The Cabinet today at the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra
Modi gave its approval for Digital
India – A programme to transform India into digital empowered society and
knowledge economy.
This is a follow up to the key decisions taken on the design of the programme
during the meeting of the Prime Minister on Digital India Programme on August 7,
2014, and to sensitize all ministries to this vast programme touching every
corner of the government. This programme has been envisaged by Department of
Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
The
vision of Digital India aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered
society and knowledge economy. The programme will be implemented in phases from
the current year till 2018. The Digital India is transformational in nature and
would ensure that Government services are available to citizens electronically.
It would also bring in public accountability through mandated delivery of
government’s services electronically, a Unique ID and e-Pramaan based on
authentic and standard based interoperable and integrated government
applications and data basis.
The
source of funding for most of the e-Governance projects at present is through
budgetary provisions of respective Ministries/ Departments in the Central or
State governments. Requirements of funds for individual project(s) for Digital
India will be worked out by respective Nodal Ministries/ Departments.
The
vision areas of Digital India:
I
Infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen:
(i) High
speed internet as
a core utility shall be made available in all Gram Panchayats.
(ii) Cradle
to grave digital identity - unique,
lifelong, online and authenticable.
(iii) Mobile
phone and Bank account would enable participation
in digital and financial space at individual level.
(iv) Easy
access to a Common Service Centre within their locality.
(v) Shareable
private space on a public Cloud.
(vi) Safe
and secure Cyber-space in the country.
II
Governance and Services on Demand:
(i) Seamlessly
integrated across departments or jurisdictions to provide easy and a single
window access to all persons.
(ii) Government
services available in real time from online and mobile platforms.
(iii) All
citizen entitlements to be available on the Cloud to ensure easy
access.
(iv) Government
services digitally transformed for improving Ease of Doing Business.
(v) Making
financial transactions above a threshold, electronic and cashless.
(vi) Leveraging
GIS for decision support systems and development.
III
Digital Empowerment of Citizens:
(i) Universal
digital literacy.
(ii) All
digital resources universally accessible.
(iii) All
Government documents/ certificates to be available on the Cloud.
(iv) Availability
of digital resources / services in Indian languages.
(v) Collaborative
digital platforms for participative governance.
(vi) Portability
of all entitlements for individuals through the Cloud.
Scope
of Digital India:
The
overall scope of this programme is:
(i) to
prepare India for a knowledge future.
(ii) on
being transformative that is to realize IT (Indian Talent) + IT (Information
Technology) = IT (India Tomorrow)
(iii) making
technology central to enabling change.
(iv) on
being an Umbrella Programme – covering many departments.
· The
programme weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single,
comprehensive vision, so that each of them is seen as part of a larger
goal.
Each
individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the larger
picture.
· The
weaving together makes the Mission transformative in totality.
(v) The
Digital India Programme will pull together many existing schemes which would be
restructured and re-focused
and
implemented in a synchronized manner. The common branding of the programmes as
Digital India, highlights their transformative impact.
Digital
India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth
areas, namely
1. Broadband
Highways,
2. Universal
Access to Mobile Connectivity,
3. Public
Internet Access Programme,
4. e-Governance:
Reforming Government through Technology,
5. e-Kranti
- Electronic Delivery of Services,
6. Information
for All,
7. Electronics
Manufacturing,
8. IT
for Jobs
9. Early
Harvest Programmes.
Approach
and Methodology:
i Ministries
/ Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT
Infrastructure established by the Government of India.
ii The
existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be revamped to align them with
the principles of Digital India. Scope enhancement, Process Reengineering, use
of integrated & interoperable systems and deployment of emerging
technologies like Cloud & mobile would be undertaken to enhance delivery of
Government services to citizens.
iii States
would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional state-specific
projects, which are relevant to their socio-economic needs.
iv e-Governance
would be promoted through a centralised initiative to the extent necessary, to
ensure citizen centric service orientation.
v Successes
would be identified and their replication promoted proactively.
vi Public
Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible.
vii Adoption
of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification, authentication and
delivery of benefits.
viii Restructuring
of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT support to all government
departments at the Centre and State levels.
ix The
positions of Chief Information Officers (CIO) would be created in at least 10
key ministries so that various e-Governance projects could be designed,
developed and implemented faster.
x DeitY
would create necessary senior positions within the department for managing the
programme.
xi Central
Ministries / Departments and State Governments would have the overall
responsibility for implementation of various Mission Mode and other projects
under this Programme. Considering the need for overall aggregation and
integration at the national level, it is considered appropriate to implement
Digital India as a programme with well defined roles and responsibilities of
each agency involved.
Program
Management Structure :
A
programme management structure would be established for monitoring
implementation. Key components of the management structure would consist of the
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for according approval to projects,
a Monitoring Committee headed by the Prime Minister, a Digital India Advisory
Group chaired by the Minister of Communications and IT, an Apex Committee
chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) /
Committee on Non Plan Expenditure (CNE).
Background:
Even though India is known as a powerhouse of software, the
availability of electronic government services to citizens is still
comparatively low. The National e-Governance Plan approved in 2006 has made a
steady progress through Mission Mode Projects and Core ICT Infrastructure, but
greater thrust is required to ensure effective progress in electronics
manufacturing and e-Governance in the country. The Digital India vision
provides the intensified impetus for further momentum and progress for this
initiative and this would promote inclusive growth that covers electronic
services, products, devices, manufacturing and job opportunities. India in the
21st Century must strive to meet the aspirations of its citizens
where government and its services reach the doorsteps of citizens and contribute
towards a long-lasting positive impact. The Digital India Programme aims to
transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy by
leveraging IT as a growth engine of new India.
Source : PIB
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