India is among the top countries of the world that have effectively utilised technology and innovation to transform the governance outlook from government-centric to citizen-centric, where e-services are targeted towards creation of an environment of empowering citizens through participative governance, and engaging them in decision-making and formulation of government policies, programmes, regulations, etc.

• The remarkable increase in digital adoption is evident in the improvement in India’s position in United Nation’s E-Government Index 2018 that highlights that India’s relative capabilities of utilising ICT for governance have improved relatively faster than the entire Asia region.
• There have been significant improvements in UN-Online Service Index, where India has scored 0.95 in 2018.
• There has been a consistent growth in e-participation index too, that has grown to 0.96 in 2018. The robust citizen engagement platform, ‘MyGov’, in true spirit of participative democracy, has been developed and implemented.
• India is in a sharply accelerating “lift-off” phase of its digital journey. Having built a strong foundation of digital infrastructure and expanded digital access, India is now poised for the next phase of growth – the creation of tremendous economic value and the empowerment of millions of Indians as new digital applications permeate sector after sector.

Direct Benefit Transfer:

• India has moved up the ladder of digital adoption with the multifold growth in digital payment transaction.
• The advantage of Digital Payments is being well exploited through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) which has reassured the commitment of the Government towards the welfare of the people.
• Now, DBT is using the digital payment technology to transfer the benefits/subsidies directly to the accounts of people. The transfer is instantaneous and the correct amount reaches the beneficiaries. Around 434 schemes are covered under DBT.

Digital Developing Service:

Digital India has changed the landscape of delivery of service and governance.

Services Centres (CSCs):

• The Common Services Centres (CSCs) are ICT enabled rural enterprises in the country and provide plethora of services at the doorsteps of the citizens.
• Over 300 services, ranging from Education, Health, Agriculture, Certificate related are being provided in around 3.07 lakh CSCs.
• They have also become a major employer of rural youth through village level entrepreneurship leading towards an empowered and a digitally inclusive society, thus, bridging the digital divide.

DigiLocker:

• DigiLocker has enabled people to store, share and verify their documents and certificates through cloud.

National Scholarship Portal:

• National Scholarship Portal has become a source of facilitating education.
• It is a one-stop solution that ensures students to access various services starting from student application, application receipt, processing, sanction and disbursal of various scholarships with ease.
• It has comprehensive coverage of schemes and departments.

Online Registration System (ORS):

• Online Registration System (ORS) and e-Hospital have facilitated Aadhaar based online registration and appointment for patients, reduced tiring queues in hospitals for appointments and enabled health information management system.

Digital Life Certificate:

• Jeevan Pramaan, provides the ease to pensioners to generate their Digital Life Certificate at home, bank, CSC centre, government office etc, using Aadhaar biometric authentication.
• Now, the physical presence of the pensioner at the government office is not needed for generation of her life certificate and availing the entitled services.

UMANG:

• To sustain the people throughout their digital journey a Unified Mobile Application for New Age Governance (UMANG) has been launched. It has brought government services to the fingertips of the citizens of India.
• It is a single mobile app that offers more than 307 government services, with the target being to provide more than 1200 digital services on a single mobile app.
• It has reduced the drudgery of searching for relevant Government app for availing the services.

Government e-Marketplace (GeM):

• To address the challenges in public procurements, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) was launched.
• GeM provides an online marketplace for public procurement for both goods and services, eliminating physical meeting of Government Buyers and brought transparency.

Job Creation:

• Indian startups are already developing to take advantage of the humungous potential created.
• Mobile manufacturing has increased multi-fold.
• BPOs have reached the small towns of the country. These are creating jobs in these small cities and bringing the benefits of IT industry to youth of small towns and cities.
• Pradhan Mantri Gramin Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) aims to make 6 crore people digitally literate.
• The sustainability of the digital economy rests upon its resilience and security. The Cyber Swachhta Kendra has been set up to provide alerts to users for preventing losses of financial and other data. The centre is providing facility to clean botnets in real-time. This aims to create an inclusive, safe and secure cyber space for people.
• With the proliferation of emerging technologies in mind, 20 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) are being planned in the areas of Fintech, IoT in Agriculture, Virtual reality, Blockchain, Medical Technology, Electronics Products, Nanoelectronics etc. This will provide an apt platform for research and innovation boosting the growth of startups.

TID-BITS:

‘Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities 2018’

• A three day event-the “Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities, 2018” was organised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in association with Rehabilitation International Korea and their associated partner LG Electronics from 9th to 11th November, 2018.
• This year 96 youth with disabilities from 18 countries participated in the Challenge. The event comprised of 55 awards in various categories including awards for best volunteer and three awards namely, “Best, Excellent and Good” in individual and group events in each category i.e. visual, hearing, physical and developmental/intellectual disability.
• The objective of the Global ICT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities is to leverage IT skills among youth with disabilities and also to spread awareness about the application of Information and Computer Technology (ICT) in enhancing the quality of life of persons with disabilities especially in Asia-Pacific region.