UPSC IAS exam preparation - Governance in India - Lecture 11

Excellent study material for all civil services aspirants - begin learning - Kar ke dikhayenge!

E-governance in India

1.0 Introduction

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can enhance the transformation of work culture by serving a variety of ends, better delivery of government services to citizens, improved government interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information and participation for decision-making and more efficient government management. e-Governance is not meant only for introducing or using technological tools, it fundamentally strives to bring about a change in mindset and work culture to integrate government processes and functions to serve the citizens better. In this process, it is crucial that the capacity of government to be open to criticism as well as the application of new social contract between all stakeholders, confirming a shared responsibility on the transformation processes.

The interaction between a citizen and a government agency takes place in a government office. With emerging Information and Communication technologies it is possible to locate service centers closed to clients. In all the cases public traditionally look for information and services addressing his or her needs and in both cases quality, relevance and efficiency are of paramount importance. Therefore, the establishment of e-Governance requires a good knowledge of the needs that exist in the society and that can be offered using ICT. The effectiveness of ICT in government is closely related with the capacity of government to induce a culture change-placing network within its institutions as instrumental to transparency and knowledge exchange and creation.

2.0 Conceptualization

E-governance may be defined as delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic means. Such means of delivering information is often referred to as Information Technology or 'IT' in short forms. Use of IT in government facilities is an efficient, speedy and transparent process for disseminating information to the public and other agencies, and for performing government administration activities. Thus, e-governance is not about IT, but basically governance.

The term governance may be described as the process by which society steers itself. In this process, the interactions among the State, Private Enterprise and Civil Society are being increasingly conditioned and modified through the influence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), constituting the phenomenon of e-Governance.

Examples of these shifts in dynamics are exemplified by:

The use of the internet by Civil Society, NGOs and professional associations to mobilize opinion and influence decision-making process that affect them
The increasing electronic delivery of government and commercial service and information
The electronic publication of draft legislation and statements of direction for public feedback
On the infrastructure side, the liberalization of telecommunication markets and trends towards web-enabled mobile telephony and digital television are facilitating this evolution

2.1 Concept & scope

e-Governance is thus a wider concept than e-Government, which is the use of ICTs in the dissemination of services of government. The Commonwealth Network of Information Technology for Development (COMNET-IT), in association with and with the financial support of UNESCO, has developed national profiles detailing current status and developments in this area. Whilst impacts of e-governance in the commercial, NGO and professional areas are covered in these studies, the main focus centers around specific government initiatives, such as

The Development of Cyber Laws
The Liberalization of Telecommunications
Plans for e-Governance
Plans for the Development of Community e-Centers
The Deployment of Community e-Centers
Instances of Public Feedback to statements of direction, Draft Legislation and so on
Websites of Government Agencies, particularly if these offer value beyond a public relation image

In this process, it is crucial that the capacity of government to be open to criticism as well as the application of a new social contract, between all stakeholders, confirming a shared responsibility on the transformation process. The respect for human rights and freedom of expression is essential to promote and maintain public participation in public consultation spaces. This implies that governments personnel have to learn to network and to place people in the centre of the political process.

So, the effectiveness of ICT in government is closely related with the capacity of governments to induce a culture of change placing networking within its institutions as instrumental to transparency and knowledge exchange and creation. It forces a rethinking of the way hierarchical structures are placed. The transition to a more horizontal government structure, where integration of functions plays a greater role, takes time since the main players need to change attitudes and behavior as they acquire new skills and knowledge that make them confident in the work culture.

According to recent data, there is a close relationship between levels of infrastructure development, education, democratization, political leadership and commitment to the principles of good governance and the level and quality of e-Governance implanted in the countries. These are strong indicators of e-readiness and the opportunity cost of such endeavor. The resulting benefit can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, efficiency, revenue growth, and or cost reductions, as well as increased legitimacy.

2.2 Use of ICT in government organizations

Traditionally, the interaction between a citizen and a government agency takes place in a government office. With emerging information and communication technologies, it is a possible to locate service centers closer to the clients. Such centers may consist of an unattended kiosk in the government agency, a service kiosk located close to the client outside the government agency, or the use of a personal computer at home or office. In all the cases the public traditionally looks for information and services addressing his or her needs and in both cases quality, relevance and efficiency are of paramount importance. Still in some of the conditions, e-Governance lags behind in understanding the buyers and sellers needs precisely. The development of e-Governance includes

Publishing
Interaction
Transaction

These activities aim at broadening access to government information such as laws, regulations and data; increasing public participation in decision-making through, for example the publishing of e-mail addresses of government officials and on-line forums, making government services more readily available to the public through e-filing of government documents, online permits.

To date, most effort, in e-Governance, is centered on publishing and not in the subsequent phases of interaction and transaction. Governments, particularly in developing countries face limited resources to move fast in e-Governance, so a strong partnership between the public, government, business and the civil society is instrumental in determining the expected outcomes and the effectiveness of e-Governance.

The term e-Governance refers to the process of using information technology for automating both the internal operations of the government and its external interactions with citizens and other businesses. Automation of internal operations reduces the cost and improves their response time while at the same time allowing government processes to be more elaborate in order to increase their effectiveness. Automation of interactions with citizens reduces the overhead for both the government and the citizens, thus creating value for the economy.

2.3 E-Governance framework

The design and development of such complex solutions poses significant challenges. One such challenge is that in current development environments, the application developers have to work at a low level of abstraction. This means taking care of low-level issues such as intercrosses messaging, tools integration, and data modeling while defining the application logic. Similarly, solution reconfiguration and management requires the solution administrator to have a detailed understanding of the application logic, making the task time-consuming and error-prone. Handling these challenges effectively requires highly skilled and experienced Information Technology professionals, increasing development costs for effective e-Governance solutions.

Solution administrators typically lack these IT skills, rendering change management impossible. In solutions developed to date, each e-Governance solutions has customized existing products to address an individual government agency requirement. However this might not always be the most economical way to develop a solution. In most industries, around 85 percent of the processes are same across companies within that industry. A similar fraction of the processes can be expected to be similar across different government solutions. Clearly, it is desirable to develop these processes once and then reuse them for many solutions.

Annual International e-Government Rankings Survey 2018

Wasda University, Tokyo and International Academy of CIOs (IAC)

This is also likely to be true for data models, user interfaces, etc. For example, the address verification process in the driving license renewal solution considered above can be reused while developing a passport renewal solution. Similarly, the traffic violation record verification process can be offered as a service to insurance businesses to be reused in a car insurance solution. Lack of information (metadata) on available processes and components and difficulty in customizing these for a specific need currently hinder their reuse for multiple solutions. One can really conclude from the preceding discussion that there is a need for a framework that can simplify the development, deployment, and management of e-Governance solutions,

3.0 Evolution of E-Governance

Global shifts towards increased deployment of IT by governments emerged in the nineties, with the advent of the World Wide Web (WWW). The technology as well as e-governance initiatives have come a long way since then. With the increase in Internet and mobile connections, the citizens are learning to exploit their new mode of access in wide ranging ways. They have started expecting more and more information and services online form governments and corporate organizations to further their civic, professional and personal lives, thus creating abundant evidences that the new 'e-citizenship' is taking hold.

The concept of e-Governance has its origins in India during the seventies with a focus on development of in-house government applications in the areas of defense, economic monitoring, planning and the deployment of IT to manage data intensive functions related to elections, census, tax administration etc. The efforts of the National Informatics Center (NIC) to connect all the district headquarters during the eighties was a very significant development.

From the early nineties, IT technologies were supplemented by ICT technologies to extend its use for wider sectoral applications with policy emphasis on reaching out to the rural areas and taking in greater inputs from NGO's and private sector as well. There has been increasing involvement of international donor agencies under the framework of e-governance for development to catalyze the development of e-governance laws and technologies in developing countries.

While the emphasis has been primarily on automation and computerization, state governments have also endeavored to use ICT tools into connectivity, networking, setting up systems for processing information and delivering services. At a micro level, this has ranged from IT automation in individual departments, electronic file handling and workflow systems, access to entitlements, public grievance systems, service delivery for high volume routine transactions such as payments of bills, tax dues to meeting poverty, alleviation goals through the promotion of entrepreneurial models and provisions of market information. The thrust has varied across initiatives, with some focusing on enabling the citizen-state interface for various government services, and others focusing on bettering live hoods. Every state government has taken the initiatives to form an IT task force to outline IT policy document for the state and the citizen charters have started appearing on government websites.

For governments, the more overt motivation to shift from manual processes to IT-enabled processes may increased efficiency in administration and service delivery, but this shift can be conceived as a worthwhile investment with potential for returns.

3.1 Phases of E-Governance

Gartner, an international consultancy firm, has formulated four-phase e-governance model. This can serve as a reference for governments to position where a project fits in the overall evolution of an e-governance strategy.

An effort as tremendous as complete realization of e-governance has to be addressed in phase. This approach would allow for retrospection after each phase, and the ability to retrace steps if required, within a feasible frame of time and money. The design and purpose of each step would have to serve the relevant needs of all G2C, G2B and G2G sectors.

Phase I - Presence

This first phase calls for making the intentions and objectives of the government known. Development of an inclusive government website, or a network of sites dedicated to different ministries and departments would set the stage for further advancements. These sites would convey the government's initiatives, providing information such as official addresses, working hours, as well as forms and applications to the public, economic reviews, corporate regulations for business and budgetary allocations and spending as a reference for government agencies.

With this first phase, the very critical task of building the infrastructure, such as telecommunications would be undertaken.

Phase II - Interaction

This phase would allow for basic interaction with the government. Besides hosting search engines on the sites for easy navigation, information detailing social records and job application forms for the public, permit and license documentation for businesses and census details, submission of requests and approvals to the centre by local government officers would have to be provided. payments, license renewal, aggregating opinion etc online procurement tax returns etc for businesses, cooperative budget preparation, tax records, etc for governmental agencies can be envisaged here.

Phase III - Transaction

This phase onwards would signify direct interaction of the government and relevant entities. With the infrastructure in place, complete online service suites can be put forth for the public, businesses and governmental agencies. Services for the public such as bill and fine

Phase IV - Transformation

This final phase would strive to achieve the true vision of e-Governance.

A single point of contact to constituent entities would provide an integrated platform for government services and organization totally transparent to citizens and businesses.
Focus on 'virtual agencies' where government information is readily available to all allowing a seamless interface to respective agencies involved in the transactions.
State-of-the-art Intranets linking government employees in different agencies extranets allowing seamless flow of information thereby facilitating collaborative decisions among government agencies, NGO's and the public.

The following factors have to be taken into account when examining the risk of implementing e-governance.

Political stability: Democracy or dictatorial regime
Level of trust in government: perception of service levels
The importance of government identity: fragmentation or integration
Economic structure: education, agriculture, industry or service
Government structure: centralized or decentralized
Different levels of maturity: weakest part of the chain determines speed
Constituent demand: push or pull

The task of building the underlying infrastructure would have to be sustained through these two stages, allowing for rapid implementation of advanced applications as endorsed by the consequent phases.

3.2 Development & implementation of e-Governance

The model presented can serve as a reference for governments to position where projects fit in the overall evolution of their e-Governance implementation. The model can also support governments in defining an e-governance vision and strategy.

A vision is a high-level goal, or ambition level, of government regarding the democracy, government and business aspects of e-governance. A strategy consists of plans that translate the vision into SMART (Simple, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic & Time-related) projects. A good strategy is crucial to keep the speed in the reform of and implementation process. Thus budgets must be available, time consuming legal transformations should be initiated and quick results must be achieved and communicated to all stakeholders, including the public.

A good approach towards implementation of e-governance is to combine short-term steps (projects) and long-term goals (vision). Projects will have a more structural value for development when embedded in a vision and supported by a strategy. Accentor has defined an approach to implement e-governance projects: 'Thinking big, start small and scale fast'.

The process of going from global objectives to concrete targets is complex. It is a joint effort undertaken by all stakeholders. IICD's core activity is to organize workshops in which this process is facilitated and first steps can be taken.

