Digital India: An Introduction

During late 1980’s, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi understood the importance of IT and communication industry, and brought back Sam Pitroda from the USA to lay the foundation of a telecommunication revolution in the country. In 1990’s the “Babus” found IT sector too complicated to understand (and hence regulate). It was also left unobstructed since it was bringing a lot of foreign exchange in the country – a rare commodity in those days. At the turn of the century, Y2K challenge helped us get global exposure. And the rest is history so far as India’s strength in global IT industry is concerned. The reach of IT was, however, to a very limited, educated, English-speaking, urban population working in private industrial and service sectors. The revolution had barely touched the poor of India, or reached the rural India, and governmental services were still unscathed by the winds of change.

Around a year ago – on 1st July 2015, Digital India programme was launched by the Government of India (GoI) with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The objectives are also to connect the Rural India with high-speed networks, provide e-Governance and services to the citizens, improve transparency, increase accountability and reduce corruption.

For industry as well as individuals, soon digital connectivity will become as indispensible as the other three basic utilities: water, gas and electricity.

While the use of mobile telephony and smart phones sky-rocketed in India during the last 4-5 years, the present administration understood the enormous reach of internet, especially, in the remotest parts of the country. Given good connectivity at reasonable costs, it can empower the common citizen. And ingenuity of common Indian combined with this empowerment can do wonders for our economy. Digitalizing India in itself is not going to solve our problems of drought and poverty, malnutrition and infant mortality, illiteracy and blind faith, religious strife and caste clashes. However, it will make the world a bit flatter – more equal, bring in transparency, improve accountability and spread knowledge – which ultimately will help us eradicate those problems.

Nine pillars of Digital India

1. Broadband Highways – This covers three components.
   • Broadband for All – Rural – In this program 250 000 Gram Panchayats would be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) by 2016-17. The nodal department for this project is Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
   • Broadband for All – Urban – Virtual Network Operators for service delivery and mandate communication infrastructure in new urban development and buildings.
   • National Information Infrastructure (NII) – Under this program, NII will provide high-speed connectivity and cloud platform to various government departments including Gram Panchayats by March 2017. The nodal department for this project is Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity – This program focuses on providing mobile coverage to still uncovered 55 619 villages until 2018. The Department of Telecommunications will be the nodal department.
3. Public Internet Access Program – There are two sub-components of Public Internet Access Program.
   • Common Services Centre (CSCs) – Aims to cover 250 000 Gram Panchayat to ensure and increase the delivery of e-service to each citizen. DeitY would be the nodal department of this program.
   • Post Offices as multi-service centre– 150 000 Post Offices are proposed to be converted into multi-service centres. Department of Posts would be the nodal department to implement this scheme.
4. e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology – To create more efficient and simplified government processes with the help of Technology.
5. e-Kranti – Electronic Delivery of Services. This includes wide range of services from tax administration, passport, pension, land records, agricultural services to birth and death certificates.
6. Information for All – Under this program ministries/ departments release data in open formats for information of citizens. In addition, Government will pro-actively engage through Social media to inform and interact with public.
7. Electronics Manufacturing – This program objective is to promote electronic manufacturing in India with the target of Net Zero Imports by 2020.
8. IT for Jobs – This program focuses to provide training to the youth to develop the skills which are required to avail employment opportunities in the IT/ITES sector. Here the focus is also on increasing the penetration into north-eastern states of India.
9. Early Harvest Programs – Early Harvest Program consists of those projects, which are to be implemented within short period like IT platform for messages, Biometric attendance, wi-fi in all universities etc.

There is much to be done, from the creation of smart cities to the comprehensive availability of broadband, from connectivity in education, healthcare, agriculture, and manufacturing to a National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) that Nasscom Foundation has already taken up with DeitY. The Government has included in its ambit the opportunities for access to better healthcare, education, and information for better livelihood that is at the core of the digital opportunity.

In the next post let us look at some of the business opportunities Digital India initiative offers us in the areas like electronics manufacturing, manufacture of semi-conductors, medical electronics, smart energy and smart grid solutions, smart card applications, Telecom, IT skills development and so on.

Co-researched by Jayada Samudra. (Source: Government of India’s Digital India website)