DIGITAL INDIA WEEK 2022

The Prime minister has inaugurated Digital India Week 2022 under the Digital India Program, to strengthen ease of doing business and ease of living. He also inaugurated a digital expo at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.

This was the seventh anniversary of launching the Digital India campaign, a flagship program of the Central Government.

THEME: “Catalyzing New India’s Techie”

To transform the nation into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The Prime Minister launched multiple digital initiatives aimed at enhancing the accessibility of technology and giving a boost to starts up.

About Digital India

• The Digital India initiative was launched in 2015. It is a RS 1,13,000 crore flagship program of the Government of India.
• The vision of the scheme is to transform into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy.
• Core areas: Digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen of the country, governance and service on demand, and digital empowerment of the citizens.

The objective of Digital India

• prepare India for a knowledge future.
• Focus on transformation to realize IT (Indian talent) +IT (Information technology) =IT (India tomorrow)

Significance of the Digital India Campaign

• Accessibility of Government Service- example Passport Seva,

• Ending corruption: The Digital India campaign has helped to save Rs 2.25 lakh crore from going into the wrong hands in the past 8 years. Example GSTN portal
• Eliminating middlemen: Digital India has saved money for the common man by ending the network of middlemen.
• Transparency: digital linkages and transactions help transparency.
• Direct Benefit Transfer: In the last eight years, more than Rs 23 lakh crore has been transferred through Direct Benefit Transfer to beneficiaries. As one can see in the case of MGNREGA where wages are directly provided in the account of the beneficiary.

JAM TRINITY (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, Mobile): has provided maximum benefit to the poor and the middle class.

• Finding missing children: Digital India has helped missing children reconnect with their parents.
• Digital India has helped the government tackle the crisis arising out of the Covid pandemic: Cowin and Aarogya Setu are two mobile applications that helped provide 200 crore vaccine doses.
• Ending digital divide: Digital India has also helped to reduce the digital divide that exists between rural and urban India.

Challenges

• Digital illiteracy and digital divide, poor digital infrastructure, low internet speed, lack of coordination among various departments, a threat to data privacy and net neutrality, and issues about taxation are various challenges in implementing the Digital India scheme.
• Cyber Crime – is a major threat to the people of India since there are fewer or no internet privacy laws and people usually get exposed to cybercrimes which decrease their trust in electronic mode.

Government Initiatives

• Digital India Bhashini: It is India’s Artificial intelligence (AI) led language translation platform. Bhashini platform will make Artificial intelligence and natural language processing resources available to the MSME sector, startups, and individual innovators in the public domain.
• Digital India Genesis: it is a national deep-tech startup platform to discover, support, grow and make successful start-ups in the tier3 and tier2 cities of India.
• My Scheme: It is a service discovery platform which is facilitating access to government schemes, it is a one-stop search and discovery portal where users can find a scheme for which they are eligible.
• Meri Pehchaan: It is a National Single Sign-In- service for government-run platforms that allows users to get rid of multiple varied sign-ins required across government platforms.???????

Achievements of the Digital India Programme

• Since 2014, more than Rs 23 lakh crore has been transferred to beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfers.
• Digital platforms like Aadhaar, UPI, Cowin, and Digilocker as examples of services that have contributed to the “ease of living” as the majority of citizens get services online without going to government offices or approaching middlemen.
• Digital India has brought the government to the doorsteps and phones of the citizens. More than 1.25 lakh Common Service Centers and Grameen Stores are now taking e-commerce to rural India.
• With the concept of the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC), free ration is ensured to more than 80 crore citizen
• Through the Co-WIN Platform, India has run the world's largest and most efficient covid vaccination program.

“Maximum governance minimum government” the dream of the Prime Minister can be shaped through digital India. With the help of public and private partnerships, favourable government policies, innovative reforms, demographic advantage, rising income, and the rise of India’s start-up culture, India can become the fastest-growing digital economy.