One of the India’s core strength the Information Technology is sought to be taken to new heights. Midway through the year the new Government came in and shifted gears to fast track usage of all technologies including the Information Technology. The Digital India is to be an overarching Programme for empowering people. E-governance is to be hallmark for good governance. Steps have been initiated to connect over 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats by laying about 7 lakh kilometers of optical fiber cable in the next three years. Over 1,13,000 crore rupees is expected to be spent on the programme over next 5 years.

Launching the National Digital Literacy Mission in August this year, the Prime Minister had said that a digital revolution was about to begin. Modi went on to say that his vision of a 'digital' India encompasses a time when the common man is able to track the government's work from his mobile phone.  There is the Digital Saksarat Abhiyaan (DISA) to make 42.5 lakh people digitally literate. A scheme for the purpose was approved on 9.12.14 under Digital India. Out of the total target, 4 lakh candidates are to be trained by Industry, NGOs and others through their own resources/under CSR and remaining 38.5 lakh candidates would be supported by Government.

Various applications of IT have started to be introduced. Jeevan Pramaan is one such application for biometric identification system for pensioners and biometric attendance for government employees. The Jeevan Praman was also launched by the Prime Minister indicating the importance that the Government is giving to the sector.

The minister for Communications & Information Technology Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad stating some details relating to his ministry. (Courtesy: Doordarshan News)

Another area that a new focus was laid was Electronic manufacturing. Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) Scheme now provides financial assistance for creating world-class infrastructure for electronics manufacturing units and Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) provides financial incentives to offset disability and attract investments in the manufacturing of electronics products (including telecom).  Electronic Development Fund to promote Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM)has been set up Promotion of Electronic Manufacturing Clusters: foundation stone laid at Bhopal and Jabalpur. In principle approval given to 16 more clusters. Giving importance to the skill development in Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector, the Prime Minister again took time to lay foundation stone for National Institute for Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) center Ranchi.

Again at the initiative of the Prime Minister a High Level Task Force headed by the former Cabinet Secretary Shri T.S.R. Subramaniam was constituted to propose for revitalization of the Department of Posts. As a part of the modernization of the Department Selection of vendor for supply of hardware connectivity and services to about 1,30,000 rural post offices has been completed and Letter of Intent (LoI) issued to the selected bidder.

Most other developments in the Department through the year are as illustrated below:-

As the communications forms the basis for the Information Technology, there have been efforts to strengthen the sector through allocation of more spectrums to the Telecommunication operators. Public WiFi hotspots in universities and public places are sought to be installed.

Some of the details relating to Telecommunications are :-

The Minister for Communications & Information Technology as a part of the Good Governance Day tomorrow is to launch among others the following new initiatives of his Ministry:- . The invitation for the same is:- http://pib.nic.in/newsite/invitation.aspx?relid=113954

1.      Gyansetu- internet based real time ICT system to provide e-services to be launched on 25^th December, 2014.

2.      Jodi Plan for Mobile for MTNL Subscribers to be launched on 25.12.2014

3.      One month rental free for broadband and broadband & landline combo plans for new bookings for MTNL customers on 25.12.2014.

4.      Launch of Time Stamping of CCA - Time stamps establish the time when a document or transaction was created. The service has been created and is ready to be launched by three Certifying Authorities (CA) – (n) Code Solutions, eMudhra and SIFY.

5.      Launch of Good Governance Booklet: As indicated by a note received from Cabinet Secretariat, this booklet will highlight key achievements of DeitY and will act as a ready reckoner for general public. The booklet will be published in both physical form and e-Book. The draft list of the items to be included in the book has been prepared

6.      Short Audio Visual (Film)- The proposed AV/Film will highlight the key achievements of DeitY. The proposed length of the film is 8-10 mins and the key projects taken up by DeitY namely MyGov, Biometric Attendance, Revamping of MMPs, Digital Locker, e-Book & e-Bhasha platforms, Jeevan Praman, e-Sampark and Mobile Seva.

7.      e-Book platform developed by CDAC – Developed by CDAC, the e-Book platform will allaow all Govt Dept/agencies to create e-Books in standardized format. This will allow the general public to have cost effective access to large amount of educational material and Govt reports/Publications in digital formats.

8.      e- Governance Competency Framework :- Competency based selection for implementation of e-governance would also support good governance. Developed by DeitY, this framework assesses and enhances the competencies of Government officers for visualizing, conceiving and delivering projects aimed at transforming existing systems. eGCF will make the e-Gov services in the country more sustainable and responsive to the needs of citizens.

9.      Chips to Institutions/Systems Project :- The project aims at developing skilled/specialized manpower in areas of micro electronics, VLSI, Systems development on Chip, through premiere institutions like IITs and IISCs etc. It will result in development of more than 50,000 industry ready professional will be produced.

10.  NIXI project (Gujarati idn) :- An initiative of the Internet Governance Division of DeitY to ensure inclusive development using the Internet. The local language plays a critical role in making Internet more inclusive by widening the knowledge base across communities in the native language and promoting the use of local language content. The growth of Internet has mainly taken place in one language namely English leading to the language barriers for non-English speakers. . भारत Country Code Top Level Domain Name (ccTLD) in Devanagari script was formally launched by the Hon’ble Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad on 27 August, 2014. After the launch of .Bharat in Devanagari script National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) jointly with C-DAC propose to launch the IDNs in Gujarati, Bengali and Manipuri on Good Governance Day on December 25^th, 2014.

11.  Mobile as Digital Identity: - DeitY conducted a consultation workshop in October 2014 to brainstorm on various aspects of how mobile phones can be used as instruments for electronic authentication of individuals’ identities. The participants included industry practitioners/ bodies, members of the academia, implementers, regulatory authorities, and officials from DeitY and other departments. The key outcome of the workshop and further deliberations was that “digital identity” should imply enabling mobility while establishing a person’s identity. For usage of mobile as an instrument of digital identity, three possible mobile identity solutions emerged: (1) mobile number linked with Aadhaar; (2) mobile digital signatures; and (3) voice biometrics (either standalone, or linked to mobile number). Work is underway to implement the most efficient and effective solution to enable citizens to enjoy the benefits of a mobile cradle-to-grave digital identity. A report on “Mobile as Digital Identity” is proposed to be launched on 25^th December 2014.

12.  NGN (Next Generation Network)Switch of BSNL, DoT:- BSNL will able to offer new services after NGN like Wide Area IP Centrex (WIPC), Multimedia services (MMVC), Prepaid which are not available on TDM switches. It enables to offer Multimedia communication with Quality of Services (QoS). The service will be launched through a Video phone facility between Delhi & Bangalore.

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