India is finally on the path of a truly digital nation
I
believe it may take many more years before India becomes a truly digital nation
like Singapore, but we definitely seem to be getting there
The
government appears to have got its Digital India approach right. It’s
imperative that it does so, given that the Rs.1.3 trillion
programme envisages a plethora of e-governance services across sectors like
healthcare, education and banking, and promises to introduce transparency in
the system, reduce corruption and achieve inclusive growth.
I
remain optimistic that this will happen. Here are some reasons. To begin with,
building on the National e-Governance Plan that was approved in 2006 under the
Congress regime, the current Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance
government is using technologies like mobility, analytics, cloud and the
Internet of Things to implement the Digital India programme that dovetails with
its other initiatives like Smart Cities and Make in India.
On
the surface, we get to see tangibles like the government’s Digital Locker that
allows you to store important files and lets you authenticate them online with
your Aadhaar number, e-bastas (‘basta’ is Hindi for satchel), and the
linking of Aadhaar to bank accounts and availing of subsidies.
At
the back end, these e-services ride on the GI Cloud, also known as Meghraj,
where government departments have to host their cloud data, and need to seek
permission from the department of electronics and information technology
(DeitY) if they want to do otherwise. Over 1,700 government departments and
agencies across the country already use the mobile platform, Mobile Seva.
More
importantly, Digital India policy initiatives include the use of open source
software and open APIs (application programming interfaces) to ensure
interoperability of software across departments, collaborative application
development and cloud-ready applications.
Besides,
Bharat Net (earlier known as the National Optical Fibre Network, it is governed
by the department of telecom), the digital infrastructure has components like
common service centres (CSCs) for every panchayat. All the post offices and the
CSCs are being upgraded and expanded.
However,
if so much is happening, why is it that mobile calls still drop when having a
conversation in Digital India? Why is it that many people in villages still do
not have an Internet connection or enough content in their own vernacular
languages? Why is it that India still has poor bandwidth speeds? Or why is it
that we are still stuck with the concept of Smart Cities when this country
should have, by now, graduated to the concept of Smart Villages and Towns?
And,
of course, not to forget that many parts of our country do not even have
electricity to power Digital India.
One
can easily lay the blame on callous and corrupt politicians but the issue is
complex. Execution, for one, will remain a challenge since Digital India has to
be coordinated by DeitY, but the implementation has to be done by all
government departments, state governments and the Union territories.
There
are still numerous versions of PDS (public distribution system) applications in
states, for which DeitY has developed an application that states can configure
and use in their own domains. Besides, the system is cloud-based; so states
need not buy their own data centres or servers, etc., for hosting the
application. But convincing the states to do so remains a big challenge, unless
you are a state like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Maharashtra.
Moreover,
the government’s plan to set up two semiconductor units in India, and thus
raise about $40 billion investment, is yet to see the light of day. By the time
these plans our passed (if they eventually do so), the idea of setting up these
units would have outlived its purpose of helping the country’s electronic
ecosystem by reducing imports, since the technology treadmill moves very rapidly.
Second,
programmes like Smart Cities and Make in India will require considerable
investments in terms of manpower, technological upgrades, skill development,
digital literacy and, most importantly, a plethora of standards to be laid out
and adhered to. Besides, if it takes around 30-40 years to build a city, can a
smart city be built in five years?
So
when will India become a truly digital nation? By 2018, or by 2020, as the
government has indicated?
I
believe it may take many more years before India becomes a truly digital nation
like Singapore or emulates a city like Barcelona. But we definitely seem to be
getting there. There are still many honest politicians and bureaucrats who are
sincerely trying to implement this vision.
Besides,
we have a huge young population that is applying pressure on social media to
make India digital. Experienced hands need to join forces with the millennials
to keep up the pressure on politicians. After all, Digital India belongs to the
millennials now.
Source | Mint – The Wall Street Journal | 23 May 2016
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
Best
Paper Award | Received the Best
Paper Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship:
Innovation for Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016. The title of the
paper is “Removing
Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”
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