About Digital India: Vision and 9 Pillars @upscExpress
About Digital India
- The Digital India programme was launched in 2015, with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
- It is an umbrella programme that covers multiple government Ministries and Departments. The overall coordination is done by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
- It brings together a large number of ideas into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them can be implemented as part of a larger goal.
Vision Areas of Digital India
- The Digital India programme is centred on following three key vision areas:
- Digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen
- Availability of high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens.
- A digital identity for every citizen that is unique, lifelong, online, which can be authenticated.
- 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.
- Availability of high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens.
- Governance & Services on Demand
- Seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions.
- Availability of services in real time from online & mobile platforms.
- Digitally transformed services for improving ease of doing business.
- Making financial transactions electronic & cashless.
- Using Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) for decision support systems & development.
- Seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions.
- Digital Empowerment of Citizens
- Universal digital literacy.
- Universally accessible digital resources.
- Availability of digital resources/services in Indian languages.
- Universal digital literacy.
Nine Pillars of Digital India
- Digital India consists of the following nine pillars:
1.) Broadband Highways
- This pillar covers three sub components, namely Broadband for All – Rural, Broadband for All – Urban and National Information Infrastructure (NII).
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.
- These infrastructure components include networks such as State Wide Area Network (SWAN), National Knowledge Network (NKN), National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), Government User Network (GUN) and the MeghRaj Cloud.
- Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) is the nodal Department for this project.
2.) Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
- This pillar focuses on network penetration and filling the gaps in mobile connectivityin the country.
- 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 is the nodal department for this initiative.
3.) Public Internet Access Program
- The two sub components of this pillar are Common Services Centres (CSCs) and Post Offices as multi-service centres.
- Under it, a total of 150,000 Post Offices are proposed to be converted into multi service centres.
4.) E-Governance – Reforming Government through technology
- This pillar entails, improving the efficiency of government processes through the use of Information Technology.
- All government databases and information should be in electronic form.
- The workflow inside government departments and agencies should be automated and it should also allow visibility of these processes to citizens.
5.) eKranti
- In order to transform e-Governance, and promote good governance, the e-kranti pillar has the following key principles:
- Transformation and not Translation – All project proposals in e-Kranti must involve substantial transformation in the quality, quantity and significant enhancement in productivity and competitiveness.
- Integrated Services and not Individual Services – A common middleware and integration of the back end processes and processing systems is required to facilitate integrated service delivery to citizens.
- ICT Infrastructure on Demand – Government departments should be provided with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, such as connectivity, cloud and mobile platform on demand.
- Mobile First – All applications should be designed/ redesigned to enable delivery of services through mobile.
- Language Localization – All information and services in e-Governance projects should be available in Indian languages as well
6.) Information for All
- Online hosting of information & documents to facilitate open and easy access to information for citizens.
- Government shall pro-actively engage through social media and web based platforms to inform and interact with citizens.
7.) Electronics Manufacturing
- This pillar focuses on promoting electronics manufacturing in the country with the target of NET ZERO Imports by 2020.
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.
9.) Early Harvest Programs (EHP)
- EHP consists of those projects which are to be implemented in a short timeline. Some of the projects under EHP are:
- Biometric Attendance.
- Wi-Fi in All Universities.
- Secure email within government.
- Public Wi-fi hotspots.
- SMS based weather information.
- National Portal for lost and found children.
- Biometric Attendance.
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