Insights EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : The Digital India Transformation

Source: The Indian Express

• Prelims: 4G, 5G, Governance(Adhar, UIDAI, KYC,Bharatnet, CSCs, drones.
• Mains GS Paper II: Digital India, Important aspects of governance(e governance, accountability), Application of drones.

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

• Recently the Prime Minister said that Digital India is a transformative programme to deliver that every Indian must have a smartphone in his hand and every field must be covered by a drone”.
• Digital technology must be low-cost, developmental, inclusive, and substantially home-grown and it should bridge the digital divide and usher in digital inclusion.

INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE

Context

Digital India:

• It is an umbrella program to prepare India for a knowledge-based transformation.
• It 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.
• It has been launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity).
• Vision of Digital India:

1. Digital infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen
2. Governance and services on demand
3. Digital empowerment of citizens

Initiatives Under Digital India:

• MyGov:

1. It establishes a link between Government and Citizens towards meeting the goal of good governance.
2. It encourages citizens as well as people abroad to participate in various activities i.e. ‘Do’, ‘Discuss’, ‘Poll’, ‘Talk’, ‘Blog’, etc.

• DigiLocker:

It serves as a platform to enable citizens to securely store and share their documents with service providers who can directly access them electronically.

• e-Hospital-Online Registration Framework (ORF):

1. It is an initiative to facilitate the patients to take online OPD appointments with government hospitals.
2. This framework also covers patient care, laboratory services and medical record management.

• National Scholarships Portal (NSP):

It provides a centralized platform for application and disbursement of scholarship to students under any scholarship scheme.

• DARPAN:

1. It is an online tool that can be used to monitor and analyze the implementation of critical and high priority projects of the State.
2. It facilitates presentation of real time data on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of selected schemes/projects to the senior functionaries of the State Government as well as district administration.

• PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation):

1. It started a culture of Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation.
2. It is also a robust system for bringing e-transparency and e-accountability with real-time presence and exchange among the key stakeholders.

• Common Services Centres 2.0 (CSC 2.0):

1. They are implemented to develop and provide support to the use of information technology in rural areas of the country.
2. The CSCs are Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled kiosks with broadband connectivity to provide various Governments, private and social services at the doorstep of the citizen.

• Mobile Seva:

It provides government services to the people through mobile phones and tablets.

• BharatNet Project

1. BharatNet is a flagship mission implemented by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. (BBNL).
2. It is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the Government of India under the Companies Act, 1956 with an authorized capital of Rs 1000 crore.
3. It is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunication under the Ministry of Communications.
4. It aims to facilitate the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, Internet and other services to rural India.
5. It aims to connect all the 2,50,000 Gram panchayats in the country and provide 100 Mbps connectivity to all gram panchayats.

Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme:

• It has been visioned as an aid for simpler and faster flow of information and funds to the beneficiaries and to reduce the fraud in the delivery system.
• Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), the earlier version of the Public Financial Management System (PFMS), of the Office of Controller General of Accounts, was chosen to act as the common platform for routing of the Direct Benefit Transfer.
• Components of DBT:

1. Beneficiary Account Validation System
2. A robust payment and reconciliation platform integrated with RBI, NPCI, Public & Private Sector Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks (core banking solutions of banks, settlement systems of RBI, Aadhaar Payment Bridge of NPCI) etc.

• Schemes involving DBT:

1. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
2. National Food Security Mission
3. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana
4. PM KISAN
5. Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin
6. Atal Pension Yojana
7. National AYUSH Mission.etc

e-Governance(electronic governance):

• It can be defined as the application of information and communication technology (ICT) for providing government services, exchange of information, transactions, integration of previously existing services and information portals.
• It includes the publishing of policy and program-related information to transact with citizens.
• It extends beyond the provision of online services and covers the use of IT for strategic planning and reaching the development goals of the government.