4.0 E GOVERNANCE IN INDIA

4.1 The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), takes a holistic view of e-Governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared cause. Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is evolving, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy, reliable access over the internet. The ultimate objective is to bring public services closer home to citizens, as articulated in the Vision Statement of NeGP.

"Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets,and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man".

The Government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 31 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components, on May 18, 2006. The Government accorded approval to the vision, approach, strategy, key components, implementation methodology, and management structure for NeGP. However, the approval of NeGP does not constitute financial approval(s) for all the Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and components under it. The existing or ongoing projects in the MMP category, being implemented by various Central Ministries, States, and State Departments would be suitably augmented and enhanced to align with the objectives of NeGP.

e-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency. Lessons from previous e-Governance initiatives have played an important role in shaping the progressive e-Governance strategy of the country. Due cognizance has been taken of the notion that to speed up e-Governance implementation across the various arms of Government at National, State, and Local levels, a programme approach needs to be adopted, guided by common vision and strategy. This approach has the potential of enabling huge savings in costs through sharing of core and support infrastructure, enabling interoperability through standards, and of presenting a seamless view of Government to citizens.

4.2 e-Kranti : National e-Governance Plan 2.0

As said earlier, the national level e-Governance programme called National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was initiated in 2006. There were 31 Mission Mode Projects under National e-Governance Plan covering a wide range of domains, viz. agriculture, land records, health, education, passports, police, courts, municipalities, commercial taxes, treasuries etc. 24 Mission Mode Projects have been implemented and started delivering either full or partial range of envisaged services.

However, NeGP (version 1.0) did not yield the desired results. A strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of NeGP 1.0 revealed several issues related to adopting new technologies, transforming processes and improving implementation that need to be addressed urgently. It derives from the reports of the Expert Groups and the experience of DeitY in working with various Ministries and Departments in implementing the 31 MMPs.

It became evident that there was a need to make substantial improvements to the current framework of NeGP to bring about the desired transformation. It was also clear that the weaknesses and threats under the current framework adversely affect implementation of various MMPs, resulting in sub-optimal outcomes. On the other hand, the opportunities present a compelling case for a comprehensive revision of the entire e-Governance framework in the country, to achieve the full potential of e-Governance for improving delivery of Government services to citizens.

So, the biggest shortcomings observed in the National e-Governance Plan 1.0 were (a) lack of integration amongst Government applications and databases, (b) low degree of government process reengineering, (c) scope for leveraging emerging technologies like mobile, cloud etc.

To rectify all these, the Government of India approved the e-Kranti programme in March 2015 with the vision of Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance.

All new and on-going eGovernance projects as well as the existing projects, which are being revamped, will now follow the key principles of e-Kranti namely 'Transformation and not Translation', 'Integrated Services and not Individual Services', 'Government Process Reengineering (GPR) to be mandatory in every MMP', 'ICT Infrastructure on Demand', 'Cloud by Default', 'Mobile First', 'Fast Tracking Approvals', 'Mandating Standards and Protocols', 'Language Localization', 'National GIS (Geo-Spatial Information System)', 'Security and Electronic Data Preservation'.

The portfolio of Mission Mode Projects has increased from 31 to 44 MMPs. Many new social sector projects namely Women and Child Development, Social Benefits, Financial Inclusion, Urban Governance, eBhasha etc. have been added as new MMPs under e-Kranti.

4.3 Objectives of 'e-Kranti'

There are 6 distinct objectives of this revolutionary new vision.

To redefine NeGP with transformational and outcome oriented e-Governance initiatives.
To enhance the portfolio of citizen centric services.
To ensure optimum usage of core Information & Communication Technology (ICT).
To promote rapid replication and integration of eGov applications.
To leverage emerging technologies.
To make use of more agile implementation models.

The key principles of e-Kranti are

Transformation and not Translation
Integrated Services and not Individual Services
Government Process Reengineering (GPR) to be mandatory in every MMP
ICT Infrastructure on Demand
Cloud by Default
Mobile First
Fast Tracking Approvals
Mandating Standards and Protocols
Language Localization
National GIS (Geo-Spatial Information System)
Security and Electronic Data Preservation

e-Kranti is an important pillar of the Digital India programme. The Vision of e-Kranti is "Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance". The Mission of e-Kranti is to ensure a Government wide transformation by delivering all Government services electronically to citizens through integrated and interoperable systems via multiple modes, while ensuring efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs.

The approach and methodology of e-Kranti are fully aligned with the Digital India programme. The programme management structure approved for Digital India programme would be used for monitoring the implementation of e-Kranti and also for providing a forum to ascertain views of all stakeholders, overseeing implementation, resolving inter-Ministerial issues and ensuring speedy sanction of projects. Key components of the management structure would consist of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for according approval to projects according to the financial provisions, a Monitoring Committee on Digital India headed by the Prime Minister, 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). The Apex Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary would undertake addition / deletion of Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) which are considered to be appropriate and resolve inter-Ministerial issues.

4.4 Digital India Programme

The vision of Digital India programme is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

It is centred on three key vision areas:

Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen
Governance and Services on Demand
Digital Empowerment of Citizens

We will see these one by one.

4.4.1 Vision Area 1 : Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen

A well-connected nation is a prerequisite to a well-served nation. Once the remotest of the Indian villagers are digitally connected through broadband and high speed internet, then delivery of electronic government services to every citizen, targeted social benefits, and financial inclusion can be achieved in reality. One of the key areas on which the vision of Digital India is centred is "digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen".

A key component under this vision is high speed internet as a core utility to facilitate online delivery of various services. It is planned to set up enabling infrastructure for digital identity, financial inclusion and ensure easy availability of common services centres. It is also proposed to provide citizens with "digital lockers" which would be sharable private spaces on a public cloud, and where documents issued by Government departments and agencies could be stored for easy online access. It is also planned to ensure that the cyberspace is made safe and secure.

High-speed internet as a core utility - Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential of not only bridging the great digital divide in the country (in terms of easy and effective access to ICTs) but also of positively contributing to the growth of the economy, employment and productivity. The emphasis is on providing high speed internet connectivity across the length and breadth of the country by deploying ICT infrastructure, optical fibre, and last-mile connectivity options offered by wireless technologies in a manner that is affordable, reliable and competitive.
Cradle to Grave digital identity - The ideal identity is one that is unique, singularly sufficient, robust enough to disallow duplicate and fake records, easily and digitally authenticable in an inexpensive manner, and lifelong. Aadhaar, a 12-digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on behalf of the Government of India, meets these requirements. It is essentially a paperless online anytime-anywhere identity assigned to a resident to cover his/her entire lifetime. The verification of identity is done online with the help of authentication devices which connect to UIDAI's Central Identity Repository and return a 'yes' or 'no' response to the basic query, "Is the person who he/she claims to be?", based on the demographic and biometric data available with UIDAI. Aadhaar can be used by any application which needs to establish the identity of a resident and/or provide secure access for the resident to services/benefits/entitlements offered by the application. "Digital identity" should imply enabling mobility while establishing a person's identity. For usage of mobile as an instrument of digital identity, three possible mobile identity solutions emerged: (1) mobile number linked with Aadhaar; (2) mobile with digital signatures; and (3) Mobile with voice biometrics (either standalone, or linked to mobile number). Work is underway to implement the most efficient and effective solution to enable citizens to enjoy the benefits of a mobile-linked cradle-to-grave digital identity.
Participation in digital & financial space through mobiles & banking - Indian telecom sector is the world's fastest growing telecom sector. The massive and growing penetration of mobile phones in India, especially in rural areas, provides a ready and widespread base for access to and delivery of public services electronically. Data access through mobiles continues to gain popularity, and as on date, around 80 per cent of internet users in India access internet through mobile devices. This holds great promise and potential for e-governance in general and digital-cum-financial inclusion in particular. In the mobile space, DeitY has launched Mobile Seva, a revolutionary whole-of-government mobile governance initiative, enabling government departments and agencies across the nation to deliver public services to citizens and businesses through mobile devices across various mobile-based channels such as SMS, USSD, mobile apps, and voice/ IVRS. In the financial space, DeitY has collaborated with NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML) for providing PayGov, a centralized platform for facilitating all government departments and services to collect online payments from citizens for public services. PayGov offers an end-to-end transactional experience for citizens who can opt from various payment options such as Net Banking (65+ banks), debit cards, credit cards, cash cards/ prepaid cards/ wallets, and NEFT/ RTGS, etc. The 'Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana' has been launched as a national mission encompassing an integrated approach to bring about comprehensive financial inclusion of all the households in the country. The plan envisages universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account per household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension facility. It also envisages channeling all government benefits to the beneficiaries' bank accounts.
Easy access to a Common Service Centre (CSC) - Implemented under the NeGP formulated by DeitY, the CSCs are ICT-enabled front-end service delivery points (kiosks) at the village level for delivery of government, financial, social and private sector services in the areas of agriculture, health, education, entertainment, banking, insurance, pension, utility payments, etc. CSCs operate within a public-private-partnership (PPP) model and a 3-tier structure consisting of the CSC operator (known as the Village Level Entrepreneur or VLE), the Service Centre Agency (SCA) for establishing CSCs in a zone consisting of a few districts, and a State Designated Agency (SDA) for managing the implementation in the State. CSCs enable government, private and social sector organizations to align their social and commercial goals for the benefit of the rural population in the remotest corners of the country through a combination of IT-based as well as non-IT-based services. The initial target was to establish 1,00,000 CSCs in 6,00,000 villages in the ratio of one CSC for every 6 villages. As on date, more than 1,37,000 CSCs are operational across the country. Under the proposed CSC 2.0 programme, it is planned to increase the number of CSCs to 2,50,000 (covering all panchayats) to facilitate easier access to CSCs for the citizens.
Shareable private space on a public cloud - Easy and authentication-based access to a digital locker, i.e. a shareable private space on a public cloud, can greatly facilitate paperless transactions. Citizens can digitally store Government-issued digital documents and certificates and share them with various agencies without having to submit or send physical documents or copies. The digital locker would have a collection of repositories (digital repository) for issuing authorities (issuer) to upload their documents (electronic document) in a standard format. Personal locker provided to citizens would also act as a platform for storing the links (termed as Document URI) for accessing the documents directly from these repositories. This platform would enable the citizens to securely share their documents with the service providers who can also directly access public documents from the issuing authority through an authenticated route. To accelerate the delivery of cloud-based services, DeitY has launched the MeghRaj Cloud initiative. This would comprise several central and state clouds built on existing or new (augmented) infrastructure, following a set of common protocols, guidelines and standards issued by Government of India. DeitY has also issued two policy reports, "GI Cloud Strategic Direction Paper" and "GI Cloud Adoption and Implementation Roadmap" for encouraging adoption of cloud based services.
Safe and secure cyber-space - Cyberspace is where all online digital assets, protocols, identities etc. reside and interact and transact. It is imperative that cyberspace be made safe and secure for all organizations and users. The National Information Security Policy has been put in place to protect information and information-infrastructure in cyber space, build capabilities to prevent and respond to cyber threats, reduce vulnerabilities and minimize damage from cyber incidents through a combination of institutional structures, people, processes, technology and cooperation. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT/ CERT-In) of DeitY hosts a comprehensive "secure your PC" portal with guidelines and measures for users against risks and threats. Further, a National Coordination Centre on Cyber Security has been proposed as one of the key projects under Digital India to provide safe and secure cyber space.

4.4.2 Vision Area 2 : Governance and services on demand

Over the years, a large number of initiatives have been undertaken by various State Governments and Central Ministries to usher in an era of e-governance. Sustained efforts have been made at multiple levels to improve the delivery of public services and simplify the process of accessing them. E-governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency.

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was approved in 2006 to take a holistic view of e-governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision. Six elements are crucial for ensuring that governance and services are made available on demand to all citizens and other stakeholders in the country.

Seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions - Access to some services often also involves documents, approvals and clearances from authorities outside the department/ jurisdiction providing the service. Today, the focus is on providing single-window access to such services so that the citizens and businesses save time and effort across multiple departments or jurisdictions concerned. This is exemplified by the e-Biz and e-Trade projects under the NeGP. In order to provide integrated services, DeitY has notified e-governance standards (available at https://egovstandards.gov.in ). Further, Open API and Open Source policies are also being finalized by DeitY. The API policy sets out the Government's approach on the use of open APIs to promote software interoperability for all e-governance applications and systems and provide access to data & services for promoting participation of citizens and other stakeholders. Also, common platforms like MeghRaj Cloud Platform, Mobile Seva, PayGov and eSangam have been established by DeitY for the Departments and States for the purposes of interoperable and integrated services.
Services available in real time from online & mobile platforms - The focus today is on designing e-Governance applications in such a way that the related information, services and grievance-handling mechanism are accessible online on a real time basis and across all types of access devices such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, mobiles, etc. To ensure provisioning of high speed broadband connectivity at panchayat level, the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This aims to resolve the connectivity issues by taking gigabit fibre to all the panchayats in the country. The Mobile Seva project of DeitY is a highly successful project that provides a common national platform to all Government departments and agencies at the central, state and local levels for providing mobile based services and mobile apps. Over 1900 government departments and agencies across the country are using the mobile platform for mobile enabled services. This initiative has won the 2014 United Nations Public Service Award. Mobile Seva is a winner at United Nations Public Service Awards (2014) under the category "Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age". It is the only winner from India in 2014.
All citizen entitlements to be portable and available on the cloud - The flexibility, agility, cost effectiveness and transparency offered by the cloud technologies should be considered while designing and hosting of applications. In order to utilize and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing, Government of India has embarked upon an ambitious initiative - "GI Cloud" which has been named as 'MeghRaj'. The focus of this initiative is to accelerate delivery of e-services in the country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government. The cloud platform can host online repositories for all possible entitlements thereby providing a single source of truth. This includes areas like Public Distribution System, BPL entitlements, social sector benefits, LPG and other subsidies, etc. The platform can enable automated registration, maintenance and delivery of citizen entitlements under several government schemes. This will provide delivery for these entitlements on an anywhere, anytime basis. A citizen moving to a new place shall not lose his/her entitlements and will not have to go through a lengthy process to register and supply documents afresh to continue getting the benefits. The plan is to leverage the cloud platform for addressing the portability issue towards ensuring continuity of citizen entitlements across the entire country. A major milestone was achieved in October 2014 with the launch of provident fund portability through the Universal Account Number (UAN). Employees now need not worry about transferring the funds lying in their provident fund accounts when they change their locations.
Digitally transformed services for improving ease of doing business - Starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and other clearances etc. are the various experiences that define how easy or difficult it is to do business in a country. Government services for businesses shall be digitally transformed for improving Ease of Doing Business in the country. The existing MMPs under the NeGP shall be strengthened using latest tools and technologies. (a) The e-Biz project provides integrated services across various central and state departments/ agencies through a single window mechanism to all businesses and investors for setting up a commercial enterprise. (b) The 'MCA21' MMP aims at providing electronic services for statutory requirements and other business related services. (c) The e-Trade MMP facilitates foreign trade in India by promoting effective and efficient delivery of services by various regulatory/ facilitating agencies involved in foreign trade, to enable traders to avail online services from these agencies.
Making financial transactions electronic & cashless - Electronic payments and fund transfers have the advantage of targeted and direct delivery to the intended beneficiaries without the involvement of middlemen who may otherwise subvert the system. Similarly, online mechanisms for payment of fees for certain public services offer a transparent, friendly and expeditious channel to citizens for payments. All financial transactions above a threshold shall be made electronic & cashless. DeitY has created PayGov India as a centralized payment gateway for all Government Departments and agencies in the country. It is operated and maintained by NSDL Database Management Ltd (NDML), a wholly owned subsidiary of National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL). PayGov India is securely integrated with National and State Service Delivery Gateways (NSDG and SSDG) to enable sharing of information across databases for efficient service delivery, and also with the Mobile Services Delivery Gateway (MSDG) under Mobile Seva. The citizens can choose from a host of e-payment options such as Net banking, credit card, debit card, prepaid/ cash card/ wallet, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and mobile wallet.
Leveraging Geospatial Information System (GIS) for decision support systems & development -Various government services can be offered in a better way by proper use of GIS technology in the e-governance applications. National Geospatial Information System (NGIS) is being implemented to integrate geo-spatial data available with a number of organizations such as Survey of India, National Informatics Centre (NIC), NRSA and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to develop a GIS platform for e-Governance applications. This GIS platform will be leveraged as a service for the benefit of various mission mode projects and other e-governance initiatives. NGIS can also be leveraged for monitoring the physical progress of projects, disaster management and specialized needs of public safety agencies.

4.4.3 Vision Area 3: Digital empowerment of citizens

Digital connectivity is a great leveller. Cutting across demographic and socio-economic segments, Indians are increasingly connecting and communicating with each other through mobile phones and computers riding on digital networks. The Digital India programme itself promises to transform India into a digitally empowered society by focusing on digital literacy, digital resources, and collaborative digital platforms. This also places emphasis on universal digital literacy and availability of digital resources/services in Indian languages.

Universal Digital Literacy - Digital Empowerment Digital literacy assumes paramount importance at an individual level for truly and fully leveraging the potential the Digital India programme. It provides the citizens the ability to fully exploit the digital technologies to empower themselves. It helps them seek better livelihood opportunities and become economically secure. The focus today is on making at least one person e-literate in every household. Core ICT infrastructure set up by the central and state governments, such as CSCs, can play a critical role in taking digital literacy to the remotest locations of the country. To ensure that all panchayats in the country have high-speed connectivity, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has established Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. (BBNL) to roll out the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN). BBNL will lay out the optic fiber cable terminating in each of the 2,50,000 gram panchayats in the country, providing 100 Mbps link to be used as information highway by all the stakeholders to ensure that digital inclusion reaches all villages across the country. This will ensure digitization and connectivity of the local institutions, such as panchayat office, schools, health centres, libraries, etc. The industry has also come forward to support the e-literacy goal through the National Digital Literacy Mission. National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), an autonomous society under DeitY, has identified more than 5000 facilitation centres across the country for training on courses which will equip a person to undertake e-Governance transactions through computers and other basic activities, like e-mail, browsing the internet, etc. NIELIT has also signed MoUs with industry partners towards jointly conducting courses and online examinations on digital literacy.
Universally accessible digital resources - Digital resources are truly universally accessible when they are easily available and navigable everywhere and by everyone. Open resources have the advantage of being widely and inexpensively available and also being widely usable and customizable. Digital resources created or implemented along these lines can be accessed everywhere compared to resources developed from proprietary systems. Owner departments and agencies have the responsibility of ensuring that their digital resources are of high quality so that access and customization are not problematic. The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) requires government organizations to proactively release their datasets in an open format. Implementation of NDSAP in India is being done by NIC, an agency of DeitY, through the Open Government Platform for India (http://data.gov.in) which provides a single point access to all the open-format datasets published by different government departments. DeitY is also formulating a policy on open APIs to make all the data and information provided by government organizations open and machine readable, which can then be consumed by other e-governance applications/ systems and the public. DeitY is responsible for setting up the API standards and designing a gateway for seamless sharing of information amongst the various government agencies. Digital resources are as useful as the manner in which they are rendered on the users' devices, which may be mobile phones, tablets, computers, or other devices. These devices, while all able to access sites where digital resources are available, may be based on varying support standards and also may or may not support differentiated styles of content presentation and layout. In such cases, the content may not be rendered correctly on all devices. Conformance to DeitY-notified standards for government data and application of the necessary style sheets and other server side solutions can help owner departments and agencies achieve this aspect of universal accessibility of their digital resources. Under the Digital India programme, the government is also committed to providing access to digital resources for citizens with special needs, such as those with visual or hearing impairments (which may be partial or complete), learning or cognitive disabilities, physical disabilities which hinder operation of ubiquitous access devices such as phones, tablets and computers.
All documents/certificates to be available on cloud - Citizens should not be asked to provide government documents or certificates, which are already available with some department/institution of the government, in physical form. Portability of all electronic documents should also be ensured. As an example, educational institutions should ensure that all their degrees and certificates are digitized and kept in online repositories with appropriate access protocols. The citizen, while filling some application form, should not be asked to submit the certified copies of his/her educational certificates but should provide details of these certificates available in an online repository which can be seen by the agency concerned using the pointer provided by the citizen. All these repositories of all government issued documents/certificates should be hosted on a cloud platform to provide a single source of truth for these documents/certificates. The data may include categories such as digitally signed educational certificates, land records, driving licenses, permits, etc. Requesting departments or users may be provided authenticated access to the digital repository available over the cloud.
Availability of digital resources/ services in Indian languages - India has a remarkable diversity in terms of languages written and spoken in different parts of the country. There are 22 official languages and 12 scripts. Knowledge of English is limited to a very small section of the population in the country. The rest often cannot access or comprehend digital resources which are available mainly in English. DeitY has initiated the Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) programme for developing information processing tools and techniques to facilitate human-machine interaction without language barriers, creating and accessing multilingual knowledge resources, and integrating them to develop innovative user products and services. The programme also promotes language technology standardization through active participation in international and national standardization bodies such as ISO, UNICODE, World-wide-Web consortium (W3C) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to ensure adequate representation of Indian languages in existing and future language technology standards. DeitY has also initiated the Localization Projects Management Framework (LPMF) to help localize applications under the MMPs and other government applications. DeitY is also formulating a new mission mode project named as e-Bhasha to help develop and disseminate digital content in local languages to India's largely non-English speaking population. The disabled friendly content and systems are being developed as per accessibility standards.
Collaborative digital platforms for participative governance - Traditionally, digital platforms have been used for dissemination of information and provision of services to the users. Through these platforms, Government could establish communication with the citizens though it was mostly one-way. Digital platforms, with necessary thrust from developments on technology front, have come of age and can now facilitate government departments to have effective two-way communication and interaction with citizens. Platforms that are more collaborative facilitate greater participation from the users. Instead of reaching out to citizens every now and then, government can be in touch with them round the clock through digital platforms which would facilitate participative governance. The platform would provide a mechanism to discuss various issues to arrive at innovative solutions, make suggestions to the government, provide feedback on governance, rate the government actions/policies/initiatives, and actively participate with the government to achieve the desired outcomes. DeitY has recently launched a nationwide digital platform named as "myGov" (www.mygov.in) to facilitate collaborative and participative governance. DeitY also maintains a social media page highlighting e-governance services being provided through NeGP at https://www.facebook.com/NationaleGovernancePlan.

4.5 Approach and Methodology for Digital India Programme

There are nine aspects to it.

Ministries / Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT Infrastructure established by GoI. DeitY would also evolve/ lay down standards and policy guidelines, provide technical and handholding support, undertake capacity building, R&D, etc.
The existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be suitably 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 the delivery of Government services to citizens.
States would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional state-specific projects, which are relevant for their socio-economic needs.
e-Governance would be promoted through a centralised initiative to the extent necessary, to ensure citizen centric service orientation, interoperability of various e-Governance applications and optimal utilisation of ICT infrastructure/ resources, while adopting a decentralised implementation model.
Successes would be identified and their replication promoted proactively with the required productization and customisation wherever needed.
Public Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible to implement e-Governance projects with adequate management and strategic control.
Adoption of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification, authentication and delivery of benefits.
Restructuring of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT support to all government departments at Centre and State levels.
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. CIO positions will be at Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary level with over-riding powers on IT in the respective Ministry.

4.6 Programme pillars for Digital India

Digital India is an umbrella programme that covers multiple Government Ministries and Departments. It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them can be implemented as part of a larger goal. Each individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the larger picture. Digital India is to be implemented by the entire Government with overall coordination being done by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY). Digital India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely Broadband Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access Programme, e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology, e-Kranti - Electronic Delivery of Services, Information for All, Electronics Manufacturing, IT for Jobs and Early Harvest Programmes. Each of these areas is a complex programme in itself and cuts across multiple Ministries and Departments.

