, the Government of India impelled email services provider giants including Gmail, office and Rediff to provide the email address in regional languages. The email provider companies have shown positive sign and is working in the same process.[19] An Indian-based company, Data Xgen Technologies Pvt Ltd, has launched world’s first free linguistic email address under the name ‘DATAMAIL’[20] which allows creating email ids in 8 Indian languages, English; and three foreign languages – Arabic, Russian and Chinese. Over the period of time the email service in 22 languages will be offered by Data XGen Technologies.[21]

Training[edit]

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan is being executed by PMGDisha with an outlay of Rs 2,351.38 crore with the objective of making 6 crore rural households digitally literate by March 2019.[22][23][24] Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (abbreviated as PMGDisha[25]) is an initiative under Digital India program, approved by The Union Cabinet chaired by the PM Narendra Modi.[26][27] The main objective of the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan is to make 6 crore people in rural areas across India digitally literate, reaching around 40% of rural households by covering one member from every eligible household.[28][29][30]

Ongoing awareness campaign[edit]

Annual Digital India Summit & Awards are held.[31]

Outcome[edit]

Reception[edit]

The programme has been favoured by multiple countries including the US, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.[32]

At the launch ceremony of Digital India Week by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on 1 July 2015,[33] top CEOs from India and abroad committed to invest 224.5 lakh crore (US$3.1 trillion) towards this initiative. The CEOs said the investments would be utilized towards making smartphones and internet devices at an affordable price in India which would help generate jobs in India as well as reduce the cost of importing them from abroad.[34]

Leaders from Silicon Valley, San Jose, California expressed their support for Digital India during PM Narendra Modi's visit in September 2015. Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, changed his profile picture in support of Digital India and started a chain on Facebook and promised to work on WiFi Hotspots in rural area of India.[35] Google committed to provide broadband connectivity on 500 railway stations in India. Microsoft agreed to provide broadband connectivity to five hundred thousand villages in India and make India its cloud hub through Indian data centres. Qualcomm announced an investment of US$150 million in Indian startups.[36] Oracle plans to invest in 20 states and will work on payments and Smart city initiatives.[37] However, back in India, cyber experts expressed their concern over internet.org and viewed the Prime Minister's bonhomie with Zuckerberg as the government's indirect approval of the controversial initiative.[38] The Statesman reported, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chemistry with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the social media giant's headquarters in California may have been greeted enthusiastically in Silicon Valley but back home several social media enthusiasts and cyber activists are disappointed."[39] Later the Prime Minister office clarified that net neutrality will be maintained at all costs and vetoed the Basic Internet plans.[38] Digital India has also been influential in promoting the interests of the Indian Railways.[40]

Criticism[edit]

Several academic scholars have critiqued ICTs in development. Some take issue with technological determinism, the notion that ICTs are a sure-fire antidote to the world's problems.[41] Instead, governments must adjust solutions to the specific political and social context of their nation.[41] Others note that technology amplifies underlying institutional forces, so technology must be accompanied by significant changes in policy and institutions in order to have meaningful impact.[42][43]

It is being thought that there needs to be more research on the actual worth of these multimillion-dollar government and ICT for development projects. For the most part, the technological revolution in India has benefited the already privileged sectors of Indians.[41] It is also difficult to scale up initiatives to affect all Indians, and fundamental attitudinal and institutional change is still an issue.[44] While much ICT research has been conducted in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat, poorer states such as Bihar and Orissa are rarely mentioned.[44]

Impact[edit]

Internet subscribers had increased to 500 million in India as of April 2017.[45] On 28 December 2015, Panchkula district of Haryana was awarded for being the best as well as top performing district in the state under the Digital India campaign.[46]

India is now adding approximately 10 million daily active internet users monthly, which is the highest rate of addition to the internet community anywhere in the world.[47]

Books on Digital India

1.Digital India: Governance Transformation.[48]

2. Digitalization...for the prosperous nation.[49]

References[edit]

