Sample Material of Current Public Administration Magazine

Information & Communication Technology

Digital India

Digital India is an initiative of Government of India to integrate the government departments and the people of India. It aims at ensuring the government services are made available to citizens electronically by reducing paperwork. The initiative also includes plan to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks. Digital India has three core components. These include:

• The creation of digital infrastructure
• Delivering services digitally
• Digital literacy.

The project is slated for completion by 2019. A two-way platform will be created where both the service providers and the consumers stand to benefit. The scheme will be monitored and controlled by the Digital India Advisory group which will be chaired by the Ministry of Communications and IT. It will be an inter-ministerial initiative where all ministries and departments shall offer their own services to the public Healthcare, Education, Judicial services etc. The Public-private-partnership model shall be adopted selectively. In addition, there are plans to restructure the National Informatics Centre. This project is one among the top priority projects of the Modi Administration.

The initiative is commendable and deserves full support of all stakeholders. However, the initiative also lacks many crucial components including lack of legal framework, absence of privacy and data protection laws, civil liberties abuse possibilities, lack of parliamentary oversight for e-surveillance in India, lack of intelligence related reforms in India, insecure Indian cyberspace, etc. These issues have to be managed first before introducing DI initiative in India. Digital India project is worth exploring and implementation despite its shortcomings that can be rectified before its implementation.

Digital India, PM Narendra Modi’s pet project, is week-long event, to be held in New Delhi , will see at least one major e-governance project being unveiled each day and is expected to attract 10,000 people. In terms of scale and grandeur the programme will match the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Summit that Modi started during his stint as the chief minister of the state.

1. The venue for the inaugural ceremony, sources said, is the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, and around 400 top CEOs have been invited.

2. Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Bharti Group chairman Sunil Mittal and Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani are expected to attend Digital India event.

3. Sources said that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is also likely to be present on the occasion.

4. The captains of industry are likely to announce their association with some of the projects, which include portals on telemedicine and e-hospitals — one partnership with the Apollo Hospital Group has already been forged.

5. A portal on agriculture will also be unveiled as will e-basta, a platform to provide study material for students.

6. For common citizens, there will be the Digital Lockers initiative to help them store important documents like PAN cards, passports, mark sheets and degree certificates.

7. The e-hospital portal will allow citizens to make appointments with the doctors.

8. A project aimed at digitising land records, birth and death certificates, mark sheets and other such utilities would also be unveiled at Digital India Week.

9. Digital India aims to build infrastructure and provide the internet as a utility to every citizen.

10. It promises to improve service delivery by making services available online.

11. Digital India seeks to enable people to access the internet by building digital literacy.

12. The eSign facility will allow online digital signature service

13. BSNL targets to provide Wi-Fi hotspots in 2500 cities

14. The project also aims to supports Daughter Funds including early stage angel funds and venture funds in the area of electronics.

15. Resource pool of IP within the country

(Source- financialexpress.com)

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