Twenty one incremental services launched to further Digital India

Cabinet approved blueprint for Digital India project in August this year

In line with the government’s Digital India project, the ministry of communications and information technology unveiled 21 incremental projects to add to the existing initiatives in this area. The launches are aimed towards incentivising electronics manufacturing, promoting entrepreneurship, supporting local languages apart from creating indigenous solutions for issues such as traffic management.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, union minister for communications and IT also addressed the officials of the ministry to mark the good governance day along with unveiling these projects.

“Technology is changing the face of India and you all (bureaucrats) need to keep that mind while devising policies and rendering your duties,” he said. Making Digital India successful may look like a tall order currently, but it has to be done, he added.

An Indian language keyboard on the Android platform developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) was launched on Thursday along with a Time Stamping feature for certifying authorities. Other initiatives included an e-governance competency framework, Indian domain names (dot Bharat) in local languages such as Gujarati, centres for technology incubation development of entrepreneurs, launch of support for international patent protection in electronics and IT and electronic manufacturing clusters in two places in Madhya Pradesh among others.

Ram Sewak Sharma, secretary, department of IT said that till the time the benefactor and beneficiary relationship exists between government and citizens, good governance will not happen. “Till now, e-governance has reached only 20 percent of its possible potential.”

MOVING TOWARD A DIGITAL INDIA

Key launches

• An Indian-language keyboard on the Android platform developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) was launched on Thursday along with a Time Stamping feature for certifying authorities
• E-governance competency framework
• Domain name, dot Bharat, in local languages
• Centres for technology incubation development of entrepreneurs
• Launch of support for international patent protection in electronics and IT and electronic manufacturing

The purpose

• The launches are aimed towards incentivising electronics manufacturing, promoting entrepreneurship
• Aim is also at supporting local languages apart from creating indigenous solutions for issues such as traffic management

He added that all departments should adopt e-governance with full force without fearing that they will lose their power over the common man.  Cabinet approved the blueprint for the Digital India project in August this year.

Digital India envisages all government services to be delivered electronically by 2018.

It will also provide "high-speed internet as a core utility" down to the gram panchayat level and a “cradle-to-grave digital identity - unique, lifelong, online and authenticable".