The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu to give away the Digital India Awards 2022 to the winners, here on 7^th January 2023.

The Government of India has envisioned the Digital India Programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Digital India Awards (https://digitalindiaawards.gov.in) encourage and honour innovative digital initiatives by government entities at all levels. DIA 2022 aims to inspire and motivate not only the government entities but also start-ups and grassroots level digital initiatives in fulfilling the Digital India vision.

The Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Communications and Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma and other dignitaries will attend the event at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The event will commence on 7^th January 2023 at 11:00 a.m. and will telecast live on Doordarshan and live streamed on NIC Social media platforms:

NIC Webcast- http://webcast.gov.in/digitalindiaawards

YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/nationalinformaticscentre

Twitter- https://twitter.com/NICMeity

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NICIndia

Digital India Awards are instituted under the aegis of National Portal of India (https://india.gov.in), which provides single-window access to information & services being offered by Indian government entities at all levels. The National Portal has been designed, developed, and maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India.

The selection process for Digital India Awards includes nomination of digital initiatives by Government entities through the Rashtriya Puraskar Portal (https://awards.gov.in) managed by Director General, Awards at the Ministry of Home Affairs. The unified portal has been developed and operationalised on the directions of the Hon’ble Prime Minister for managing all National Awards. This is followed by Ranking of entries by the Nomination Processing Partner, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, and selection of Winners by a jury constituted under the chairmanship of Secretary, MeitY with representation from government, industry and academia.

Central Government Ministries/ Departments/ offices/ organisations, State Government Departments/ offices/ organisations, district administrations and Indian Missions abroad are eligible to apply for the Awards.

The 7^th edition of the Awards was announced under the following seven categories:

1. Digital Empowerment of Citizens: Recognising universally accessible, anytime anywhere access to Digital resources and promoting collaboration in participative governance and digital literacy leading to enhanced ease of living.

2. Digital Initiatives at Grassroots Level: Recognising initiatives that use digital technology, e.g., AI, blockchain, drones, IoT, ML, GIS, etc. in domains like agriculture, health, education, employment, labour, skilling etc. at the panchayat, local body and sub-district levels.

3. Digital Initiatives for Ease of Doing Business: Honouring digital initiatives creating significant impact by reducing the time, costs and efforts in setting up, conducting and operating business activities.

4. Data Sharing and Use for Socio Economic Development: Recognising sharing of government data by Ministries/Departments/organisations, States, Smart Cities and urban local bodies to a central repository to create a vibrant data ecosystem in the country for analysis, decision making, innovation, economic development and public good

5. Public Digital Platforms – Central Ministries, Departments and States: Honouring excellence in design and implementation of a Public Digital Platform with a wide scale coverage and having high impact in the society

6. Digital Initiatives in Collaboration with Startups: Honouring excellence by Government Entities in collaboration with startups for enhancement and/or transformation of digital governance, improving the experience of digital services and digital empowerment of citizens

7. Best Web and Mobile Initiatives Complying with GIGW & Accessibility Guidelines: recognising web and mobile initiatives ensuring rich content and barrier-free access on any device.

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RKJ/BK