Benefits of e-governance:

Challenges to E-Governance:

4G and 5G:

Jan-Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity:

• JAM, derived from Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile, combines bank accounts for the poor.
• It eliminates leakage in the transfer of benefits and enabling the poor to have bank accounts are worthy objectives of JAM.
• Aadhaar being the pivot here, allows the government to ensure that benefits reach the poor and enables them to make payments through ordinary mobile phones.
• JAM ensures seamless transfer of welfare payments and facilitates the making payments in real time.
• It is believed that the JAM revolution can link all Indians into one common financial, economic, and digital space.

Drones:

• It is a terminology for Unmanned Aircraft (UA).
• They were originally developed for the military and aerospace industries, drones have found their way into the mainstream because of the enhanced levels of safety and efficiency they bring.
• A drone’s autonomy level can range from remotely piloted (a human controls its movements) to advanced autonomy, which means that it relies on a system of sensors and LIDAR detectors to calculate its movement.

Application of Drones:

Application of Drones in Agriculture:

SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme:

• It is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Departments, State Revenue Departments and Survey of India
• It aims to provide an integrated property validation solution for rural India.
• It is a scheme for mapping the land parcels in rural inhabited areas using drone technology and Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS).
• The mapping will be done across the country in a phase-wise manner over a period of four years from 2020 to 2024.
• The scheme will enable creation of better-quality Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs), using the maps created under this programme.

National Policy on Electronics 2019:

• It aims to create an ecosystem for the globally competitive ESDM sector by promoting domestic manufacturing and export in the entire electronics system value-chain.
• Providing incentives and support for manufacturing of core electronic components.
• Special package of incentives for mega projects which are extremely high-tech and entail huge investments, such as semiconductor facilities display fabrication, etc.
• Formulation of suitable schemes and incentive mechanisms to encourage new units and expansion of existing units.
• Promotion of Industry-led R&D and innovation in all sub-sectors of electronics, including grass root level innovations and early stage Startups in emerging technology areas such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT)/ Sensors, Artificial Intelligence (Al), Machine Learning, Virtual Reality (VR), Drones, Robotics, Additive Manufacturing, Photonics, Nano-based devices, etc.
• Providing incentives and support for significantly enhancing availability of skilled manpower, including re-skilling.
• It provides for special thrust on the Fabless Chip Design Industry, Medical Electronic Devices Industry, Automotive Electronics Industry and Power Electronics for Mobility and Strategic Electronics Industry.
• Creation of Sovereign Patent Fund (SPF) to promote the development and acquisition of Intellectual Properties(IPs) in the ESDM sector.
• Promotion of trusted electronics value chain initiatives to improve national cyber security profile.

Schemes for Electronic Manufacturing:

• The Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for large scale electronics manufacturing.
• The scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS).
• The modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme.

Digital Divide:

• Huge gap between users and non-users of e-govt. services.
• The digital divide takes form in rich-poor, male-female, urban-rural etc segments of the population.
• The gap needs to be narrowed down, then only the benefits of e-governance would be utilized equally.

Way Forward

• There are many roadblocks in the way of its successful implementation like digital illiteracy, poor infrastructure, low internet speed, lack of coordination among various departments, issues pertaining to taxation These challenges need to be addressed in order to realize the full potential of this programme.
• Tech solutions empowered by Digital India that has built the infrastructure for years together today serve as a basis for other emerging interventions in the fields of start-ups, digital education, seamless banking and payment solutions, agritech, health tech, smart cities, e-governance and retail management.
• The electronics sector has the potential to become one of the top exports of India in the next 3-5 years. Electronics exports may account for significant contributions to the Indian economy in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment generation.
• The subsidized purchase of agriculture drones for CHCs/Hi-tech Hubs will make the technology affordable, resulting in their widespread adoption. This would make drones more accessible to the common man in India and will also significantly encourage domestic drone production.

QUESTION FOR PRACTICE

There is a huge gap of digital divide between rural and urban India. In the light of this statement discuss the initiatives by the government to promote digital India and discuss the key features of National Electronic Policy 2019. (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)

Drones have found their way into the mainstream because of the enhanced levels of safety and efficiency they bring. Discuss the application of drones in agriculture. (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)