PILLAR 1. BROADBAND HIGHWAYS

This covers three sub components, namely Broadband for All - Rural, Broadband for All - Urban and National Information Infrastructure (NII).

Broadband for All - Rural

2,50,000 village Panchayats would be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) by December 2016. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is the nodal Department for this project.

Broadband for All - Urban

Virtual Network Operators would be leveraged for service delivery and communication infrastructure in new urban developments and buildings would be mandated.

National Information Infrastructure (NII)

NII would integrate the network and cloud infrastructure in the country to provide high speed connectivity and cloud platform to various government departments up to the panchayat level. These infrastructure components include networks such as State Wide Area Network (SWAN), National Knowledge Network (NKN), National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), Government User Network (GUN) and the MeghRaj Cloud. NII aims at integrating all ICT infrastructure components such as SWANs, NKN, NOFN, GUN and GI Cloud. It will have provision for horizontal connectivity to 100, 50, 20 and 5 government offices/ service outlets at state, district, block and Panchayat levels respectively. DeitY will be the nodal Department for this project.

PILLAR 2. MOBILE

This initiative focuses on network penetration and filling the gaps in connectivity in the country.

There are around 55,619 villages in the country that do not have mobile coverage. As part of the comprehensive development plan for North East, providing mobile coverage to uncovered villages has been initiated. Mobile coverage to remaining uncovered villages would be provided in a phased manner.

The Department of Telecommunications will be the nodal department and project cost will be around Rs.16,000 Cr during 2014-18.

PILLAR 3. PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS PROGRAMME

The two sub components of Public Internet Access Programme are Common Services Centres (CSCs) and Post Offices as multi-service centres.

Common Services Centres (CSCs)

CSCs would be strengthened and its number would be increased to 250,000 i.e. one CSC in each Gram Panchayat. CSCs would be made viable and multi-functional end-points for delivery of government and business services. DeitY would be the nodal department to implement the scheme.

"CSC 2.0- A Way Forward" under the objective of Digital India Programme- "To transform India into digitally empowered society and knowledge economy"- aims to bridge the gap of digital divide by creating a network of self sustaining human assisted e-service delivery centers in the neighborhood of rural citizens. After its implementation, it is envisaged that there would be a network of self sustaining CSC outlets in all the Gram Panchayat across the nation, delivering essential government services and other life changing services to the citizens, under the handholding support from the District/StateUT administration and CSC SPV.

CSC 2.0 - Aims to cover 2.5 Lakhs of Gram Panchayats for maximizing delivery of e-Services to the citizens.

Brief:

It aims for establishing self sustaining network of 2.5 lakh CSC centres at Gram Panchayat (GP) level under Digital India- Pillar 3-Public Internet Access Programme - National Rural Internet Mission and deliver various citizen centric services.
Implementing Agency : CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC SPV), 6, C.G.O. Complex, New Delhi
CSC 2.0 model is envisaged as transaction based and service delivery based model, delivering a large bouquet of e-services through a single delivery platform, which would increase the sustainability of the CSCs across the Country.
Under this Project, it is proposed to strengthen the CSC network by ensuring standardization of service availability and ensuring capacity building of all stakeholders involved.
The scheme envisages providing manpower resources both to the SDA as well as to DeGS for enabling them to perform the desired role function, such as, assistance, coordination for execution of project till delivery of e-Governance services, monitoring and assessment. Help Desk Support will also be provided by CSC SPV.

Objectives:

Non-discriminatory access to e-Services to rural citizens by making the CSCs complete service delivery centres, utilizing the backend infrastructure already created in terms of other MMPs.
of self sustaining CSC Network till the Gram Panchayat level-2.5 Lakhs CSCs i.e. at least one CSC per Gram Panchayat.
Empowering District e-Governance Society (DeGS) under District Administration for implementation.
Creating and strengthening the institutional framework for the rollout and project management, thereby, supporting the State and District administrative machinery and handholding of the VLEs through local language Help Desk support.
Enablement and consolidation of online services under one technology platform, hence, making the service delivery at CSCs outlets accountable, transparent, efficient and traceable, with a technology-driven relationship between all stakeholders.
Increasing sustainability of VLEs by sharing maximum commission earned through delivery of e-services and encouraging women as VLEs.

Post Offices as multi-service centres

A total of 150,000 Post Offices are proposed to be converted into multi service centres. Department of Posts would be the nodal department to implement this scheme

PILLAR 4. E-GOVERNANCE - REFORMING GOVERNMENT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Government Process Re-engineering using IT to simplify and make the government processes more efficient is critical for transformation to make the delivery of government services more effective across various government domains and therefore needs to be implemented by all Ministries/ Departments.

The guiding principles for reforming Government through technology are:

Form simplification and field reduction - Forms should be made simple and user friendly and only minimum and necessary information should be collected.
Online applications and tracking - Online applications and tracking of their status should be provided.
Online repositories - Use of online repositories e.g. for certificates, educational degrees, identity documents, etc. should be mandated so that citizens are not required to submit these documents in physical form.
Integration of services and platforms - Integration of services and platforms e.g. Aadhaar platform of Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), payment gateway, Mobile Seva platform, sharing of data through open Application Programming Interfaces (API) and middleware such as National and State Service Delivery Gateways (NSDG/SSDG) should be mandated to facilitate integrated and interoperable service delivery to citizens and businesses.

All databases and information should be in electronic form and not manual. The workflow inside government departments and agencies should be automated to enable efficient government processes and also to allow visibility of these processes to citizens. IT should be used to automate, respond and analyze data to identify and resolve persistent problems. These would be largely process improvements.

PILLAR 5. E-KRANTI

Please do refer the entire write-up in this booklet on the earlier experience with the NeGP.

The Government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 31 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components, on May 18, 2006. The Government has accorded approval to the vision, approach, strategy, key components, implementation methodology, and management structure for NeGP. However, the approval of NeGP does not constitute financial approval(s) for all the Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and components under it. The existing or ongoing projects in the MMP category, being implemented by various Central Ministries, States, and State Departments would be suitably augmented and enhanced to align with the objectives of NeGP.

e-Kranti is an essential pillar of the Digital India initiative. Considering the critical need of e-Governance, mobile Governance and Good Governance in the country, the approach and key components of e-Kranti have been approved by the Union Cabinet on 25.03.2015 with the vision of "Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance".

All new and on-going eGovernance projects as well as the existing projects, which are being revamped, should now follow the key principles of e-Kranti namely 'Transformation and not Translation', 'Integrated Services and not Individual Services', 'Government Process Reengineering (GPR) to be mandatory in every MMP', 'ICT Infrastructure on Demand', 'Cloud by Default', 'Mobile First', 'Fast Tracking Approvals', 'Mandating Standards and Protocols', 'Language Localization', 'National GIS (Geo-Spatial Information System)', 'Security and Electronic Data Preservation'.

There are 44 Mission Mode Projects under e-Kranti, which are at various stages of implementation.

Technology for Security - Mobile based emergency services and disaster related services would be provided to citizens on real time basis so as to take precautionary measures well in time and minimize loss of lives and properties.

Technology for Justice - Interoperable Criminal Justice System shall be strengthened by leveraging several related applications, i.e. e-Courts, e-Police, e-Jails and e-Prosecution.

Technology for Financial Inclusion - Financial inclusion shall be strengthened using mobile banking, Micro-ATM program and CSCs/ Post Offices.

Technology for Cyber Security - National Cyber Security Co-ordination Centre would be set up to ensure safe and secure cyber-space within the country.

eCourts Mission Mode Project

The eCourts Mission Mode Project is a national eGovernance project for ICT enablement of district/subordinate courts of the country. The objective of the project is to provide designated services to litigants, lawyers and the judiciary through ICT enablement of courts.

The Phase I covered the basic infrastructure for ICT enablement which consisted of various modules, primarily - such as computer hardware, Local Area Network (LAN), internet connectivity and installation of standard application software at each court complex and up gradation of ICT Infrastructure of Supreme Court and all High Courts / Benches. It also included provision of laptops, laser printers, broadband connectivity at home offices of judicial officers and imparting ICT training to them. Power back up was also provided at these court complexes for the ICT Infrastructure through Diesel Generator Sets (DG Sets) and Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS).

In addition to above,

ICT infrastructure of the Supreme Court and High Court have been upgraded.
Laptops have been provided to 14,309 judicial officers.
A Case Information System (CIS) software has been developed and made available for deployment at all computerised courts.
Entry of case data has been initiated, and data in respect of over 4.5 crore pending and decided cases in more than 13,000 courts is available online.
Judicial Service Centre (JSC) have established at all computerised courts.
Over 14,000 Judicial Officers have been trained in the use of UBUNTU-Linux OS and over 4000 court staff have been trained in CIS software.
Process Re-engineering has been initiated in all High Courts to study and suggest simplification in existing rules, processes, procedures and forms.
Video Conferencing between 500 courts and corresponding jails: Pilot launched in five districts have been completed and roll out in remaining locations across the country is under process.
Service Delivery and National Judicial Data Grid: The national e-Courts portal (http://www.ecourts.gov.in) has become operational. The portal provides online services to litigants such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders, and final judgments. Currently, litigants can access case status information in respect of over 5.5 crore pending and decided cases and more than 1.79 crore orders/judgments pertaining to district and subordinate Courts.

The portal has been linked to the eTaal, which is a web portal for dissemination of e-Transaction statistics of Central and State level e-Governance Projects including Mission Mode Projects, and the portal has recorded 25.49 crore transactions so far, which is among top five if not the highest among all other eGovernance Projects.

Phase II of eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project

Envisaging further ICT enhancement through universal computerisation of all the courts, use of cloud computing, digitization of case records of last 20 years and enhanced availability of e-services to lawyers and litigants through e-filing, e-payment gateways and mobile applications etc., the Phase II of the project has also been approved within the cost of Rs.1670 Crores in the duration of four years. The project would function in line with the Digital India program of the Government of India.

The Phase II of the project would focus not only on the computerisation of courts across the country but also help in the automation of workflow management which would enable the courts to exercise greater control over the management of cases. The services envisaged to be taken up during Phase II, which would be at the disposal of the citizens, include installation of touch screen based Kiosks with printers in each Court Complex, fetching information through Mobile, facilitating improved performance of courts through change management and process re-engineering, installation of Video Conferencing facility at all Court Complexes and corresponding jails, use of e-filing, e-Payment and mobile applications and also for the composite set of services to be provided through the Judicial Service Centres. Further, the judiciary can also benefit from the project by provisioning of Hand held process service devices for process servers to ensure transparent and time bound delivery of court notices and summons, Digital Signature Certificates (DSCs) to Court officials to enable them to issue certified e-documents to lawyers and litigants, and provisioning of laptops and printers to Judicial Officers. The court management system would also be created under the project through digitisation, document management, Judicial Knowledge Management and Learning Tools Management. Also the use of solar energy has also been proposed at some court complexes enabling the courts to help the environment actively.

In line with the Digital India Programme of the Government of India which emphasises on Citizen centric services, the project would also focus on Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen providing Governance and Services on Demand subsequently digitally empowering the Citizens.

Technology for Education - e-Education

All Schools will be connected with broadband. Free wifi will be provided in all secondary and higher secondary schools (coverage would be around 250,000 schools). A programme on digital literacy would be taken up at the national level. Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) shall be developed and leveraged for e-Education.

Technology for Health - e-Healthcare

e-Healthcare would cover online medical consultation, online medical records, online medicine supply, pan-India exchange for patient information, etc. Pilots shall be undertaken in 2015 and full coverage would be provided in 3 years.

Technology for Farmers

This would facilitate farmers to get real time price information, online ordering of inputs and online cash, loan, and relief payment with mobile banking.

PILLAR 6. INFORMATION FOR ALL

Open Data platform - Open Data platform facilitates proactive release of datasets in an open format by the ministries/departments for use, reuse and redistribution. Online hosting of information & documents would facilitate open and easy access to information for citizens.

