Digital India-Dawn of a new era!

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In the past decade or so,India has made phenomenal advancements in every field. Now it is moving towards tranformation of itself into a digitally empowered knowledge economy i.e Digital India.
Digital India is an initiative of the Government of India to integrate the Government of the nation with its people. Magically,it is in a way moving forward to realise the ideals of our erstwhile leaders-

Government of the people,for the people and by the people.


It basically has three components- Digital infrastructure, Delivering services, Digital literacy.The very foundation on which it stands is e-governance through technology.

E-governance is the use of Information and Communications Technology(ICT) as a method of conducting the business of government. The key word is e-governance,not e-government (which sounds like replacing the government with machines!)
The concept is revolutionary and futuristic and shall apply technology to bring everything that is relevant to everyone within reach, at the click of a button.

G2C(Government to customer)
It is the most basic component that aims to use technology in facilitating all transactions of a person starting from birth registration till death registration and everything in between i.e transport,licenses,passports,adhar cards,IDs,health etc.
Sounds amazing already! No standing in long queues or waiting in government offices,swearing under your breath for availing basic amenities.

C2G(Customer to Government)
This is the actual interactive part where the people of the nation shall be able to vote online and it doesn’t end here. Everyone and anyone will be able to give feedback and voice one’s opinion regarding various policies of the government online.
No need to take out rallies or protest marches to express your disagreement.
Gone are the times when government was an unchallenged authority. Welcome true democracy!

G2G(Government to Government)
E-administration-The government departments are going high-tech too. They will no longer be buried in piles and piles of paperwork. Everything will be online!
I wonder what will happen to the phrase ‘sarkari hai,kahan jaldi hoga?‘ and the pun attached to it?
E-police-The police department shall also graduate to online databases for information (give way interpol,here we come!) that shall drastically reduce the response time.
Sorry Bollywood,you will no longer have the last scene in movies wherein the ‘hero’ bashes up the bad guys all alone and the police arrives thereafter.
E-courts-I truly believe that justice delayed is justice denied. What if technology came to our aid and summons and hearing could be online? A dream? No sir. This is the vision of Digital India.

G2B(Government to Business)
All business related transactions shall be through electronic media,making it way easier than the physical tedious process.
E-taxation,E-licensing,even E-tendering…E is the key my friend!

In this era of Smartphones and Smart TVs, it is time we have a SMARRT government too!
Simple,Moral,Accountable,Responsive,Responsible and Transparent.

E-governance shall result in
-an informed society.
-increase citizen participation.
-increase transparency and accountability in government sector.
-reduce reaction time where time is of essence like in police department and judiciary.

Steps towards Glory
No doubt the vision of Digital India is a beautiful one but there are still some hurdles in the way.
-We need immense technical infrastructure.
Majority of the people living in rural areas are not digitally literate and do not as yet have connectivity. This problem is being addressed by laying of NOFN(National Optical Fibre Network) and it is expected that 2.5 lakh villages shall have high speed broadband connectivity by 2017.
-It is also imperative that in government departments,institutional capacity is increased with tech-savvy employees coming in. We cannot have high-tech,low-morale employees!
To deal with these issues,Intel has come to the forefront with Learn Digital Skills initiative.It is a free app available on Google Play Store that comprises of modules on healthcare, digital literacy, financial inclusion and cleanliness in 5 different languages. Intel aims to impart digital literacy to 5 million citizens by the end of 2015 in collaboration with the government.

Learn Digital Skills App

Intel has also announced ‘Innovate for India’ challenge to drive technology innovations to promote the people to create solutions that are relevant to them. Kudos!
It shall see the rise of the people of the nation,who shall be trained and will bring about innovation in technology to aid the growth of economy. Technology and innovation shall also be ‘Made In India’.
Efforts needed are huge but the results sound promising and totally worth the hard work.
-The efforts are becoming apparent, we are moving closer towards the realisation of this beautiful dream. It is encouraging to see the leader of the nation actively promoting the project.

Twitter Samvad is the first digital governance service as a part of Digital India initiative launched on Twitter. Through this, government departments will be able to send tweets as sms to citizens and communicate with them on daily basis.
-Also,Web Ratna Awards were given for acknowledging the exemplary initiatives in e-governance using world wide web.

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Government is taking to social media to increase awareness about the programme.

-The government,on 27th of March 2015 has approved Rs.4500 crore National Computing Mission under which 73 supercomputers shall be installed in different parts of the country,all linked by a computer grid. It shall enable India to leapfrog to the league of world class computing nations.
-Healthcare is extremely close to digitisation too.

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All these initiatives go to show that the Government is not only keen but also very serious in speedy implementation of the plan.
In 1947, the entire world was looking on at India as it underwent a great transformation and rose to its feet, tall and proud despite every obstacle.
A transformation is at the doorstep again, it is revolutionary too. As an Indian citizen,I am immensely proud of the resurgence India is about to undergo to emerge as Digital India where all the citizens shall be empowered with technology that is not complex but user-friendly.
I share the vision of #DigitalIndia and look forward to be an active participant in my country’s e-governance.