In a unique initiative, Coeus Age Consulting led research discovered 41 transformative digital governance initiatives. These are christened as the Gems of Digital India, the crème de la crème of eGovernance projects. The Gems of Digital India are playing a significant role in the emergence of a new paradigm of governance that is more responsive, accountable, transparent and strengthens the institution of democracy.
Based upon a rigorous research exercise that spanned across 13 months and involved 30 man months of efforts, the Gems of Digital India were discovered through a process of classification, shortlisting, and jury selection from a repository of 1600 eGovernance projects in India. The panel of jury consisted of eminent names from the government, industry and the academia.
‘The Gems of Digital India were identified through a discovery process, not through a nomination process. That sets our initiative apart from other award functions. There is a lot of rigour that has gone behind the process. The red seal Gems of Digital logo has today emerged as the symbol of excellence and quality”, said Dr. Kapil Dev Singh, CEO, Coeus Age Consulting, in his welcome note.
The process did not stop at just discovering the Gems of Digital India, rather it also ventured into documenting their journey by writing insightful case studies on each one of them. These case studies are compiled in the form of a book written by Dr. Kapil Dev Singh and titled 41 Gems of Digital India – Actionable Insights for the EGovernance Leaders and Nation Builders.
Each of the Gems of Digital India can be a source of inspiration and learning for many others in the
A distinct feature in most of the 41 Gems of Digital India is the hybrid approach they take with respect to technology. Though they use the contemporary technologies, the architecture is also kept open to accommodate technologies that will emerge in the future.
The technology key note was delivered by Debanjan Kumar, President and Business Head, Application Services, Sify Technologies Limited (Featured in the photograph above and lighting the lamp). Speaking at the event he said, ‘every sphere of life has been impacted by digital today, be it booking airlines ticket or calling a cab or even buying groceries’. He further added, ‘Sify has transformed itself to emerge into a transformation partner for enterprises and governments in their endeavours to go digital. We have successfully handled projects by delivering clearly defined business outcomes to our clients, not just IT availability. It requires a distinct set of capabilities to manage end to end of the IT spectrum to ensure services to the consumers or the citizens’.
The awards function and the book launch function was attended by more than 100 government leaders. There was a representation from 50 + departments/ ministries across the centre and 8 states.