Digital India – A programme to transform India
into digital empowered society and knowledge economy
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The Cabinet today at the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra
Modi gave its approval forDigital India – A programme to transform India into digital
empowered society and knowledge economy. This is a
follow up to the key decisions taken on the design of the programme during
the meeting of the Prime Minister on Digital India Programme on August 7,
2014, and to sensitize all ministries to this vast programme touching every
corner of the government. This programme has been envisaged by
Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
The
vision of Digital India aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered
society and knowledge economy. The programme will be implemented in
phases from the current year till 2018. The Digital India is
transformational in nature and would ensure that Government services are
available to citizens electronically. It would also bring in public
accountability through mandated delivery of government’s services
electronically, a Unique ID and e-Pramaan based on authentic and standard
based interoperable and integrated government applications and data basis.
The
source of funding for most of the e-Governance projects at present is through
budgetary provisions of respective Ministries/ Departments in the Central or
State governments. Requirements of funds for individual project(s) for
Digital India will be worked out by respective Nodal Ministries/ Departments.
The vision areas of
Digital India:
I
Infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen:
(i) High speed internet as a core utility
shall be made available in all Gram Panchayats.
(ii) Cradle to grave digital identity
- unique, lifelong, online and authenticable.
(iii) Mobile phone and Bank account would
enable participation in digital and financial space at individual level.
(iv) Easy access to a Common Service Centre within
their locality.
(v) Shareable private space on a public Cloud.
(vi) Safe and secure Cyber-space in the country.
II
Governance and Services on Demand:
(i) Seamlessly integrated across departments or
jurisdictions to provide easy and a single window access to all persons.
(ii) Government services available in real time
from online and mobile platforms.
(iii) All citizen entitlements to be available on
the Cloud to ensure easy access.
(iv) Government services digitally transformed for
improving Ease of Doing Business.
(v) Making financial transactions above a
threshold, electronic and cashless.
(vi) Leveraging GIS for decision support systems
and development.
III
Digital Empowerment of Citizens:
(i) Universal digital literacy.
(ii) All digital resources universally accessible.
(iii) All Government documents/ certificates to be
available on the Cloud.
(iv) Availability of digital resources / services
in Indian languages.
(v) Collaborative digital platforms for
participative governance.
(vi) Portability of all entitlements for
individuals through the Cloud.
Scope
of Digital India:
The
overall scope of this programme is:
(i) to prepare India for a knowledge future.
(ii) on being transformative that is to realize IT
(Indian Talent) + IT (Information Technology) = IT (India Tomorrow)
(iii) making technology central to enabling change.
(iv) on being an Umbrella
Programme – covering many departments.
· The programme weaves together a large number
of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision, so that each of
them is seen as part of a larger goal. Each individual element stands on
its own, but is also part of the larger picture.
· The weaving together makes the Mission
transformative in totality.
(v) The Digital India Programme will pull together
many existing schemes which would be restructured and re-focused and
implemented in a synchronized manner. The common branding of the
programmes as Digital India, highlights their transformative impact.
Digital
India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth
areas, namely
1. Broadband
Highways,
2. Universal
Access to Mobile Connectivity,
3. Public
Internet Access Programme,
4. e-Governance:
Reforming Government through Technology,
5. e-Kranti
- Electronic Delivery of Services,
6. Information
for All,
7. Electronics
Manufacturing,
8. IT
for Jobs
9. Early
Harvest Programmes.
Approach and Methodology:
i Ministries
/ Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT
Infrastructure established by the Government of India.
ii The
existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be revamped to align them
with the principles of Digital India. Scope enhancement, Process
Reengineering, use of integrated & interoperable systems and deployment
of emerging technologies like Cloud & mobile would be undertaken to
enhance delivery of Government services to citizens.
iii States
would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional
state-specific projects, which are relevant to their socio-economic needs.
iv e-Governance
would be promoted through a centralised initiative to the extent necessary,
to ensure citizen centric service orientation.
v Successes
would be identified and their replication promoted proactively.
vi Public
Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible.
vii Adoption
of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification, authentication
and delivery of benefits.
viii Restructuring
of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT support to all government
departments at the Centre and State levels.
ix 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.
x DeitY
would create necessary senior positions within the department for managing
the programme.
xi Central
Ministries / Departments and State Governments would have the overall
responsibility for implementation of various Mission Mode and other projects
under this Programme. Considering the need for overall aggregation and
integration at the national level, it is considered appropriate to implement
Digital India as a programme with well defined roles and responsibilities of
each agency involved.
Program Management
Structure :
A
programme management structure would be established for monitoring implementation.
Key components of the management structure would consist of the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for according approval to projects, a
Monitoring Committee headed by the Prime Minister, a Digital India Advisory
Group chaired by the Minister of Communications and IT, an Apex Committee
chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC)
/ Committee on Non Plan Expenditure (CNE).
Background:
Even though India is
known as a powerhouse of software, the availability of electronic government
services to citizens is still comparatively low. The National e-Governance
Plan approved in 2006 has made a steady progress through Mission Mode
Projects and Core ICT Infrastructure, but greater thrust is required to
ensure effective progress in electronics manufacturing and e-Governance in
the country. The Digital India vision provides the intensified
impetus for further momentum and progress for this initiative and this would
promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices,
manufacturing and job opportunities. India in the 21st Century
must strive to meet the aspirations of its citizens where government and its
services reach the doorsteps of citizens and contribute towards a
long-lasting positive impact. The Digital India Programme aims to
transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy by
leveraging IT as a growth engine of new India.
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