Making India Digital by Default

13 Pages Posted: 21 Dec 2015 Last revised: 28 Mar 2023

Date Written: May 5, 2015

Abstract

Making India a $20 Trillion Economy from a $2 Trillion economy requires tremendous amount of effort from all concerned especially from the government. The fundamental requirements for any real growth are Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency and Trust. They are interconnected.

In today’s competitive world, it is the technological strength of a nation that decides its standing in the global arena. Technology has become the prime mover behind growth and prosperity. A nation that masters technology thus derives competitive advantage and respect.

Information Technology has made it possible to make information and services reach to the ordinary men and women even in remote areas, easily and effectively. Availability of information is the key to empowerment of the stakeholders. This also reduces the scope for discretion and manipulation.

IT is a great enabler for empowerment, equity and efficiency. Every household and every individual needs to be digitally empowered. Services need to be digital by default. That means that existing services that aren’t digital needs to be redesigned completely so that the customers’ needs are central and the best use of digital technology can be made throughout the entire process.

Community engagement is a critical part of democratic process. We need to engage, to build trust and inform service design. Digital channels such as social media allow us to do this in ways that have never been possible before.

All government transactions needs to be transparent and delivered through technology with the least cost for the citizen. Good practices that are already implemented by various states can be modified to suit the needs of different states and regions. Most important is that we need to standardize all the products without affecting the individual needs so that the same data can be used for multiple functions.

The government while spending on e-Governance applications should also see to it that its citizens, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of those applications, come to know about them and, more importantly, are given incentives to actually use them. E-Governance is supposed to cut government expenditure and wastage of public funds and ensure corruption-free governance while improving the productivity of government employees.

Government of India has launched the initiative “Digital India”, a programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy, with the focus on making technology central to enabling change. It pulls together many existing schemes and are planned to be implemented in a synchronized manner. While many elements are only process improvements with minimal cost, the schemes are being restructured and re-focused in a mission mode and are trans-formative in totality.

The three Key Areas focused by government of India in the Vision of Digital India are:
Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen
Governance & Services on Demand
Digital Empowerment of Citizens

The nine Pillars of Digital India identified by the government are:
Broadband Highways
Universal Access to Phones
Public Internet Access Programme
E-Governance – Reforming government through Technology
eKranti – Electronic delivery of services
Information for All
Electronics Manufacturing –Target NET ZERO Imports
IT for Jobs
Early Harvest Programmes

This paper would look upon challenges and changes needed for translating this vision into reality and also the associated benefits that may accrue in doing so, like giving impetus to the “Make in India” dream for improving the ease of doing business in India thus attracting foreign capital.

Full paper available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295525668_Making_India_Digital_by_Default

Keywords: Digital, India, Development, e-governance

Suggested Citation

Ramachandran, Ramakrishnan, Making India Digital by Default (May 5, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2706081 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2706081

Ramakrishnan Ramachandran (Contact Author)

Vivin Consultants Chennai ( email )

J108 S&P Living Spaces, Kamarajar Street
Vanagaram-Ambattur Road, Aynambakam
Chennai, Tamilnadu 600095
India
+919952669656 (Phone)

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