Government shall pro-actively engage through social media - Government shall pro-actively engage through social media and web based platforms to inform and interact with citizens. MyGov.in, a platform for citizen engagement in governance, has been launched by the Hon'ble Prime Minister on 26th July, 2014, as a medium to exchange ideas/ suggestions with Government. It will facilitate 2-way communication between citizens and Government to bring in good governance.

Online messaging - Online messaging to citizens on special occasions/programs would be facilitated through emails and SMS.

Open Data platform, Social Media Engagement and Online Messaging - Open Data platform, Social Media Engagement and Online Messaging would largely utilise existing infrastructure and would need limited additional resources.

PILLAR 7. ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING

Target NET ZERO Imports is a striking demonstration of intent.

This pillar focuses on promoting electronics manufacturing in the country with the target of NET ZERO Imports by 2020 as a striking demonstration of intent. This ambitious goal requires coordinated action on many fronts, such as:

Taxation, incentives
Economies of scale, eliminating cost disadvantages
Focus areas - Big Ticket Items
FABS, Fab-less design, Set top boxes, VSATs, Mobiles, Consumer & Medical Electronics, Smart Energy meters, Smart cards, micro-ATMs
Incubators, clusters
Skill development, Enhancing PhDs
Government procurement
Safety Standards - Compulsory registration, Support for Labs and MSMEs
National Award, Marketing, Brand Building
National Centres - Flexible Electronics, Security Forces
R & D in electronics

There are many ongoing programs which will be fine-tuned. Existing structures are inadequate to handle this goal and need strengthening.

Demand for electronic goods is increasing with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22% and is expected to touch 400 Billion USD by 2020. Indian government is also taking several steps to promote manufacturing and investment in this sector, which puts India high on the list of potential places to invest.

National Policy on Electronics (NPE)

Government of India has approved National Policy on Electronics launched in 2012 (NPE 12) which is holistic, investor friendly and market driven towards creating a conducive environment to attract global and domestic companies to invest towards the growing Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in India. This gives unique opportunity for companies to consider India as a destination in ESDM sector and be part of the next largest Electronic Manufacturing Hub of the world and also provide value added manufacturing involving medium and high technologies.

Significant progress has been made by Government of India to establish the strong foundation for the (NPE) 2012 framework. This will help for value added manufacturing involving medium and high technologies. The highlights of the policy initiative taken by Government of India include:

Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPs) subsidy of 25% of capital expenditure (20% in SEZs) is available and all excise/CVD paid on capital equipment is reimbursed.
Electronic Manufacturing Clusters Scheme which provides 50% of the cost for development of infrastructure and common facilities in Greenfield clusters (undeveloped or underdeveloped area from electronic manufacturing point of view) and 75% of the cost for Brownfield clusters (area where a significant number of existing EMC exists). Land can be made readily available in several of the new Electronic Manufacturing Clusters being supported by the Government of India. Currently around 30 Electronic Manufacturing clusters are notified and GoI is targeting for 200 Electronic Manufacturing clusters by 2020.
Preference to domestically manufactured goods in Government procurement. Extent of government procurement will not be less than 30%. Around 30 electronic products are already notified under this scheme.
Export of domestically manufactured Set top boxes and other electronic products are eligible for 2-5 % incentive in Focus Product Scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy.
Electronic Development Funds for Research & Development and Innovation in Electronics sector is under active consideration to support start-ups in electronics and IP generation in the area of electronics.
Department has accorded approval for setting up of two semiconductor wafer Fabrication (FAB) manufacturing facilities in the country.
To promote greater research in electronics and IT, Government of India will fund PhD students in Universities across the country for research in industry specific needs. 3000 PhDs will be generated through this program in the area of electronics & IT/ITES.
Providing opportunities for skill development for the private sector through two Sector Skills Councils- Telecom and Electronics. Under the scheme for providing support for skill development, Government of India provides 75% to 100% of training cost for industry specific skills for skilled and semi-skilled workers.
Opportunities for investment in testing laboratory infrastructure under the mandatory standards regime brought in force.
Several State Governments, including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have already announced complementary incentives as part of their State Electronic Policies. Electronic Manufacturing Clusters have been announced by states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Kerala. Other states are also in process of taking similar initiatives, thereby offering a host of incentives and facilities for ESDM investors.
In addition, to recognize and motivate the Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) sector, the Government of India (GoI) has announced a national scheme for the sector. The Scheme aims at providing financial support to MSMEs to promote manufacturing, to build quality into Indian manufacturing & also to encourage exporters. The support under the Scheme will be provided in the form of reimbursement to the manufacturers in the MSMEs. The scheme for providing financial support as Grant in Aid is expected to benefit the manufacturers, domestic industry, exporters in the electronics sector. This will also assist to attract value added manufacturing involving medium and high technologies. The Scheme will provide GIA for the following activities:

Reimbursement of expenses relating to compliance of electronic goods with "Indian Standards" notified by DeitY. The total GIA for one model is limited to `1 Lakh, only for 200 models (maximum).
Reimbursement of expenses for testing and certification required for export. The total GIA under the Scheme for one model is `1.25 Lac , 800 models (maximum).
Development of Electronic Manufacturing Clusters by MSMEs for diagnostic study, soft intervention and for preparing Detailed Project Reports, etc. The Total GIA available under this Section of the Scheme for Development of Clusters of `10 Lac /Cluster (max) would be available for setting up of 20 Clusters.

All these incentives are available for electronics design and manufacturing unit. This is also available for relocation of manufacturing plant from foreign country. Some of the sector includes Semiconductor FAB, Telecom products, LED FAB and products, automotive electronics, Semiconductor ATMPs, Consumer Electronics and Appliances, Hand-held devices including Smartphone and Tablets, Strategic Electronics, EMC, Avionics and Medical Electronics etc. The product based R&D expenditure has also been included under MSIPS.

The details of these policies can be referred at department's Website: www.deity.gov.in/esdm (link is external).

PILLAR 8. IT for jobs

This pillar focuses on providing training to the youth in the skills required for availing employment opportunities in the IT/ITES sector. There are eight components with specific scope of activities under this pillar:

IT Trainings to people in smaller towns and villages
The target of this component is to train one crore students from smaller towns & villages for IT sector jobs over 5 years. DeitY is the nodal department for this scheme.
IT/ITES in Northeastern States
This component focuses on setting up BPOs in every north-eastern state to facilitate ICT enabled growth in these states. DeitY is the nodal department for this scheme.
Training Service Delivery Agents
The focus is on training three lakh service delivery agents as part of skill development to run viable businesses delivering IT services. DeitY is the nodal department for this scheme.
Training Rural Workforce on Telecom and Telecom related services
This component focuses on training of five lakh rural workforce the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to cater to their own needs. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is the nodal department for this scheme.

North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS)

The Indian BPO industry has witnessed significant growth over the past years and India has gradually emerged as one of the preferred BPO destinations globally. Several factors including operational cost effectiveness, availability of skilled manpower and ever-increasing demand for employment opportunities have increasingly contributed to the growth of BPO industry in the country. However, the BPO industry has largely been concentrated in and around large (Tier-I) cities where skilled manpower drawn from various parts of the country including NE Region seek employment.

In large (Tier-I) cities, the recurring manpower cost to the company is considered to be higher particularly keeping in view the relatively higher cost of residential accommodation and larger travelling distance for employees. Thus, it would be prudent for a BPO Company to migrate to smaller (Tier-II/III) cities including those in North Eastern Region, as it would result in significantly reduced manpower related expenses and thus making its operations far more profitable. It is understood that key concerns for setting up of BPO operations in the N.E. Region are related to various issues including reliable internet connectivity and power supply.

PILLAR 9. EARLY HARVEST PROGRAMMES

Early Harvest Programme basically consists of those projects which are to be implemented within short timeline.

IT Platform for Messages - A mass messaging application has been developed by DeitY that will cover elected representatives and all Government employees. Over 1.36 crore mobiles and 22 lakh emails are part of the database. The portal was released on 15th August 2014. Data collection and data sanitization are ongoing processes.

Government Greetings to be e-Greetings - A basket of e-Greeting templates have been made available. Crowd sourcing of e-Greetings through the MyGov platform has been ensured. Crowd sourcing has also been used to create designs for Independence Day, Teachers' Day and Gandhi Jayanti greetings. E-Greetings portal has been made live on 14th August 2014.

Biometric attendance - It will cover all Central Government offices in Delhi to begin with. Over 40,000 Government employees from 150 organisations have already registered on the common Bio-metric attendance portal at http://attendance.gov.in.(link is external) Over 1000 bio-metric attendance terminals are under installation at entry gates of various Central Government buildings which will be connected with Wi-Fi Access points and mobile connectivity. Government employees will be able to mark their attendance from any of the central Government offices in Delhi.

Wi-Fi in All Universities - All universities on the National Knowledge Network (NKN) shall be covered under this scheme. Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is the nodal ministry for implementing this scheme.

Secure Email within Government - Email would be the primary mode of communication within government. The government e-mail infrastructure would be suitably enhanced and upgraded. Upgradation of the infrastructure under Phase-I for 10 lakh employees has already been completed. Under Phase-II, infrastructure would be further upgraded to cover 50 lakh employees by March 2015 at a cost of Rs.98 Cr. DeitY is the nodal department for this scheme.

Standardize Government Email Design - Standardised templates for Government email would be prepared. This is being implemented by DeitY.

Public Wi-fi hotspots - Cities with population of over 1 million and tourist centres would be provided with public wi-fi hotspots to promote digital cities. The scheme would be implemented by DoT and Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).

School Books to be eBooks - All books shall be converted into eBooks. Ministry of HRD/ DeitY are the nodal agencies for this scheme.

SMS based weather information, disaster alerts - SMS based weather information and disaster alerts would be provided. DeitY's Mobile Seva Platform has been made available for this purpose. Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) (India Meteorological Department - IMD)/ Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) (National Disaster Management Authority - NDMA) would be the nodal organizations for implementing this scheme.

National Portal for Lost & Found children - This would facilitate real time information gathering and sharing on the lost and found children and would go a long way to check crime and improve timely response. The portal is being redesigned with the following features:

Enhance citizen participation through mobile apps
Mobile / SMS alert system for police (Child Welfare Officer)
Better navigation plan for citizens
Facility to integrate child services
Using social media to popularize the system / web portal
DeitY and Department of Women and Child Development (DoWCD) are the nodal departments for this project.

UMANG

PT's IAS Academy, PT education, IAS, CSE, UPSC, Prelims, Mains, exam coaching, exam prep, Civil Services test

UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is envisaged to make

e-governance. It is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive Mobile Governance in India.

UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services.

UMANG intends to provide major services offered by Central and State Government departments, Local bodies and other utility services from private organizations. It provides a unified approach where citizens can install one application to avail multiple government services.

UMANG service has been made available on multiple channels like mobile application, web, IVR and SMS which can be accessed through smartphones, feature phones, tablets and desktops. UMANG has been created with a thought to add convenience to your lifestyle. UMANG will revolutionize the way how an Indian citizen avails government services today, because it leverages the current accelerated internet and smartphone penetration in our country.

DIGILOCKER

Targeted at the idea of paperless governance, DigiLocker is a platform for issuance and verification of documents & certificates in a digital way, thus eliminating the use of physical documents. Indian citizens who sign up for a DigiLocker account get a dedicated cloud storage space that is linked to their Aadhaar (UIDAI) number. Organizations that are registered with Digital Locker can push electronic copies of documents and certificates (e.g. driving license, Voter ID, School certificates) directly into citizens lockers. Citizens can also upload scanned copies of their legacy documents in their accounts. These legacy documents can be electronically signed using the eSign facility.

The platform has the following benefits:

Citizens can access their digital documents anytime, anywhere and share it online. This is convenient and time saving.
It reduces the administrative overhead of Government departments by minimizing the use of paper.
Digital Locker makes it easier to validate the authenticity of documents as they are issued directly by the registered issuers.
Self-uploaded documents can be digitally signed using the eSign facility (which is similar to the process of self-attestation).

