The Cabinet today at the
meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi gave its approval for
Digital
India – A programme to transform India into digital empowered society and
knowledge economy. This is a follow up to the key
decisions taken on the design of the programme during the meeting of the Prime
Minister on Digital India Programme on August 7, 2014, and to sensitize all
ministries to this vast programme touching every corner of the government. This
programme has been envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information
Technology (DeitY).
The vision of Digital
India aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and
knowledge economy. The programme will be implemented in phases from the
current year till 2018. The Digital India is transformational in nature and
would ensure that Government services are available to citizens
electronically. It would also bring in public accountability through mandated
delivery of government’s services electronically, a Unique ID and e-Pramaan based
on authentic and standard based interoperable and integrated government
applications and data basis.
The source of funding
for most of the e-Governance projects at present is through budgetary
provisions of respective Ministries/ Departments in the Central or State
governments. Requirements of funds for individual project(s) for Digital India
will be worked out by respective Nodal Ministries/ Departments.
The
vision areas of Digital India:
I Infrastructure as Utility to
Every Citizen:
(i)
High
speed internet as a core utility shall be made
available in all Gram Panchayats.
(ii)
Cradle
to grave digital identity - unique, lifelong, online and
authenticable.
(iii)
Mobile
phone and Bank account would enable participation in
digital and financial space at individual level.
(iv)
Easy
access to a Common Service Centre within their locality.
(v)
Shareable
private space on a public Cloud.
(vi)
Safe
and secure Cyber-space in the country.
II Governance and Services on Demand:
(i)
Seamlessly
integrated across departments or jurisdictions to provide easy and a single
window access to all persons.
(ii)
Government
services available in real time from online and mobile platforms.
(iii)
All
citizen entitlements to be available on the Cloud to ensure easy access.
(iv)
Government
services digitally transformed for improving Ease of Doing Business.
(v)
Making
financial transactions above a threshold, electronic and cashless.
(vi)
Leveraging
GIS for decision support systems and development.
III Digital Empowerment of Citizens:
(i)
Universal
digital literacy.
(ii)
All
digital resources universally accessible.
(iii)
All
Government documents/ certificates to be available on the Cloud.
(iv)
Availability
of digital resources / services in Indian languages.
(v)
Collaborative
digital platforms for participative governance.
(vi)
Portability
of all entitlements for individuals through the Cloud.
Scope of Digital India:
The overall scope of this programme is:
(i)
to
prepare India for a knowledge future.
(ii)
on
being transformative that is to realize IT (Indian Talent) + IT (Information
Technology) = IT (India Tomorrow)
(iii)
making
technology central to enabling change.
(iv)
on
being an Umbrella Programme – covering many departments.
· The
programme weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single,
comprehensive vision, so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal.
Each
individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the larger picture.
· The
weaving together makes the Mission transformative in totality.
(v)
The
Digital India Programme will pull together many existing schemes which would be
restructured and re-focused and implemented
in a synchronized manner. The common branding of the programmes as Digital
India, highlights their transformative impact.
Digital India aims to
provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely
1. Broadband
Highways,
2. Universal
Access to Mobile Connectivity,
3. Public
Internet Access Programme,
4. e-Governance:
Reforming Government through Technology,
5. e-Kranti
- Electronic Delivery of Services,
6. Information
for All,
7. Electronics
Manufacturing,
8. IT
for Jobs
9. Early
Harvest Programmes.
Approach and Methodology:
i
Ministries / Departments / States would
fully leverage the Common and Support ICT Infrastructure established by the
Government of India.
ii
The existing/ ongoing e-Governance
initiatives would be revamped to align them with the principles of Digital
India. Scope enhancement, Process Reengineering, use of integrated &
interoperable systems and deployment of emerging technologies like Cloud &
mobile would be undertaken to enhance delivery of Government services to
citizens.
iii
States would be given flexibility to
identify for inclusion additional state-specific projects, which are relevant to
their socio-economic needs.
iv
e-Governance would be promoted through a
centralised initiative to the extent necessary, to ensure citizen centric
service orientation.
v
Successes would be identified and their
replication promoted proactively.
vi
Public Private Partnerships would be
preferred wherever feasible.
vii
Adoption of Unique ID would be promoted
to facilitate identification, authentication and delivery of benefits.
viii
Restructuring of NIC would be undertaken
to strengthen the IT support to all government departments at the Centre and
State levels.
ix
The positions of Chief Information
Officers (CIO) would be created in at least 10 key ministries so that various
e-Governance projects could be designed, developed and implemented faster.
x
DeitY would create necessary senior
positions within the department for managing the programme.
xi
Central Ministries / Departments and
State Governments would have the overall responsibility for implementation of
various Mission Mode and other projects under this Programme. Considering the
need for overall aggregation and integration at the national level, it is
considered appropriate to implement Digital India as a programme with well
defined roles and responsibilities of each agency involved.
Program
Management Structure :
A programme management
structure would be established for monitoring implementation. Key components of
the management structure would consist of the Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs (CCEA) for according approval to projects, a Monitoring Committee
headed by the Prime Minister, a Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the
Minister of Communications and IT, an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary
and the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) / Committee on Non Plan Expenditure
(CNE).
Background:
Even though India is known
as a powerhouse of software, the availability of electronic government services
to citizens is still comparatively low. The National e-Governance Plan approved
in 2006 has made a steady progress through Mission Mode Projects and Core ICT
Infrastructure, but greater thrust is required to ensure effective progress in
electronics manufacturing and e-Governance in the country. The Digital India
vision provides the intensified impetus for further momentum and progress for
this initiative and this would promote inclusive growth that covers electronic
services, products, devices, manufacturing and job opportunities. India in the 21st
Century must strive to meet the aspirations of its citizens where government
and its services reach the doorsteps of citizens and contribute towards a
long-lasting positive impact. The Digital India Programme aims to transform
India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy by leveraging IT
as a growth engine of new India.
Click here
to download Digital India Presentation
SH/MV/VK