DIGITAL INDIA : THE POWER TO EMPOWER

Presented By: Shalini Pandey Submitted To-: Dr. Snehlata Maheshwari

INTRODUCTION

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 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 preventing the successful adoption of e-governance along the entire spectrum of governance.

Then arised the need for a more comprehensive planning and implementation for the infrastructure required to be put in place, interoperability issues to be addressed to establish a more connected government.

It has been felt that a lot more push is required to ensure e-Governance in the country promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices and job opportunities. Moreover, electronic manufacturing in the country needs to be strengthened.

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.

Digital India initiative has been launched on July 3, 2015 (1.13 lakh crore cost) with a vision to digitally empower each and every citizen of the country.

VISION OF DIGITAL INDIA

The vision of Digital India programme is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

The Digital India programme is centered on three key vision areas:

Digital infrastructure as a core

utility to every citizen

Governance and service on demand

Digital empowerme

nt of citizens

VISION I DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE AS A UTILITY TO EVERY CITIZEN

A well connected nation is a prerequisite to a well served nation. Once the remotest of the Indian villagers are digitally connected through broadband and high speed internet, then delivery of electronic government services to every citizen, targeted social benefits, and financial inclusion can be achieved in reality.

One of the key areas on which the vision of Digital India is centered is “digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen”.

The key components under this vision includes:

Availability of high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens

Digital identity that is unique, lifelong, online and authenticable to every citizen

Mobile phone & bank account enabling citizen participation in digital & financial space

Easy access to a Common Service Centre Shareable private space on a public cloud Safe and secure cyber-space

VISION II GOVERNANCE & SERVICES ON DEMAND

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was approved in 2006 to take a holistic view of e-governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision.

Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is being developed, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy and reliable access over the internet.

The ultimate objective was to make all government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets, and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man".

Six elements are crucial for ensuring that governance and services are made available on demand to all citizens:

Seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions Availability of services in real time from online & mobile platforms All citizen entitlements to be portable and available on the cloud Digitally transformed services for improving ease of doing business Making financial transactions electronic & cashless Leveraging Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) for decision

support systems & development

VISION III DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT OF CITIZENS

Digital connectivity is a great leveler. Cutting across demographic and socio-economic segments, Indians are increasingly connecting and communicating with each other through mobile phones and computers riding on digital networks.

The Digital India programme itself promises to transform India into a digitally empowered society by focusing on digital literacy, digital resources, and collaborative digital platforms. This also places emphasis on universal digital literacy and availability of digital resources/services in Indian languages.

The key components under this vision includes:

Universal digital literacyUniversally accessible digital resourcesAvailability of digital resources / services in Indian

languagesCollaborative digital platforms for participative governanceCitizens not required to physically submit Govt. documents

/ certificates

APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY FOR DIGITAL INDIA

Ministries / Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT Infrastructure established by GoI.

DeitY would lay down standards and policy guidelines, provide technical and handholding support, undertake capacity building, R&D etc.

The existing e-Govemance initiatives would be suitably restored to align them with the principles of Digital India.

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 centralized initiative to the extent necessary to ensure citizen centric service orientation, interoperability of various e-Governance applications and optimal utilization of ICT infrastructure/ resources, while adopting a decentralized implementation model.

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.

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE FOR DIGITAL INDIA PROGRAMME

The Programme management structure for the Digital India programme as endorsed by the Union Cabinet is as follow:

1. For effective management of the Digital India programme, the programme management structure would consists of a Monitoring Committee on Digital India headed by the Prime Minister, a Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the Minister of Communications and IT and an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. The structure has the needed secretarial/ monitoring/ technical support and appropriate decentralization of power and responsibility to ensure effective execution of the various projects/ components by the implementing departments/ teams.

2. Key components of the Programme Management structure would be as follows: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for programme level

policy decisions. A Monitoring Committee on Digital India under the Chairmanship of

Prime Minister which will be constituted with representation drawn from relevant Ministries/ Departments to provide leadership, prescribe deliverables and milestones, and monitor periodically the implementation of the Digital India Programme.

A Digital India Advisory Group headed by the Minister of Communications and IT to solicit views of external stakeholders and to provide inputs to the Monitoring Committee on Digital India, advise the Government on policy issues and strategic interventions necessary for accelerating the implementation of the Digital India Programme across Central and State Government Ministries/Departments. The composition of the Advisory Group would include representation from the Planning Commission and 8 to 9 representatives from States/UTs and other Line Ministries/Departments on a rotational basis.

An Apex Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary would be overseeing the programme and providing policy and strategic directions for its implementation and resolving inter-ministerial issues. In addition it would harmonize and integrate diverse initiatives and aspects related to integration of services, end to end process re-engineering and service levels of MMPs and other initiatives under the Digital India Programme, wherever required.

Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC)/Committee on Non Plan Expenditure (CNE) to financially appraise/ approve projects as per existing delegation of financial powers. The EFC/ CNE headed by Secretary Expenditure would also be recommending to the CCEA the manner in which MMPs/ eGovernance initiatives are to be implemented, as well as the financial terms of participation for States. A representative of the Planning Commission would also be included in both the EFC and CNE.

A Council of Mission Leaders headed by Secretary, DeitY would be established as a platform to share the best practices in various existing and new eGov initiatives under Digital India and also to sensitize various government departments about ICT projects of DeitY. While the inter-departmental, integration and interoperable issues of integrated projects / eGovernance initiatives would be resolved by the Apex Committee on Digital India headed by Cabinet Secretary, the technical issues of integrated projects would be resolved by the Council of Mission Leaders.

Further, considering the scope of the Digital India Programme and the need to look at issues such as overall technology architecture, framework, standards, security policy, funding strategy, service delivery mechanism, sharing of common infrastructure etc. at a programme level, it is proposed that the technical appraisal of all Digital India projects be done by DeitY, prior to a project being placed before the EFC/ CNE.

This appraisal would cover issues relating to inclusion of adoption of Standards, utilization of Cloud and mobile platforms, consideration of security aspects, etc.

The Secretary, DeitY or his representative may also be included as a standing special invitee to all EFC/CNE meetings, which are appraising/approving MMPs.

DeitY has already set up a Programme Management Unit, namely National eGovernance Division (NeGD) to provide support to departments in conceptualizing, developing, appraising, implementing and monitoring respective MMPs / eGovernance Initiatives.

For effective monitoring of Digital India, usage of Project Management Information System would be mandatory in each new and existing Mission Mode Projects to capture the real or near real time details about the progress of the project. This tool should be proficient enough to capture the parameters for each stage of project namely, conceptualization and development, implementation and post implementation. The parameters could be decided in consultation with various line Ministries / Departments and DeitY.

Since the “e-Kranti: National eGovernance Plan 2.0” is already integrated with Digital India Programme, the existing programme management structure established for National eGovernance Plan (at both national and state level) will be integrated appropriately with the programme management structure being envisaged for Digital India Programme at national and State/UT level.

PILLARS OF DIGITAL INDIA

PILLAR 1 BROADBAND HIGHWAYThis covers three sub components, namely Broadband for All - Rural, Broadband for All - Urban and National Information Infrastructure (NII). Broadband for All - Rural2,50,000 village Panchayats would be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) by December 2016. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is the nodal Department for this project. Broadband for All - UrbanVirtual Network Operators would be leveraged for service delivery and communication infrastructure in new urban developments and buildings would be mandated. National Information Infrastructure (NII)NII would integrate the network and cloud infrastructure in the country to provide high speed connectivity and cloud platform to various government departments up to the panchayat level.

PILLAR 2 UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO MOBILE CONNECTIVITY

There are around 55,619 villages in the country that do not have mobile coverage. As part of the comprehensive development plan for North East, providing mobile coverage to uncovered villages has been initiated. Mobile coverage to remaining uncovered villages would be provided in a phased manner.

The Department of Telecommunications will be the nodal department and project cost will be around 16,000 Crore during 2014-18.

PILLAR-3 PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS PROGRAMME

The two sub components of Public Internet Access Programme are: Common Service Centres (CSCs): CSCs would be strengthened

and its number would be increased from approximately 135,000 operational at present to 250,000 i.e. one CSC in each Gram Panchayats. CSCs would be made viable and multi-functional end-points for delivery of government and business services. DeitY would be the nodal department to implement the scheme.

Post Offices as multi-service centers: A total of 150,000 Post Offices are proposed to be converted into multi service centers. Department of Posts would be the nodal department to implement this scheme.

PILLAR-4 E-GOVERNANCE: REFORMINGGOVERNMENT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY Using IT to simplify and make the government processes more

efficient is critical for transformation to make the delivery of government services more effective across various government domains and therefore needs to be implemented by all Ministries/ Departments.

All databases and information should be in electronic form and not manual. The workflow inside government departments and agencies should be automated to enable efficient government processes and also to allow visibility of these processes to citizens.

IT should be used to automate, respond and analyze data to identify and resolve persistent problems. These would be largely process improvements.

PILLAR 5 E-KRANTI ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF SERVICES

All new and on-going eGovernance projects as well as the existing projects, which are being revamped, should now follow the key principles of e-Kranti namely

i. Transformation and not Translationii. Integrated Services and not Individual Servicesiii. Government Process Reengineering (GPR) to be mandatory in every MMPiv. ICT Infrastructure on Demandv. Cloud by Defaultvi. Mobile Firstvii. Fast Tracking Approvalsviii. Mandating Standards and Protocolsix. Language Localizationx. National GIS (Geo-Spatial Information System) xi. Security and Electronic Data Preservation

44 MMPs

PILLAR-6 INFORMATION FOR ALL Open Data platform (http://data.gov.in ): Open Data platform

facilitates proactive release of datasets in an open format by the ministries/departments for use, reuse and redistribution. Online hosting of information & documents would facilitate open and easy access to information for citizens.

