Overview of e-Gov and Digisitation in India
There is a mood of high expectation created by the early actions and successes of the Narendra Modi government and private department and industries have acutely felt the need for digitisation in the information and
Overview of e-Gov and Digisitation in India
There is a mood of high expectation created by the early actions and successes of the Narendra Modi government and private department and industries have acutely felt the need for digitisation in the information and technology era. The seeds of a digitally connected India were sown in the early 90s and 2000s with a number of diverse but disjoint e-governance programmes. However, these resulted in limited impact on citizens. But all that just might change, as the Indian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched one of the biggest digitization programs, on a scale that has not been heard of before. In 2014, the UN placed India at the 118th slot globally out of 182 countries in the e-government rankings.
With an unprecedented mandate and a clear vision, the current government is pushing ahead the Digital India initiative, which has the potential to transform the lives of citizens across the length and breadth of the country. Digital India differs from previous efforts as it provides a combined vision and a comprehensive execution plan, bringing together various departments as well as existing and new programs that are monitored and influenced centrally by the government.
Digitalization is real, and a growing number of Indian companies are already reaping handsome rewards from it. Heightened awareness now needs to be backed by a real workable digitalization action plan. To avoid missing the “digital bus,” numerous companies have rushed to adopt digital technologies such as social media and cloud technologies without appropriately aligning it to their broader business goals. In order to harness the digitization drive, both government run organizations and private players can employ the best practices mentioned below:
- Create awareness around digitalization:
To develop this framework, companies must embrace digitalization systematically and understand what digitalization is and what advantages it offers, and foster a sense of ownership around digitalization
- Helping Digital Literacy Mission to be an achievable one:
The Common Service Centres (CSCs) set up in over 100,000 locations by the government may have reported only partial success so far, but enriching them with a curriculum and methodology to give every interested citizen the skills to access and disseminate information can be the first building block
- Developing comprehensive digitisation of records:
The ability to access and disseminate information needs the digital literacy mission to create capability and also the availability of all data records and information in electronic form. A massive country-wide program needs to be to put in place for this purpose
- Using m-commerce and mobility platforms:
There are approx over 700 million Indians with mobile connections, the next step are to enable citizens to transact with the government via online or mobile channels. It is, thus, vital that people and processes be brought onto a common, integrated technology and services platform
- Digitalize business model:
The increasing penetration of e-commerce, digital consumers has metamorphosed the business model of companies and today’s digital consumers and digitized employees are constantly connected and more informed than ever. To profitably serve the growing mass of digital consumers as well as win and keep digitized talent, Indian companies must offer online channels, machines equipped with digital sensors and cloud-based software that will help businesses to generate new sources of profitable revenue
- Recognizing behavioral patterns of individuals and groups:
There’s a misplaced notion that technology should be able to solve complex economic and administrative problems. Valuable insights can be gained into behavioral patterns of individuals and groups, and about consumption of resources by tracking and analyzing relevant data that can incentivize new behaviors and automate other forms of infrastructure within the organization
- Designing a digitalization roadmap:
It will be very critical for the Centre and state governments to ensure citizen awareness, monitor progress of implementation and ensure smooth and efficient functioning of government services. A well-integrated plan touching upon all sections of the Indian society will transform the way citizens connect with the government and other organisations
Digital Footprints in India
Over the years, many states took a lead in these digitization initiatives, viz: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Maharashtra government has started digitisation of land records under the National Land Record Modernisation Programme which aims at ushering in the system of providing online access of land details and plugging of loopholes. Apart from bringing in transparency, digitisation would provide government with exact data on the ownership of land, which will come handy while giving a push to the process of industrialisation.
Intel launched 