Vol-6 Issue-5 2020 IJARIIE-ISSN(O)-2395-4396

Study on Digital India Program

Dr. Vimlesh
Associate Professor, Deptt. of Economics, K.R.(PG) College, Mathura

Abstract
Digital India is a flagship programme of Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally
empowered society and knowledge based economy .Its objective is to make government services easily available to
citizens electronically by improving its online infrastructure all over the country. Prime minister Sri Narendra Modi
launched this campaign on 1 st July 2015 to connect rural India with the help of high speed internet connectivity
and encourage the masses to use technology in daily lives .The Digital India drive is a dream project of Indian
government to remodel India into a knowledgeable economy and digitally empowered society with good governance
for citizens by bringing synchronization and coordination in public accountability ,digitally connecting and
delivering the government programs and services to mobilize the capability of information technology across
government departments. It acts as a beneficiary to various government schemes such as start up India, Make in
India, UMANG, BHIM etc. There would be more transparency as all the data would be made online and easily
accessible to citizens of country. With the Digital India program, the government of India is hoping to achieve all
round growth on multiple fronts collectively.

Keywords; Digital India, Internet, e-governance, Digital technology.

1. INTRODUCTION
Digital India program launched in July 2015 is a big step taken by government of India with a vision of transforming
India into digitally empowered society and knowledge based economy by ensuring digital services, digital access
and, digital inclusion .This program has transformed the entire digital profile of the country and it make government
services available to citizens electronically by online infrastructure improvement, by enhancing internet connectivity
and digital technology. Government of India has taken initiative for providing high speed internet networks to rural
areas and mainly focused on digital infrastructure, e-governance, and digital empowerment of every citizen.

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

There have been various researches on different aspects .Some of the researches retrieved through internet searches
have been reviewed here;

Jain (2015) concluded that some projects are under various stages of implementation which may require some
transformational process to achieve desired objectives.

Midha(2016) concluded that digital India is a great plan for development of India but its improper implementation
due to inaccessibility and inflexibility can lead to its failure. There is an need for effective participation of various
departments for successful implementation of digital India campaign.

Nadella & Musk (2016) researched about Digital India and concluded that creating now job opportunities will lead
to high productivity in jobs which plays an helpful role in pushing technological sector in India .

Gupta intends to say that Digital India Movement will play an important role in effective delivery of e-services,
perform and in improving governance.

Internet users in India 2019-20 Over 636 million users

Total Population of India 130 cores

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Share of India’s populations 45 %

Share of world’s populations 55.5 %
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
This paper is descriptive and based on secondary data that have been taken from government official websites,
internet, magazines, journal, and newspapers. The focus is to know about concept, components, pillars &
applications.

Objective of paper:

 To study the concept.

 To study the components.
 To study pillars.
 To study the applications /key projects of projects of digital India.
 To know the benefits of Digital India.
 To find out the challenges faced in implementation of program.
 To find out practical solutions for implementing program.
 Conclusion.

CONCEPT

The Digital India campaign was launched by our Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi on 1st July 2015 to uplift the
usage of technology in India and to transform India into digitally empowered country. The objective was to make
government services easily available to citizens electronically by improving its online infrastructure all over country.
The process would be structured to increase internet connectivity and helps to reach out to masses and encourages
them to use digital technology. Digital India program aims at connecting rural India with the help of high speed
internet connectivity .It focuses on governance and services on demand while fostering the digital empowerment of
every citizen .It acts as a beneficiary to various government schemes such as start up India, Make in India, Bharat
Net, e- governance, UMANG etc. It merges numerous ideas and thoughts into a good comprehensive vision.

COMPONENTS

There are three components at the core of Digital India campaign

Creation of Digital infrastructure

To create digital infrastructure especially in rural areas of country. The interior regions either have very little or
mostly do not have electronic network .This is a reason behind establishing a digital network across the country.

Delivery of Digital service

To deliver government services and other essential services digitally to change the way of delivering services from
physical to digital. All ministers would be linked under this scheme .All departments will be able to reach out to
people with fundamental services like health care, banking education, scholarship, electricity, and water. The daily
monetary transactions of people were converted into digital mode to ensure transparency in transaction and to curb
corruption. All money transactions are being made online and are supported by one time password.

Digital literacy

For full participation of India, the competency that they need to have is called digital literacy .The basic behaviour,
knowledge, skills required to use digital services are mandatory .Desktop, pcs, laptop, tablets, and smartphones are
digital services used for purpose of communicating, expressing collaborating and advocating.

4. NINE PILLARS OF DIGITAL INDIA

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With the digital India program, the government of India is hoping to achieve all round growth on multiple fronts
collectively. The objective of government is to target ‘nine pillars of Digital India’.

5. KEY PROJECTS OF DIGITAL INDIA PROGRAM

The government has taken up many initiatives under Digital India program. Discussed below are few such important
initiatives:-

Accessible India campaign and mobile app

It is known as sugamya bharat abhiyan.Its principal goal is to make services open to individual with disabilities.

My gov.in

It has been implemented so that locals may actively participate in governance through Discuss, Do, and Disseminate
approach. Mobile App for My government would bring these features to users on mobile phone.

6. UNIFIED MOBILE APPLICATION FOR NEW AGE GOVERANCE (UMANG):

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This mobile platform can be used on any device .This software available in a variety of Indian language .This
software allows users to a digital locker, Aadhar, tax, train ticket purchasing are among the services available.

Agri market app:

It was created to make agricultural prices known to farmers and discourage them from selling too soon.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: Ensure the welfare & nurturing a girl child and making sure that every girl child attends
school.

