Most of us have changed our profile pictures on Facebook as a support to the Digital India Initiative taken up by the Government of India which is being supported by most of the IT service providers across the world. This trend of changing profile pictures came up when our PM Shri. Narendra Modi was at Facebook headquarters along with Mark Zuckerberg during his visit to the Silicon Valley. All of us are aware of this! But how many of us are actually aware of what this Digital India Initiative or this concept is all about? Why so much importance to this initiative? What is its link with the provision of basic necessities to our citizens? What has this to do with Internet.org (an initiative by Facebook)? It is time we all educate ourselves with this great project.
In short Digital India Initiative is a project worth 4.5lakh crore rupees, which is roughly equal to 2.7% of Indian GDP. The main motives of this initiative is to provide internet connectivity to all parts of the country, to provide digital services on our finger tips and digital education. It is sheer brilliance of our Prime Minister in taking up this initiative. Let me explain you how!
You might think “Is this even a basic necessity for people when there are thousands of them suffering with various problems related to food, water, electricity etc.?” Yes! This is a basic necessity…. Recently our parliament passed the central universities amendment bill which most of us aren’t aware of. This is for establishment of a second Central University named after Mahatma Gandhi at Bihar. During the discussion of this bill, HRD Minister Smt. Smriti Irani mentioned about revolutionizing the education system in India! Creation of a mobile app where any person across country will be able to access this application for free of cost. This app provides under graduation and post-graduation course materials and classes, also it provides a feasibility to get a certification of the same by appearing for an exam in the nearby center for a zero charge. Now! For this to be put into action, Digital India plays a role. How? The first target of the initiative is to “connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks” and for this Broadband connectivity shall be provided in all 2.5 lakh villages across the country! Not just the normal ones but through Optical Fiber Network cables powered and operated by BBNL. This is completely for skill development and knowledge enhancement. By this there is a complete revamp in rural infrastructure.
Now the next thing is e-Attendance through a common bio-metric system to keep a note on the record of the attendance of Central-Government employees on a real-time basis. This is a step ahead to eliminate red tape-ism. How? Now, the senior officials are strictly guided to take a note of how quick things are put into action! This a first step to remove the delay happening at the government offices.
Another important aspect of this is e-governance or a platform where all governmental services are provided completely through the web. Interesting thing here is, www.mygov.in a platform which is for citizens to play their role in governance and development of our country. Also, the facility of Digital Locker or www.digilocker.gov.in where one can securely store all their personal information from certificates to ID proofs and to e-signing of documents. The registration is completely based on one’s Aadhar ID (UIDAI) and trust me, this is quick and very useful tool at a lot of times. Not to forget all the electronic services like payment of electricity and water bills, filing of income tax returns, e-tender, application for birth certificate and what not? All of these through government portals at just one click and all of these through e-kranti! Today, National Informatics Centre (NIC) has also been working hard to maintain their websites neat and clean for providing hassle free services to the citizens. Also this has been linked to the smart city initiative by the Urban Ministry headed by Shri Venkaiah Naidu Ji.
Now these were just a few things of Digital India Initiative undertaken by government of India. Isn’t this wonderful and amazing? Isn’t it something that is set for today’s generation? Isn’t it a platform for thousands of people to upgrade their knowledge and skill? Isn’t it an easier way to get access to the government? Yes! This is one of the basic necessities and that is why this is being promoted in a large scale and also being supported by Tech giants from all across the world. And to sort things out, this has NO connection to internet.org or Net Neutrality as clearly declared by Facebook and PMO. I guess now you would feel happy and satisfied on rendering your support to this initiative. If you haven’t supported, do support it now as each and every citizens support is necessary for development of our country! If you yet feel dis-satisfied, I am sorry I cannot help, as there can be nothing better than this step at such a large scale. Here is a little more information on Digital India. The nine pillars of Digital India Programme are as follows
Broadband Highways
Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
Public Internet Access Programme
e-Governance – Reforming Government through Technology
eKranti – Electronic delivery of services
Information for All
Electronics Manufacturing
IT for Jobs
Early Harvest Programmes
Thank you. With lots of love, Ganesh Datta
For more information regarding revolutionizing education here is the link https://www.facebook.com/vivekshettym/videos/1173552589337125/
Original Article Published on 13th October 2015.
