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[Photo Source: Facebook/Digital India]
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spearheaded Digital India Week to spotlight the nation’s new Digital India initiative. Many emerging economies, including India, retain the issue of a technological divide among their highly diverse population. This is becoming a more and more relevant concern in this technologically savvy globalized day and age—Modi’s Digital India has now begun to bridge this longstanding gap.
The primary purpose of the newly developed initiative is to better e-governance, improve accessibility and create awareness of these services. The long-term goal of the effort is to empower people around the nation, from booming metropolitan cities to the rural outskirts.
A key aspect of this program is its Digital Locker System. It will create an accessible means for storing important documents such as passports, visas, birth certificates, death certificates, etc. This will not only provide easy access for citizens (who have their Aadhar card) to retrieve their information, but it also means that government agencies will be able to better synchronize files and information. This will improve the efficiency of many government services that are not only time consuming but often next-to-impossible to track. Digital India’s goal is also to increase transparency throughout these processes, with the idea that greater usage of this technology will reinforce better governance.
The initiative also allows the public to make doctors’ appointments through an e-hospital portal. Citizens can then keep track of their medical records, making documents such as diagnostic reports, government claims, fees, etc, significantly more traceable and transferable.
Digital India also aims to become a simplification instrument. It will allow for an easier system for completing scholarship applications through the National Scholarships portal. Similar to others mentioned, this portal will consolidate and provide a location where students will be able to upload their documents and track the status of scholarship processes, decisions, and disbursements—all digitally.
The Indian government is also targeting this initiative as a grass-roots project that will increase connectivity to improve the transfer of communication. It is a commendable effort which aims to connect all panchayats and rural areas of the country to the central hubs. Many of these areas remain unaware of the services the Indian government provides, simply because of a technological disconnect. Through Digital India, they will have better access to educational and awareness tools, which the rural areas are in dire need of. Moreover, they will also provide agricultural information that many of these panchayats will undoubtedly benefit from.
Similarly, Digital India will allow government agencies to improve their public records because there will be a better means of communication among and between the government and many of these rural areas. The hope is that accessibility to these new resources will improve education rates—as well as economic conditions—in rural outskirts.
Thus, not only will this initiative build a stronger infrastructure but it is also an attempt to provide the internet to every citizen despite location. In hopes of reaching this goal, the government is aiming to create Wi-Fi hotspots in about 2,500 cities—allowing the internet to actually become accessible.
Digital India has set out a great deal of work for itself. However, this advancement is key for the future development of the country. If it is successful at meeting its objectives of reforming transparency, improving government services, and interconnecting urban and rural areas, this initiative will bring great prosperity to this rapidly emerging economic player in the international community.
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