The following are the key stakeholders in the DigiLocker system:

Issuer: Entity issuing e-documents to individuals in a standard format and making them electronically available e.g. CBSE, Registrar Office, Income Tax department, etc.

Requester: Entity requesting secure access to a particular e-document stored within a repository (e.g. University, Passport Office, Regional Transport Office, etc.)

Resident: An individual who uses the Digital Locker service based on Aadhaar number.

The main technology components of the DigiLocker system are:

Repository: Collection of e-documents that is exposed via standard APIs for secure, real-time access.

Access Gateway: Secure online mechanism for requesters to access e-documents from various repositories in real-time using URI (Uniform Resource Indicator).

DigiLocker Portal: Dedicated cloud based personal storage space, linked to each resident’s Aadhaar for storing e-documents, or URIs of e-documents.

MISSION MODE PROJECTS (MMPs)

A mission mode project (MMP) is an individual project within the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) that focuses on one aspect of electronic governance, such as banking, land records or commercial taxes etc.

Within NeGP, "mission mode" implies that projects have clearly defined objectives, scopes, and implementation timelines and milestones, as well as measurable outcomes and service levels.

NeGP comprises 31 mission mode projects (MMPs), which are further classified as state, central or integrated projects. Each state government can also define five MMPs specific to its individual needs.

INFRASTRUCTURE Projects List

AADHAAR : Aadhaar identity platform is one of the key pillars of ‘Digital India’, wherein every resident of the country is provided with a unique identity or Aadhaar number. The largest biometrics based identification system in the world, Aadhaar is a strategic policy tool for social and financial inclusion, public sector delivery reforms, managing fiscal budgets, increase convenience and promote hassle-free people-centric governance. It is unique and robust enough to eliminate duplicate or fake identities and may be used as a basis/primary identifier to roll out several Government welfare schemes and programmes for effective service delivery thereby promoting transparency and good governance. Website.https://uidai.gov.in/beta/

BHARAT BROADBAND NETWORK (BBNL) : Bharat Broadband Network Limited is a special purpose vehicle set up under Companies Act by Government of India with an authorized capital of Rs. 1000 Cr. It has been mandated to create the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) in India. A total of around 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats spread over 6,600 Blocks and 641 Districts are to be covered by laying incremental fiber. Website.http://www.bbnl.nic.in/index.aspx

CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE FOR INTERNET OF THINGS (COE-IT) : The Centre of Excellence for IoT was announced as a part of the Digital India Initiative to jump start the IOT ecosystem taking advantage of India's IT strengths and help the country attain a leadership role in the convergent area of hardware and software. The main objective of the center is to create innovative applications and domain capability. Additionally, the center will help build industry capable talent, start-up community and an entrepreneurial ecosystem for IOT. Website.http://www.coe-iot.in/

CERT-IN : CERT-In was formed with an aim to secure Indian cyber space. CERT-In provides Incident Prevention and Response services as well as Security Quality Management Services. CERT-In has been designated under Section 70B of Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 to serve as the national agency to perform the following functions in the area of cyber security:

Collection, analysis and dissemination of information on cyber incidents
Forecast and alerts of cyber security incidents
Emergency measures for handling cyber security incidents
Coordination of cyber incident response activities
Issue guidelines, advisories, vulnerability notes and whitepapers relating to information security practices, procedures, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents Website.http://www.cert-in.org.in/

CSC 2.0 : CSC 2.0 aims to establish a self sustaining network of 2.5 lakh CSC centres at Gram Panchayat (GP) level under Digital India and deliver various citizen centric services. It is envisaged as transaction-based and service delivery-based model, delivering a large bouquet of e-services through a single delivery platform, which would increase the sustainability of the CSCs across the Country. The project proposes to strengthen the CSC network by ensuring standardization of service availability and ensuring capacity building of all stakeholders involved. Website.https://csc.gov.in/

CYBER SWACHHTA KENDRA : Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) is a part of the Government of India's Digital India initiative to create a secure cyber space by detecting botnet infections in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end users so as to prevent further infections. It is set up in accordance with the objectives of the ‘National Cyber Security Policy’, which envisages creating a secure cyber eco system in the country. This centre operates in close coordination and collaboration with Internet Service Providers and Product/Antivirus companies.

Website.http://www.cyberswachhtakendra.gov.in/

DEEN DAYAL UPADHYAYA GRAM JYOTI YOJANA : One of the flagship programmes of the Power Ministry (MoP), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) is designed to provide continuous power supply to the entire rural India. With this scheme, the government had decided to electrify 18,452 unelectrified villages within 1000 days, by May 1, 2018. The DDUGJY can benefit rural households significantly as electricity is extremely vital for growth and development of the country. Website.http://www.ddugjy.in/

DIGILOCKER : DigiLocker is the Indian Government’s flagship program aimed at transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. DigiLocker ties into Digital India’s visions areas of providing citizens a shareable private space on a public cloud and making all documents/certificates available on this cloud. Targeted at the idea of paperless governance, DigiLocker is a platform for issuance and verification of documents & certificates in a digital way, thus eliminating the use of physical documents. Website.https://digilocker.gov.in/

DIGISEVAK- VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (VMS) : DigiSevak is an online volunteering platform for interested citizens who want to contribute to the success of Digital India program. Various government department and agencies can create volunteering tasks and volunteers can choose tasks based on their skills and interest areas. The platform provides means for end-to-end execution of a volunteering task, right from registration of volunteers to creation of tasks, evaluation of tasks and rewards & recognition of contribution by volunteers. Website.http://digisevak.gov.in/

DIGITAL SAKSHARTA ABHIYAAN (DISHA) : The Digital Saksharta Abhiyan or National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) Scheme has been formulated to impart IT training to 52.5 lakh persons, including Anganwadi, ASHA workers and authorised ration dealers in all the States/UTs across the country. The initiative aims at training non-IT literate citizens to become IT literate to enable their active and effective participation in the democratic, developmental process, and enhance their livelihood too. Website.http://www.ndlm.in/

DIGITIZE INDIA : Digitize India Platform (DIP) is an initiative of the Government of India under the Digital India Programme to provide digitization services for scanned document images or physical documents for any organization. The aim is to digitize and make usable all the existing content in different formats and media, languages, digitize and create data extracts for document management, IT applications and records management. Website.https://digitizeindia.gov.in/

DIRECT BENEFIT TRANSFER (DBT) : DBT was initiated with the aim to reform Government delivery system by re-engineering the existing process in welfare schemes for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and to ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de-duplication and reduction of fraud. DBT will bring efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability in the Government system and infuse confidence of citizen in the governance. Use of modern technology and IT tools will realize the dream of MAXIMUM GOVERNANCE MINIMUM GOVERNMENT. Website.https://dbtbharat.gov.in/

eBASTA : In line with the Government's Digital India initiative, this project has created a framework to make school books accessible in digital form as e-books to be read and used on tablets and laptops. The main idea is to bring various publishers (free as well as commercial) and schools together on one platform. In addition to the portal, a back-end framework to facilitate the organization and easy management of such resources has been developed, along with the web-based applications that can be installed on tablets for navigating the framework. Website.https://www.ebasta.in/

ELECTRONIC DEVELOPMENT FUND (EDF) : As part of the ‘Digital India’ agenda of the Government, and to develop the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in order to achieve ‘Net Zero Imports’ by 2020 and to look at India as their next destination to cater to the domestic Indian demand as well as act as an exports hub in the ESDM sector. It is with this objective that an Electronic Development Fund (EDF) is set up as a "Fund of Funds" to participate in professionally managed "Daughter Funds" which in turn will provide risk capital to companies developing new technologies in the area of electronics, nano-electronics and Information Technology (IT). Website.http://www.edfindia-canbankventure.com/

eSIGN : eSign is an online electronic signature service which can be integrated with service delivery applications via an open API to facilitate an Aadhaar holder to digitally sign a document. Using authentication of the Aadhaar holder through Aadhaar e-KYC service, online electronic signature service is facilitated.

Website.http://cca.gov.in/

ESSO-INDIAN NATIONAL CENTER FOR OCEAN INFORMATION SERVICES : ESSO-INCOIS was established as an autonomous body in 1999 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and is a unit of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO). ESSO- INCOIS is mandated to provide the best possible ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and the scientific community through sustained ocean observations and constant improvements through systematic and focussed research. Website.http://www.incois.gov.in/portal/index.jsp

eTRADE : The Department of Commerce is pursuing the project eTRADE, the purpose of which is to facilitate foreign trade in India by way of promoting effective and efficient delivery of services by various regulatory / facilitating agencies involved in foreign trade so as to enable the trade to avail services from these agencies in online environment. Website.http://etrade.gov.in/project.aspx

GARV GRAMEEN VIDYUTIKARAN MOBILE APP : The mobile application provides real-time updated data of ongoing electrification process to all users/stakeholders and provides information about Government schemes and electrification data. The app can also be used for sharing inspirational stories of differently-abled, who achieved success despite all odds. Website.http://garv.ddugjy.in/

GOVERNMENT eMARKETPLACE : Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is single window solution for online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Departments / Organizations / PSUs. GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement. It also provides the tools for direct purchase, e-bidding and reverse e-auction to facilitate the government users to achieve the best value for the money. The portal offers online registration facilities for all stakeholders namely Government Users, Product Sellers and Service Providers. Website.https://gem.gov.in/

HERITAGE CITY DEVELOPMENT AND AUGMENTATION YOJANA (HRIDAY) : The Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, launched the National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) scheme on 21st January, 2015, with a focus on holistic development of heritage cities. The scheme aims to preserve and revitalise soul of the heritage city to reflect the city’s unique character by encouraging aesthetically appealing, accessible, informative & secured environment. Website.http://hridayindia.in/

INTEGRATED HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM (IHIP) : An Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) is being setup by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The primary objective of IHIP is to enable the creation of standards compliant Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of the citizens on a pan-India basis along with the integration and interoperability of the EHRs through a comprehensive Health Information Exchange (HIE) as part of this centralized accessible platform. Website.https://www.nhp.gov.in/

IRCTC CONNECT : In order to cater to the growing demand of passengers to make the ticketing application more user-friendly and faster, IRCTC Connect was developed. The new app with several add-on features is based on the next generation e-ticketing system. Synchronised with the ticketing website, the app facilitates search and book train tickets, check existing reservations or cancel them, and get upcoming journey alerts. Website.https://www.irctc.co.in/eticketing/loginHome.jsf

JEEVAN PRAMAAN : Jeevan Pramaan is a biometric enabled digital service for pensioners of Central Government, State Government or any other Government organization. The new service aims to streamline the process of issuing life certificate and make it a hassle-free experience for the pensioners. With this initiative the pensioner’s requirement to physically present him/her in front of the disbursing agency or the certification authority will become a thing of the past benefiting the pensioners in a huge way and cutting down on unnecessary logistical hurdles. Website.https://jeevanpramaan.gov.in/

MEGHRAJ : In order to utilise and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing, Government of India has embarked upon an ambitious initiative - "GI Cloud" which has been named as 'MeghRaj'. The focus of this initiative is to accelerate delivery of e-services in the country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government. This will ensure optimum utilization of the infrastructure and speed up the development and deployment of eGov applications. Website.https://cloud.gov.in/index.php

MOBILE SEVA APP STORE : A mobile applications store (m-AppStore) has been created to facilitate the process of development and deployment of suitable mobile applications for delivery of public services through mobile devices. The m-AppStore store is integrated with the MSDG and it shall use the MSDG infrastructure for deployment of such applications. The m-AppStore is based on service oriented architecture and cloud based technologies using open standards as far as practicable. Website.https://apps.mgov.gov.in/index.jsp

NATIONAL SUPER COMPUTING MISSION (NSM) : National Super Computing Mission has been envisaged to empower the national academic and R&D institutions, spread across the country, by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities. These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network (NKN). Website.https://nsmindia.in

OPEN DATA : Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India - data.gov.in - is a platform for supporting Open Data initiative of Government of India. The portal is intended to be used by Government of India Ministries/ Departments their organizations to publish datasets, documents, services, tools and applications collected by them for public use. It intends to increase transparency in the functioning of Government and also open avenues for many more innovative uses of Government Data to give different perspective. Website.https://data.gov.in/

RAPID ASSESSMENT SYSTEM : National e-Governance Division, a division of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has developed a Rapid Assessment System (RAS) for continuous feedback for e-services delivered by Government of India and State Governments. This system has multiple channels for receiving feedback and is backed by analytics. These analytics will help integrated departments for continuous system improvement and better governance.