  1. Prakash, Amit. "Digital India needs to go local". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  2. Mannathukkaren, Nissim. "The grand delusion of Digital India". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  3. 3.0 3.1 DNA Webdesk (28 September 2015), Here's what you need to know about the Digital India initiative, Mumbai: Daily News and Analysis
  4. "Government School in Remote Bandahalli Village Gets Inspired by make in India", The New Indian Express, 15 March 2016
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Digital India Week: Digital Locker, MyGov.in, and other projects that were unveiled", The Indian Express, 5 July 2015
  6. "GST to take care of many of e-commerce firms' tax issues: IT minister", Live Mint, 21 November 2014
  7. "About Bharat Broadband Network Limited", Bharat Broadband Network Limited
  8. Subramaniam, Nikhil (22 March 2013), "India's 'fantastic' broadband project that you should know about", Tech2
  9. "Government to set up botnet cleaning centers", Preview Tech, 25 May 2014
  10. "Modi's website gets new, mobile friendly look", Business Standard, New Delhi, BS Reporter, 16 January 2016
  11. "Government unveils Umang app for citizen services.", Economic Times, 23 Nov 2017.
  12. "Attendance.gov.in: Modi government launches website to track attendance of government employees", The Economic Times, 7 October 2014
  13. "Attendance.gov.in - Government offices will no longer be the same, courtesy Narendra Modi", Daily News and Analysis, 7 October 2014
  14. 14.0 14.1 "Budget 2016: Technology initiatives to boost Digital India drive", The Economic Times, 29 February 2016
  15. "Government aims to give 'Digital India' benefits to farmers: PM Modi", The Times of India, 18 February 2016
  16. "Can DigiLocker Catalyze Digital India? – Maximum Governance". maximumgovernance.com. Retrieved 2016-09-08.
  17. "DigiLocker - Online document storage facility National Portal of India", india.gov.in, archived from the original on 15 May 2015
  18. "Under the Digital India initiative: Software Technology Park of India", The Indian Express, 28 February 2016
  19. "Vernacular Push: Govt. Wants Email Providers To Support Regional Email Addresses". Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups. 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  20. "DataMail: World's first free linguistic email service supports eight India languages - The Economic Times". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  21. "Data Xgen Technologies launches email address in Indian languages". www.deccanchronicle.com. 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  22. "One of world's largest digital literacy programmes in world, 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' cleared by Cabinet". Financial Express. February 8, 2017.
  23. "Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan". Vikaspedia. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  24. "2,351 करोड़ से गांवों को डिजिटल साक्षर बनाएगी सरकार, PMGDISHA को मंजूरी" (in Hindi). Live Hindustan. February 9, 2017.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
  25. "Cabinet approves PMGDISHA under Digital India Programme". New Delhi: Business Standard. February 8, 2017.
  26. "Cabinet nod for rural digital literacy programme". The Hindu. February 9, 2017.
  27. "abinet approves 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' for covering 6 crore rural households". Press Information Bureau. February 8, 2017.
  28. "Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)". MyGov.in. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  29. "Digital literacy classes for unemployed". The Hans India. May 2, 2017.
  30. Shrivastava, Shilpika (February 9, 2017). "Union Cabinet approves Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan". Jagran Josh.
  31. "Times Now and ET Now announce 2nd edition of Digital India Summit & Awards; on 22 March", The Economic Times, 19 February 2016
  32. "Vietnam may emulate Digital India, seeks cooperation on e-governance", Hindustan Times, 28 March 2017
  33. "PM Narendra Modi invites tech enthusiasts for a 'Digital Dialogue'", The Times of India, 4 July 2015
  34. "Digital India: Top CEOs commit to invest Rs 4.5 trillion".
  35. Mark Zuckerberg changes his profile picture to support 'Digital India', The Times of India, TNN, 27 September 2014
  36. Thomas, K (27 September 2015), Modi effect: Silicon Valley giants commit to Digital India, Business Line The Hindu
  37. "Digital India to propel economy to its best era: Oracle", Moneycontrol.com, 8 October 2015
  38. 38.0 38.1 "The Statesman: Digital India at the expense of Net neutrality?", The Statesman, 8 October 2015
  39. "Clipping of The Statesman - Delhi". The Statesman. 29 September 2015.
  40. Dipankan Bandopadhyay (14 April 2017). "Digital India and Indian Railways". Politics Now.
  41. 41.0 41.1 41.2 Thomas, Pradip Ninan (2012-07-11). Digital India: Understanding Information, Communication and Social Change. SAGE Publications India. ISBN 9788132116851. Search this book on
  42. Nagarajan, Rema (20 September 2015). "To fix social problems, invest in human beings, not tech magic: Kentaro Toyama". Times of India.
  43. Toyama, Kentaro (2015), "Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology", PublicAffairs
  44. 44.0 44.1 Walsham, Geoff (2010). "ICTS for the Broader Development of India: An Analysis of the Literature" (PDF). The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 41: 1–20.
  45. "India Internet Conference 2017: Minds meet on country's digital future", Financial Express, 6 April 2017
  46. "Digital India campaign;Panchkula comes out on top among all districts of Haryana". The Indian Express. The Express Group. 26 December 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  47. Reporter, B. S. (2018-06-27). "India is adding 10 million active internet users per month: Google". Business Standard India. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
  48. B K Murthy, K S Nippani (2017). Digital India: Governance Transformation. India: Vitasta Publishing Pvt Ltd. p. 397. ISBN 9789386473127. Search this book on
  49. Kumar, Atul (2017). Digitalization...For the prosperous nation. India: MHRD, Government Of India. pp. 1–95. ISBN 9789352683550. Search this book on

External links[edit]