Digital India – Power to Empower

 

Introduction

Internet and Web seems to be a new world for us a world which has high communication and transmission network, a world which is digitally connected without any sort of physical barriers. Despite the existence of Internet in India digital literacy seems to lack in the brains of Indian common people and the main reason for this deficiency is lack of infrastructure. Technology always upgrades itself, but we face certain problem to upgrade ourselves with respect to technology and infrastructural availability is one such problems faced by us. So, to avail digital literacy into the rural sector of the Indian economy government of India launched a special beneficiary program named as the Digital India Mission.

 

The Digital India Mission is a campaign launched by Government of India to empower the country with an infrastructure of digital technology and enabling availability of government services through online system. The Digital India Mission was launched on 1^st July 2015 by government of India as a beneficiary project for other government schemes like Make in India, Startup India, Standup India, Bharat Net, etc. The project is governed by Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Ministry of Finance. The project aims for providing high speed internet facility to rural areas and to provide an ease in every field through digital connectivity. The Digital India Mission deals with an inclusive growth in areas of electronic services, products, manufacturing, and job opportunities. The program mainly focuses on three main areas & that is providing digital infrastructure as a source of utility to every citizen, Governance, and service in demand and to look after the digital empowerment of every citizen. The concept of digital literacy and digital empowerment specially in rural areas by structural and infrastructural development is one of the important objectives of this project. India being a country with a population of nearly 130 crore has a huge digital market. With a budget of nearly Rs 1.13 lakh crore, the project is built on the backbone of broadband highways and mobile telephony. For creating a broadband connectivity in the rural area’s government aimed for connecting 2,50,000 rural villages of the nation by December 2016 under the Digital India Mission. Government feels that this project would boon the IT sector of the country with large private sector investment in electronic manufacturing which in turn would create millions of new jobs and support trade.

 

Aims & Objectives of the Mission

 

The Digital India Mission aims for creating an India which is digitally empowered to access government services through online mode. The government looked at the larger picture to bring this mission forward, with a vision to make India the new technology hub by attracting the world tech giants through this mission. The private sector see’s lot of opportunities in the e-governance space. IT industry body NASSCOM showed his interest in this visionary project by investing nearly $100 Billion during the initial phase. Private companies like RIL driven the whole massive market into his hands by introducing cheap internet connection. The mission drew large tech hubs like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Qualcomm, and many more to look carefully and use this project as a medium to enter the Indian Market.
 

The objectives of the Digital India program is to change India into a carefully engaged society and information economy.

 

Digital India Mission is especially focused on three areas:

 

• Providing digital infrastructure as a source of utility to each citizen.
• Governance and services on demand.
• To take care of the digital empowerment of each citizen.

 

Digital India was set up with a dream of comprehensive development in zones of electronic administrations, items, assembling, and open positions.

 

Mission Overview

 

The Digital India Mission is a visionary project launched by government of India to ensure digital empowerment in governance and other sectors. The program was based upon creating broadband highways, Universal access to mobile connectivity, Public Internet access program, e-governance, Information for all, Early Harvest Programs, e-kranti, IT for jobs and electronic manufacturing. The Digital India initiative aimed for providing internet connectivity in the rural areas by laying fiber optic cables all around the country. With an overall budget of Rs 1.13 lakh crore the project aims for connecting 2,50,000 rural villages through high-speed internet. The Digital India Mission is a beneficiary project for all the other key government of India’s scheme such as Bharat Net, Make in India, Startup India, etc. The government’s own subsidiary company BSNL is the custodian of this project. The mission provides a huge market for the tech industries and emphasizing more on public private partnership (ppp) model of development. Many private players accepted the vision of the government and moved into the steps to fulfill it by investing in the Digital India Mission directly or indirectly. Digital skill showcases somebody's descriptive linguistics, computer, writing, and writing skills on platforms, like social media sites and blog-like sites, like Medium. Digital talent collectively includes different devices, like smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop PCs. consistent with the United Nations agency, "Governance refers to the exercise of political, economic and body authority within the management of a country's affairs, also as citizens' articulation of their interest.

 

Key Features

 

• To provide high speed internet in all rural villages of India.
• To provide easy access to Common Service Centers.
• Combining a large number of Ideas and thoughts into a single, to achieve larger goals.
• Restructuring many existing schemes that can be implemented in a synchronized manner.
• It aims for achieving universal access to mobile connectivity.
• Provides job opportunities by attracting tech companies from all around the world to create their manufacturing units in India.
• It aims to provide e-kranti by electronic delivery of various services all around the country.

 

Nine pillars of Digital India Mission

 

The program has been supported pushing the nine pillars of the development that has the potential to integrate the governance process.

 

• Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
• Public Internet Access Programme
• E-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology
• E-Kranti – Electronic Delivery of Services
• Broadband Highways
• Information for All
• IT for Jobs
• Electronics Manufacturing
• Early Harvest Programmed

 

Digital India Vision / Mission

 

Digital empowerment of citizens:

 

Universal digital literacy; All digital resources universally accessible; All government documents/certificates to be accessible on the Cloud; handiness of digital resources/services in Indian languages; cooperative digital platforms for participative governance; Portability of all entitlements for people through the cloud.

 

Infrastructure as a utility to each citizen:

 

High-speed web shall be created accessible altogether gram panchayats; Cradle to grave digital identity; Mobile and bank account would alter participation in the digital and monetary house at a personal level; fast access to the common service center inside their locality; Shareable private space on a public cloud; and Safe and secure Net within the country.

 

Governance and Services on Demand:

 

Single window access to all or any persons by seamlessly integrating departments or jurisdictions; availability of state services in online and mobile platforms; All citizen entitlements to be available on the Cloud to make sure easy access; Government services to be digitally transformed for improving simple doing business; Making financial transactions above a threshold, electronic and cashless; and Leveraging GIS for decision support systems and development.

 

Limitations

 

• Poor internet connectivity is one of the prominent challenges of Digital India Mission.
• Due to diversity in the income structure, there is a digital divide among the Indian population.
• Lack of proper policy making is one such challenge which need to be addressed so as to increase the efficiency of the program.
• Lack of skilled manpower in the field of digital technology is an important challenge too.
• Lack of digital literacy is one of the important challenges faced by the government to promote online activity.
• Cyber security plays a vital role and is one of the major challenges too. Providing cyber security from different malware practices.

 

Conclusion

 

Looking into the larger picture of the program initiated by the government, the program aims for creating a broadband highway which would cover every single rural village of the country. With the advancement in technology, digital empowerment and digital literacy becomes a very crucial factor. If this digital literacy is not provided, then a digital divide would be created between the common people which would further degrade the scope of rapid development of the country. With data becoming the new oil, digital empowerment is one of the effective steps taken by the government. Moreover, many government oriented projects need this mission as a way to look forward for the future. As per the government records of 2018 the digital market crosses 1 trillion mark in India and would further increase with the expansion of the project. For survival in the upcoming world, technology would place a key role and being digitally literate is one of the important qualities one need to engrave into himself.