Website.http://ras.gov.in/

SINGLE WINDOW INTERFACE FOR TRADE (SWIFT) : As part of the “Ease of Doing Business” initiatives, the Central Board of Excise & Customs, Government of India has taken up implementation of the Single Window Project to facilitate the Trading Aross Borders in India. The 'India Customs Single Window' would allow importers and exporters, the facility to lodge their clearance documents online at a single point only. Required permissions, if any, from other regulatory agencies would be obtained online without the trader having to approach these agencies. The Single Window Interface for Trade (SWIFT), would reduce interface with Governmental agencies, dwell time and the cost of doing business. Website.https://www.icegate.gov.in/SWIFT/

STATE WIDE AREA NETWORK : The Government had approved the Scheme for establishing State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) across the country, in March, 2005 to be expended by the Department under Grant-in-Aid of Rs. 2,005 crore, over a period of five years. Under this Scheme, technical and financial assistance are being provided to the States/UTs for establishing SWANs to connect all State/UT Headquarters up to the Block level via District/ sub-Divisional Headquarters, in a vertical hierarchical structure with a minimum bandwidth capacity of 2 Mbps per link. Website.http://meity.gov.in/content/state-wide-area-network-swan

SERVICES Projects List

ACCESSIBLE INDIA CAMPAIGN MOBILE APP : Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan or Accessible India Campaign is a nation-wide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility that enables people with disabilities to gain access for equal opportunity, live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life in an inclusive society. The campaign targets at enhancing the accessibility of built environment, transport system and Information and communication ecosystem. The mobile application is a crowd sourcing platform to comprehensively obtain information on inaccessible places across the country. The mobile application is available on IOS, Android and Windows platform and can be downloaded from the respective App Stores. Website.http://accessibleindia.gov.in/content/

AGRIMARKET APP : The mobile application has been developed with an aim to keep farmers abreast with the crop prices and discourage them to carry-out distress sale. Farmers can get information related to prices of crops in markets within 50km of their own device location using the AgriMarket Mobile App. This app automatically captures the location of the farmers using mobile GPS and fetches the market prices of crops which fall within the range of 50km. The prices of agri commodities are sourced from the Agmarknet portal. Currently, the apps is available in English and Hindi languages. Website.http://mkisan.gov.in/downloadmobileapps.aspx

BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO : The campaign aims at ensuring girls are born, nurtured and educated without discrimination to become empowered citizens of this country. The Campaign interlinks National, State and District level interventions with community level action in 100 districts, bringing together different stakeholders for accelerated impact. The initiatives youtube channel show various videos related to the campaign. Website.http://wcd.nic.in/BBBPScheme/main.htm

BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) : Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is an app that makes payment transactions simple, easy and quick using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). It enables direct bank to bank payments instantly and collect money using a Mobile number or Payment address. Bharat Interface for Money app is currently available on Android and it is downloadable from Google Playstore, for smart phones. Website.http://www.npci.org.in/

CRIME AND CRIMINAL TRACKING NETWORK & SYSTEMS (CCTNS) : Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) is a plan scheme conceived in the light of experience of a non-plan scheme namely - Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA). CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through adopting of principle of e-Governance and creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled-state-of-the-art tracking system around 'Investigation of crime and detection of criminals'.

Website.http://www.ncrb.gov.in/BureauDivisions/CCTNS/cctns.htm

CROP INSURANCE MOBILE APP : Crop Insurance mobile app can be used to calculate the Insurance Premium for notified crops based on area, coverage amount and loan amount in case of loanee farmer. It can also be used to get details of normal sum insured, extended sum insured, premium details and subsidy information of any notified crop in any notified area. Website. http://mkisan.gov.in/downloadmobileapps.aspx

DIGITAL AIIMS : The first step in the Digital AIIMS project was taken in January 2015 with the creation of an effective linkage between AIIMS, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY). A unique health identification number for every patient visiting AIIMS was generated on an Aadhar platform. The Unique Health Identification Number gave every Patient visiting AIIMS a Digital Identity.

Website.http://ehospital.nic.in/ehospital/

e-GRANTHALAYA : e-Granthalaya is an Integrated Library Management Software developed by National Informatics Centre,(NIC), Department of Electronics & Information Technology. The application is useful for automation of in-house activities of libraries and to provide various online member services. The software provides built-in Web OPAC interface to publish the library catalogue over Internet. The software is UNICODE Compliant, thus, supports data entry in local languages. Website.http://egranthalaya.nic.in/

E-PANCHAYAT : e-Panchayat is an e-Governance initiative for the rural sector providing comprehensive software solution attempting automation of Gram Panchayat functions. It is a platform for panchayat representatives to connect with rest of the world, which aims to bring out the local voices by empowering the local communities to showcase and share local social, cultural and economic practices, stories and challenges. Website.http://epanchayat.in/

Ebiz : eBiz is being implemented by Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys) under the guidance and aegis of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. The focus of eBiz is to improve the business environment in the country by enabling fast and efficient access to Government-to-Business (G2B) services through an online portal. This will help in reducing unnecessary delays in various regulatory processes required to start and run businesses. Website.https://www.ebiz.gov.in/home/

ECI EVM TRACKING : It is a GPRS based mobile application for ECI Officials to scan barcode on EVM machines (BU or CU or VVPAT), which is used in Polls.

Website.https://apps.mgov.gov.in/descp.do?appid=217

eDISTRICT : The e-District Mission Mode Project (MMP) is envisaged to strengthen the district administration of the state by providing ICT support to the participating departments and district administration in terms of providing centralized software application for selected category of citizen services and training for staff of the departments with a view to improve delivery of the citizen services being rendered by these departments. Services developed under e-District project would be delivered through various delivery channels like:

Direct access by Citizens through e-District portal as a registered user.
Existing Atal Jana Snehi Kendra's / B1 / K1 service centres.
Common Service Centres (To be established upto Grama Panchayat Level). Website.https://edistrict.gov.in/

eGREETINGS : eGreetings portal aims to promote a contemporary and eco-friendly method of sharing greetings by Government officials and agencies as well as citizens to colleagues and friends for National Holidays and other national occasions. The portal allows users to select and send greetings from multiple occasion-specific templates. Government Departments can also customize the greetings by adding tag-lines and messages related to their programmes and schemes. Website.https://egreetings.gov.in/

eHOSPITAL : e-Hospital@NIC (link sends e-mail) is an open source health information management system ( HMIS) which is configurable and easily customizable with multi-tenancy support. It is designed to deploy in cloud infrastructure to manage multiple hospitals seamlessly. The generic application addresses all major functional areas of a hospital. A workflow based HL7 complient and ISO/IEC 9126 certified end-to-end solution Software for hospital management which covers complete treatment cycle of OPD/IPD as well integrates clinical, administrative, and billing/ insurance activities. Website.http://ehospital.nic.in/ehospital/

eMSIPS : The electronic MSIPS (e-MSIPS) Application System enables online submission and scrutiny of applications submitted to the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPS) and Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) schemes. All registered users can submit their applications in the system, using the forms designed for the same. The system will enable online scrutiny of applications and online generation of responses to the applicant. The applicants can view the response in the system.

eNAM : National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee) mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. The NAM Portal provides a single window service for all APMC related information and services. This includes commodity arrivals and prices, buy and sell trade offers and provision to respond to trade offers, among other services. While material flow (agriculture produce) continues to happen through mandis, an online market reduces transaction costs and information asymmetry.

Website.http://www.enam.gov.in/NAM/home/index.html

eOFFICE : The eOffice product aims to support governance by ushering in more effective and transparent inter and intra-government processes. The vision of e-Office is to achieve a simplified, responsive, effective and transparent working of all government offices. The Open Architecture on which eOffice has been built, makes it a reusable framework and a standard reusable product amenable to replication across the governments, at the central, state and dis trict levels. The product brings together the independent functions and systems under a single framework. Website.https://eoffice.gov.in/

ePATHSHALA : Developed by NCERT, ePathshala for showcasing and disseminating all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals and a variety of other print and non-print materials through website and mobile app. The platform addresses the dual challenge of reaching out to a diverse clientele and bridging the digital divide (geographical, socio-cultural and linguistic), offering comparable quality of e-contents. All the concerned stakeholders such as students, teachers, educators and parents can access e-books through multiple technology platforms i.e. mobile phones (android, iOS and Windows platforms), and tablets (as e-pub) and on web through laptops and desktops (as flipbooks). Website.http://epathshala.nic.in/

EPFO WEB PORTAL & MOBILE APP : The web portal for Employees' Provident Funds Ordinance allows employees to check their EPF balance through an ePassbook which is an online version of their physical passbook. The mobile app allows the members to activate their UAN accounts from the comfort of their mobile phones and can also access their accounts for viewing their monthly credits through the passbook as well view their details available with EPFO. Similarly the EPF pensioners have been given the facility to access their pension disbursement details through this mobile app. Likewise, the employer can also view their remittance details.

Website.http://epfindia.gov.in/site_en/

ePRISON : The Scope of this project is to computerize and integrate all the activities related to prison and prisoner management in the jail. This application suite will provide the vital information about the inmates, lodged in the prisons, in real time environment to the prison officials and other entities, involved in Criminal Justice System. It will also facilitate online visit request and grievance redressal. ePrisons application suite, developed by NIC, is cloud based product designed with easy to use GUI and embedded with a comprehensive security features. It can be easily adopted by any state prisons department with minimum customization efforts since all the possible customization features are parameterized and can be configured by the users. Website.http://eprisons.nic.in/NPIP/public/Home.aspx

ePROCUREMENT PORTAL (CPP) : The Central Public Procurement Portal of Government of India facilitates all the Central Government Organizations to publish their Tender Enquiries, Corrigendum and Award of Contract details. The primary objective of this portal is to provide a single p oint access to the information on procurements made across various central government organization. Website.https://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app

eSAMPARK : e-Sampark is a mechanism to connect the government directly with citizens across India by running mailer, outbound dialing and SMS campaigns. The platform is used for sharing informational and public service messages. The concept of e-Sampark has been introduced to establish proactive communication by digitization of campaigns. The multi-faceted platform facilitates not only seamless communication between the government and citizens, but also maintains a database of contacts of the nodal officers, representatives and citizens. In addition, users can also view the previous campaigns conducted. Website.https://sampark.gov.in

eTAAL : eTaal is a web portal for dissemination of e-Transactions statistics of National and State level e-Governance Projects including Mission Mode Projects. It receives transaction statistics from web based applications periodically on near real time basis. eTaal presents quick analysis of transaction counts in tabular and graphical form to give quick view of transactions done by various e-Governance projects.

eVISA : The Ministry of Tourism supported the initiative regarding the implementation of Tourist Visa on Arrival enabled with Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) (renamed as e-Tourist Visa) strongly and committed all support to Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Civil Aviation for implementing this programme. The e-Tourist Visa enables the prospective visitor to apply for an Indian Visa from his/her home country online without visiting the Indian Mission and also pay the visa fee online. Website.https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html

FARMER PORTAL : It is envisaged to make available relevant information and services to the farming community and private sector through the use of information and communication technologies, to supplement the existing delivery channels provided for by the department. Farmers’ Portal is an endeavour in this direction to create one stop shop for meeting all informational needs relating to Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries sectors production, sale/storage of an Indian farmer. With this Indian Farmer will not be required to sift through maze of websites created for specific purposes. Website.http://farmer.gov.in/

