Empowering Indian Citizens Through Technology
Digital India stands at the core of the government’s plan for economic revival and inclusive growth. The use of digital interventions, is believed, will transform the lives of citizens by connecting them to services and social initiatives that they were earlier deprived of.
Technology is key to the vision of a Digital India. Social Media, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) are the foundations that will enable the Digital India visions of providing governance and services on demand and digitally empowering citizens and support the social inclusion schemes being launched by the government. The third vision of digital India, “Infrastructure as Utility to every citizen” will be enabled through a number of initiatives led jointly by the government and private sector.
Along with the public sector, the private sector will play a significant role in fulfilling the vision of Digital India by providing the last mile access, location specific Wi-Fi access (e.g., schools, universities, public Wi-Fi) and development of applications that provide cloud-based services on demand to citizens, like branchless banking, remote health, remote education, skill development and e-justice. Public Private Partnership (PPP) models have been extremely successful in development of physical infrastructure (e.g., roads, airports, ports) in India. Similarly for Digital India innovative partnership models will need to be explored to expedite project execution.
While Digital India provides a comprehensive vision and execution charter, a number of challenges remain“ timely execution of key infrastructure projects like the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN), availability of skilled workforce, availability of an extensive application / platform ecosystem, device proliferation and a clear regulatory / legal framework.
Deloittes report, E-governance and Digital India – Empowering Indian Citizens through Technology, released today as part of the 11th National Summit on E-governance &Digital India Inclusive growth through Digital Empowerment provides a comprehensive review of the various Digital India initiatives, identifies gaps and challenges faced in execution. The report also outlines learnings from successful global and local e-governance initiatives including – an emphasis on innovative partnership models, better state-center coordination, focus on skill enhancement, and grass-root involvement – essential for India to realize its full potential.
Focused execution using innovative partnership models will expedite the realization of the Digital India vision. Best of breed localized solutions with focus on total cost of ownership will build on the great start and deliver viable business models, says Santosh Anoo, Senior Director, Deloitte in India.