Government shall pro-actively engage through social media: Government shall pro-actively engage through social media and web based platforms to inform and interact with citizens. MyGov.in, a platform for citizen engagement in governance, has been launched on 26th July, 2014, as a medium to exchange ideas/ suggestions with Government. It will facilitate 2-way communication between citizens and Government to bring in good governance.

Online messaging: Online messaging to citizens on special occasions/programs would be facilitated through emails and SMS.

PILLAR – 7 ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING

This pillar focuses on promoting electronics manufacturing in the country with the target of NET ZERO Imports by 2020 as a striking demonstration of intent. This ambitious goal requires coordinated action on many fronts, such as: Taxation, incentives Economies of scale, eliminating cost disadvantages Focus areas –Set top boxes, VSATs, Mobiles, Consumer & Medical Electronics, Smart

Energy meters, Smart cards, micro-ATMs, Incubators, clusters Safety Standards – Compulsory registration, Support for Labs and MSMEs Skill development, Enhancing PhDs National Award, Marketing, Brand Building National Centres – Flexible Electronics, Security Forces R & D in electronics

PILLAR -8 IT FOR JOBS This pillar focuses on providing training

to the youth in the skills required for availing employment opportunities in the IT sector. There are eight components with specific scope of activities :

1. IT Trainings to people in smaller towns and villages

2. To train one crore students from smaller towns & villages for IT sector jobs over 5 years.

3. IT/ITES in Northeastern States4. This component focuses on setting up

BPOs in every north-eastern state to

facilitate ICT enabled growth in these states.

5. Training Service Delivery Agents6. The focus is on training three lakh

service delivery agents as part of skill development to run viable businesses delivering IT services.

7. Training Rural Workforce on Telecom and Telecom related services

8. This component focuses on training of five lakh rural workforce the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to cater to their own needs.

PILLAR-8 EARLY HARVEST PROGRAMME

Early Harvest Programme basically consists of those projects which are to be implemented within short timeline. The projects under the Early Harvest Programme are as follows:

IT Platform for Messages Government Greetings to be

e-Greetings Biometric attendance

Wi-Fi in All Universities Secure Email within Government Standardize Government Email

Design Public Wi-fi hotspots School Books to be eBooks SMS based weather information,

disaster alerts National Portal for Lost & Found

children

www.digitalindia.gov.in

deity.gov.in

scholorships.gov.in

digilocker.gov.in

ors.gov.in

attendance.gov.in

mygov.in

mobileseva.gov.in

jeevanpramaan.gov.in

csc.gov.in

etaal.gov.in

passportindia.gov.in

investindia.gov.in

Effective Implementation:• Designed as a top level model on the technological front• No proper guidance on how to implement the same on the

ground levelDeploy Wi-Fi Centers & Hotspot• To ensure at least one hotspot per village• In tribal, backward castes, minorities and geographically

difficult areasImprove IT Literacy• Use of Digital technology (Mobile, tablet, computer and

internet)• Providing proper usability guidance of ANTI-VIRUS software

CHALLENGES IN FRONT OF DIGITAL INDIA

Data Vulnerability• All the personal details online including bank details, Income tax

details, PAN details• Individual would lose the privacy of the data.

Excessive server Hits• Majority of the population start using online• Possibility of crash of online website

Security• Use of Digital technology (Mobile, tablet, computer and internet)• Providing proper usability guidance of ANTI-VIRUS software

CHALLENGES IN FRONT OF DIGITAL INDIA

CONCLUSION Digital India initiative has been launched on July 3, 2015 (1.13 lakh crore cost) with a

vision to digitally empower each and every citizen of the country. Though the plan is ready and we are good to go, but is it is not that easy to transform words written on a 'white paper' into a reality.

The foremost challenge is to increase digital literacy in the country. To make broadband affordable and accessible, one needs to keep in mind certain ground realities. India is a diversified country, in terms of language, culture, laws which vary from states to states. Complete integration, that is integration of technology and language, is one of the main challenges the mission would face in its implementation.

In a world where Internet and cybercrime are inseparable enemies. The entire architecture should be designed in such a way that there is proper authentication done of all the documents put online by citizens and it is available to the right users at any time they want with the right authentication, so proper security measures needs to be taken by government.

To get the fruits of the Digital India initiative, there should be efficient inter-governmental coordination and active participation of all the citizens, then only we will be able to convert the dream of digital India into reality.