eGovWatch: Infrastructure for Digital India

“To implement various projects under Digital India, all feasible models are being considered, with the active participation of industry, including PPP models,” says Dr Rajendra Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India. In conversation with Express Computer

It has been estimated that in the Digital India programme, government of India will spend up to Rs. 1,13,000 crore in the next three to five years. What are the key features of the programme?
In order to reform and improve the ecosy stem of public services in the country, the government of India has initiated the ‘Digital India’ programme. The vision of this programme is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. There are three key vision areas in the overall ‘Digital India’ Programme—Digital infrastructure as an utility to every citizen; Governance and services on demand; Digital empowerment of citizens.

The ‘Digital India’ programme will lead to the building of holistic capabilities in ICT infrastructure; electronics manufacturing; software services and delivery platforms; IT skill-sets and job creation; and many other areas. These capabilities will lead to the rise of a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The focus is on ensuring that the citizens in all parts of the country have easy access of a range of necessary services. Digital India will also make it much easier for businesses to  do their work. Most of the initiatives under ‘Digital India’ programme will be completed in the next three years.

To make this initiative successful, active participation of industry is very crucial. The Department of Electronics & IT (DeitY) has conducted several consultations and workshops with the industry and experts to discuss the implementation of the vision areas of Digital India. To implement various projects under Digital India, all feasible modes of implementation are being considered, with the active participation of industry, including PPP models.

What steps are being taken to ensure that broadband is rolled out to all the villages and the task of digitising government records is completed in a time-bound manner?
“Digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen” is one of the three vision areas of Digital India. A key component of this vision is the “availability of high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens”. Through the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, high-speed connectivity will be provided to every gram panchayat. The optical fibre cable will be taken to each of the 2,50,000 gram panchayats in the country, for providing high speed connectivity.

Another element in the third vision area of the digital empowerment of citizens is“Universally accessible digital resources”. This is aimed at digitisation of government records. Citizens will not be asked to present government documents or certificates, which are already available with some department or institution of the government, in physical form. For instance, the educational institutions will ensure that all their degrees and certificates are digitised and kept in online repositories with appropriate protocols for secure access through Internet.

We are planning to provide broadband in rural areas, but even in urban areas the broadband penetration is low. What steps are being taken to ensure that there is high quality broadband for all at reasonable rates?
To bring high speed broadband connectivity at panchayat level, the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications. 2,50,000 village Panchayats will be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project.

This network, with provision for last mile connectivity through appropriate mechanisms, including the involvement of telecom service providers, will enable rural India to become an active participant in the digital revolution. A range of innovative electronic services will become available in rural India. In urban areas also, the communication infrastructure and service delivery will be improved to ensure that there is ubiquitous high speed connectivity.

What steps are being taken to integrate the identification of individuals with their Aadhaar number?
The Aadhaar based identification and authentication and Aadhaar integration into various government databases are the integral parts of Digital India. The government databases will be in the standardised form, leaving additional features to add if required, with provisions for Aadhaar numbers for each individual in the database. Aadhaar platform may also be used as eKYC under various schemes; for instance, the Aadhaar numbers can be used to open bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana.
What is your view on using cloud for storing and managing government data?
The cloud platform can lead to significant reduction in the operational costs, by enabling government organisations to share infrastructure, platform and services. In order to utilise and harness the benefits of cloud computing, the government of India has embarked upon an ambitious initiative called GI Cloud, which has now been renamed as ‘Meghraj’. Currently 61 departments are using the services of Meghraj national cloud, which uses the best in class norms for ensuring security of the platform, applications and data.