Bharat Interface for money (BHIM):

It makes payments quickly, easily and simply through unified payment interface(UPI).It allows banks to accept
instant payments and money collections using mobile phone numbers.

Digilockers

This flagship initiative aims at Digital empowerment of citizens by providing access to authentic digital documents
to citizen’s digital document wallet.

E- Hospitals

It is for internal workflows and operations of hospital such as online free registration, online diagnostic reports,
enquiring blood reports online etc.

E-Pathshala

NCERT created it to all educational resources such as books and videos available online.

EPFO web portal and mobile app

It allows workers to check their provident fund using e-passbook.

Start-up India portal and mobile app

It encourages entrepreneur to develop businesses (start-ups) to expand sustainably.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) mobile app

This app would be used by people and government organizations for achieving goals of swachh bharat mission.

7. BENEFITS OF DIGITAL INDIA

1. It makes health care and literacy mare accessible since one may use a hospital service to receive online
registration, a doctor’s appointment, a blood report test etc.
2. It allows consumers to submit their paper work and certifications online from anywhere to reduce physical
work.
3. An optical fibre network of 2,74,246 km. has connected over 1.15 lakh Gram Panchayats under Bharat net
program
4. Establishment of digital villages along with well-equipped facilities such as LED, solar lighting, sanitary
napkin production unit and Wi-Fi chaupal.
5. It promotes digital and cashless financial transactions.
6. It can play a key role in GDP growth.
7. E-Governance will help in reducing corruption.
8. As all transactions are completed digitally, it also aid in reduction of black marketing.

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9. There would be more transparency as all data would be made online and would be accessible to citizens of
country.
10. BSNL’s next generation network will replace 30 year old telephone exchanges for improved administration
of online services on mobile services on media devices like voice data, multimedia etc.
11. It benefits the beneficiaries of national scholarship portal by allowing submitting applications, have
verified, paid or disbursed and citizens can digitally sign their records online.

8. CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING DIGITAL INDIA PROGRAM

Lack of infrastructure: connecting every village with high speed internet requires vital amount of investment and
infrastructure. The slow and delayed infrastructure in the country and availability of low spectrum makes digital
program difficult.

Digital illiteracy: Most of citizens of rural areas still doesn’t have enough knowledge about internet and its uses.
Full fledged digitalization is a team work and requires administration changes ,awareness campaigns. Digital
illiteracy is prevalent in most towns and villages in India.

Administrative roadblocks: After so many efforts by the government, red tapeism is still prevalent in our country.

Cybercrime: It is a major threat to people of India .Nearly one million cyber security experts know and supervise
the growing threat related to digital crime.

Connectivity to remote areas: Connectivity to remote areas is a complex issue because every state has different
laws pertaining to its execution.

Inter-departmental co-ordination: within the government there are various technical and corporate departments
.corporate in the sense self ego of officers and staff of our government services are hurdle in the change.

Net neutrality: Net neutrality is must and we should make sure that digital India without net neutrality would be a
blow to entrepreneurs and citizens of India.

Low internet speed: Internet speed which comes daily, including Wi-Fi hotspots, does not work fast in regards to
developed countries.

Shortage of skilled workforce: shortage of skilled workforce in areas such as digital technology creates an issue for
all.

9. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING DIGITAL INDIA PROGRAM

To make the programme successful, massive awareness to be conducted .There is a necessity to literate and informs
the citizens especially in rural areas and remote areas about internet services, online infrastructure to increase
internet

Connectivity and make digitally empowered.

 Digital literacy is essential.

 PPP models must be explored for sustainable development of digital infrastructure.
 Success of digital India project depends upon maximum connectivity with minimum cyber security risks.
 Infrastructure as a utility to every citizen .This includes high speed internet shall be made available in all
gram panchayats.
 Effective participation in various departments is required.
 It is very important to curb corruption for smooth functioning in all departments and transparency in e-
governance for strengthening the infrastructure digitally.

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10. CONCLUSION
Digital India initiative is one of the significant program that introduced by government of India to make the Indian
governance more transparent and to connect government facilities with high speed internet to every village and
remote areas and to transform India into digitally empowered country. Digital India scheme can elevate India from
all evils such as illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and this scheme will work like nectar for backward areas of India
and will help in creating new India. This project makes easy the development of country by promoting e-services to
all and many programs have been moved from planning phase to execution phase .several schemes have been
adopted successfully. Services like Digilocker are now being used by four million users. My Gov.in app provides a
platform for citizens to interact with government and is used by over one million users. Around 120000, post offices
branches in rural areas have been linked electronically .GDP, Healthcare, online infrastructure, Make in India
initiative and education sector has also seen a boost .On the platform of digital adoption, India ranks amongst the top
two countries globally and digital economy of India is likely to cross $ 1 trillion by the year 2022.India now
represents second largest internet user base in the world. Digital India program is likely to benefit citizens over next
few years by generating employment opportunities, increasing speed and quality of service delivery, enhancing
social and financial services.

11. REFERENCES
1. https: //en Wikipedia.org /wikidigital India.
2. https://wwwdigital India .gov.in/content prog.pillars
3. https://www.statista.com.statistics
4. Midha.R (2016) digital India: Barriers and remedies International conference on recent innovation I science,
mgt, education and technology (256-261).
5. Kedar.MS (2015) Research Journal of multidisciplinary studies; 1(4) Digital India, new way of innovating
India digitally
6. Sharma, sudhir (2015) Digital India a vision towards digitally empowered knowledge economy, Indian
journal of applied research.vol.5 issue 10,Issn-2249.
7. Vanita, karuna sachdeva .International journal of engineering research technology (IJERT) ISSN-2228-
018VOL 5.

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