FERTILISER MONITORING SYSTEM (FMS) : The FMS software monitors movement of various fertilisers at various stages in their value chain. The website provides information on fertiliser companies dealing with these fertilisers, the rate of concession on each fertiliser, its MRPs and productwise / statewise details of despatch and receipts of fertilisers at different destinations across the country. Website.http://www.urvarak.co.in/

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) : Geographic Information System (GIS Software) is designed to store, retrieve, manage, display and analyze different types of geographic and spatial data, which allows users to produce maps and other graphic displays of geographic information for analysis and presentation and thus serves as a valuable tool to visualize spatial data and/or to build decision support systems for further use in any organization or research bodies. GIS stores data in geographical features and their characteristics; these features are typically classified as points, lines or areas, or as raster images. GIS stores information using spatial indices that make it possible to identify the features located in any arbitrary region of a map. Website.https://ncog.gov.in/

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA (GSI) : The Portal has been developed through the Online Core Business Integrated System Project (OCBIS). The objective behind the Portal is to provide a single window access to the information and services being provided by the GSI for the broad geoscientific community, citizens and other stakeholders. An attempt has been made through this Portal to provide comprehensive, accurate, reliable and single point source of information about GSI, its activities, achievements, geoscientific information and its various facets. Website.https://www.gsi.gov.in/

GOODS AND SERVICE TAX NETWORK (GSTN) : The GST System Project is a unique and complex IT initiative. It is unique as it seeks, for the first time to establish a uniform interface for the tax payer and a common and shared IT infrastructure between the Centre and States. The portal envisions becoming a trusted National Information Utility (NIU) which provides reliable, efficient and robust IT Backbone for the smooth functioning of the Goods & Services Tax regimen enabling economic agents to leverage the entire nation as One Market with minimal Indirect Tax compliance cost. Website.http://www.gstn.org/index.php

HIMMAT APP : Himmat is an initiative by Delhi police especially for women. Himmat is an emergency service, comprised of an android emergency application, which can send a distress call or emergency message to Delhi Police officials and specified contact or group in an emergency situation faced by a woman. The Police personnel will get these SOS alerts and locations on a portal and as a sms on their mobile phones as well. Website.http://54.169.6.175/#

ICDS SYSTEMS STRENGTHENING AND NUTRITION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (ISSNIP) : SSNIP is World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) assisted project, implemented by Ministry of Women Child Development in 162 high malnutrition burden districts in 8 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The objectives of the project is to support the Government of India and participating States to (i) strengthen the ICDS policy framework, systems and capacities, and facilitate community engagement, to ensure greater focus on children below three years of age; and (ii) strengthen convergent actions for improved nutrition outcomes. Website.http://wcd.nic.in/issnip/home.htm

KHOYA PAYA : The Khoya Paya portal is a citizen-based website to exchange information on missing and found children. It has been developed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY). The website is an enabling platform, where citizens can report missing children, as well as sightings of their whereabouts without wasting much time. The ‘Found’ children can also be reported on this web portal. The reporting can be done through text, photographs, videos and other means of transmitting and uploading information to the site. Website.http://khoyapaya.gov.in/mpp/home

KISAN SUVIDHA : Kisan Suvidha is an omnibus mobile app developed to help farmers get relevant information instantly. The app provide information on various details such as weather, market prices, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, agriculture machinery, dealers, agro advisories, plant protection and IPM practices etc. Other unique features like extreme weather alerts, market prices of commodity in nearest area and the maximum price in state as well as in India have been added to empower farmers in the best possible manner. Website.http://www.kisaansuvidha.com/

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (KMS) : Digital India Program envisions to ‘Transform India into a Digitally Empowered Society and Knowledge Economy’. To spearhead this vision, Knowledge Management Portal has been created to establish a culture where knowledge is captured, shared, created and reused. It provides a platform to leverage the transformation of data to knowledge by systematically aligning with the organizational goals and strategy. Website.https://kms.negd.in

LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LMS) : Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of electronic courses (e-learning) and training programs. As a capacity building tool, LMS facilitates efficient administration of e-learning and training for various government officials both at centre and states/union territories. It has the objective of enhancing knowledge and skills of users as per their roles envisaged in the e-Governance Competency Framework (eGCF). Website.https://lms.negd.in/

MADAD APP : Consular Services Management System (MADAD) has been setup for Indian Citizens to log and track Grievances pertaining to the Consular Services offered by the Indian Embassies (Missions/Posts) abroad. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) with a view to provide mobile enablement of MADAD, has launched MADAD Mobile Application on Android, iOS, and Windows platforms. Website.http://www.madad.gov.in/AppConsular/welcomeLink

mASSET : mAsset is a mobile based tool that act as a supplement application to capture details such as photo and Geo-coordinates of the Assets into National Asset Directory (NAD). Additionally, this application is also used to capture the details of Asset (Category, sub-category, name of the Asset, Photo & Geo-coordinates) which are not available in the NAD application. NAD is one of the applications developed under Panchayat Enterprise Suite under e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project.

Website.http://assetdirectory.gov.in/

MCA21 : The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India, has initiated the MCA21 project, which enables easy and secure access to MCA services in an assisted manner for corporate entities, professionals, and general public. The MCA21project is designed to fully automate all processes related to enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act, 1956. The project further seeks to achieve inter-operability with the National e-Governance Services Delivery Gateway (NSDG), which will help extend MCA services to businesses via multiple front-end delivery channels, and which will also help provide other value-added services over and above the base services offered by MCA21. Website.http://www.mca.gov.in

mCESSATION : Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, in partnership with World Health Organisation and the International Telecommunications Union, has started an initiative for utilising mobile technology for tobacco cessation. WHO-ITU’s ‘Be Healthy Be Mobile’ initiative, aims to reach out to tobacco users of all categories who want to quit tobacco use and support them towards successful quitting through constant text messaging on mobile phones. Website.http://www.nhp.gov.in/quit-tobacco

mKAVACH : MKavach is a comprehensive mobile device security solution with an emphasis and approach on protecting mobile device resources rather than scanning for malwares signatures. The major threats on mobile devices can be broadly categorized into data compromise, malicious applications, physical thefts and mis-utilization of hardware resources. M-Kavach is designed to provide protection against the above mentioned threats, through its features such as Secure Storage, Application Manager, Anti-Theft, Call/SMS filter and authorized access to device resources like WiFi, Bluetooth & Camera. Website.https://cdac.in/index.aspx?id=cs_eps_mkavach

mKISAN : mKisan SMS Portal has been conceptualised to give a quantum leap in coverage of farmers and geographical area in a timely, specific, holistic and need based knowledge dissemination among the farmers by leveraging the power of mobile telephony in such a way that all sectors use this platform to not only reach out to the farmers but also to address their concerns and queries. Website.http://mkisan.gov.in/

MOTHER & CHILD TRACKING SYSTEM (MCTS) : Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) is an initiative of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to leverage information technology for ensuring delivery of full spectrum of healthcare and immunization services to pregnant women and children up to 5 years of age. It facilitates and monitors service delivery and also establishes a two way communication between the service providers and beneficiaries.

Website.http://nrhm-mcts.nic.in/Home.aspx

mRAKTKOSH : The web-based mechanism interconnects all the Blood Banks of the State into a single network. The Integrated Blood Bank MIS refers the acquisition, validation, storage and circulation of various live data and information electronically regarding blood donation and transfusion service. Such system is able to assemble heterogeneous data into legible reports to support decision making from effective donor screening to optimal blood dissemination in the field.

Website.http://www.eraktkosh.in/

NATIONAL CAREER SERVICE PORTAL : A national ICT based portal has been developed, primarily to connect opportunities with the aspirations of the youth. This portal facilitates registration of job seekers, job providers, skill providers, career counsellors, etc. Additionally, it provides job matching services in a highly transparent and user-friendly manner. These facilities along with career counselling will be delivered by the portal through multiple channels like career centers, mobile devices, CSCs, etc. Website.https://www.ncs.gov.in/

NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK : National Knowledge Network (NKN) project is aimed at establishing a strong and robust Indian network which will be capable of providing secure and reliable connectivity. Globally, frontier research and innovation are shifting towards multidisciplinary and collaborative paradigm and require substantial communication and computational power. In India, NKN with its multi-gigabit capability aims to connect all universities, research institutions, libraries, laboratories, healthcare and agricultural institutions across the country to address such paradigm shift. Website.http://nkn.gov.in/home

NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP PORTAL (NSP) : NSP is a one-stop solution for end-to-end scholarship process right from the submission of student application, verification, sanction and disbursal to end beneficiary for all the scholarships provided by the Government of India. This initiative aims at providing a Simplified, Mission-oriented, Accountable, Responsive & Transparent 'SMART' System for faster & effective disposal of Scholarships applications and delivery of funds directly into beneficiaries account without any leakages. Website.http://scholarships.gov.in/

NATIONAL UJALA DASHBOARD : The initiative is part of the Government of India’s efforts to spread the message of energy efficiency in the country. UJALA scheme aims to promote efficient use of energy at the residential level; enhance the awareness of consumers about the efficacy of using energy efficient appliances and aggregating demand to reduce the high initial costs thus facilitating higher uptake of LED lights by residential users. Website.http://www.ujala.gov.in/

NATIONAL VOTERS SERVICE PORTAL (NVSP) : The portal was developed with an aim to provide single window service electors. Through NVSP, a user can avail and access various services such as access the electoral list, apply for voter id card, apply online for corrections in voter’s card, view details of Polling booth, Assembly Constituency and Parliamentary constituency, and get the contact details of Booth Level officer, Electoral Registration Officer, among other services.

Website.http://www.nvsp.in/

NIKSHAY : To monitor Revised National Tuberculosis Programme (RNTCP) effectively, a web enabled and case based monitoring application called NIKSHAY has been developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC). This is used by health functionaries at various levels across the country in association with Central TB Division (CTD), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. NIKSHAY covers various aspects of controlling TB using technological innovations. Apart from web based technology, SMS services have been used effectively for communication with patients and monitoring the programme on day to day basis. Website.http://nikshay.gov.in/User/Login.aspx

NIRBHAYA APP : Nirbhaya: Be Fearless© is an android emergency application, which can send a distress call or emergency message to a specified contact or group in an emergency situation faced by a woman or any other individual in general. Correct Location, Information and Communication, with and from the app is dependent upon the basic hardware/software requirements, like - Active Data plan, SMS plan, minimum talk time and active GPS functionality.

Website.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartcloud.nirbhaya&hl=en

ONLINE LABS (OLABS) : Online Labs (OLabs) for school lab experiments provides students with the ease and convenience of conducting experiments over the internet. It has been developed to supplement the traditional physical labs and bridge the constraints of time and geographical distances. This not only reduces the costs incurred for conducting experiments in real time but gives a student the flexibility to explore and repeat experiments till they are thorough. Website.http://www.olabs.edu.in/

PARIVAHAN PORTAL : The portal was launched to improve the quality of service delivery to the citizen and the quality of work environment of the RTOs. Its mission has been to automate all Vehicle Registration and Driving License related activities in transport authorities of country with introduction of smart card technology to handle issues like inter-state transport vehicle movement and to create state and national level registers of vehicles/DL information. The latest initiative has been to centralize both applications- VAHAN and SARATHI, for ensuring higher tranparency, security and reliability of operations through a countrywide unified database and provision of a highly citizen and trade centric web enabled environment. Website.https://parivahan.gov.in/parivahan/

PASSPORT SEVA PROJECT (PSP) :

Passport Seva enables simple, efficient and transparent processes for delivery of passport and related services. Apart from creating a countrywide networked environment for Government staff, it integrates with the State Police for physical verification of applicant's credentials and with India Post for delivery of passports. The Passport Seva Project is transforming passport and related services in India to provide a best-in-class experience to Indian citizens. PSP is enabling MEA to deliver passport services in a reliable, convenient and transparent manner, within defined service levels. Website.http://www.passportindia.gov.in/

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (PMIS) : Project Management and Information System (PMIS) has been developed in National eGovernance Division (NeGD) for Mission Mode Projects under e-Kranti.

PMIS is an integrated information system
PMIS offers information on cost, time and performance parameters of a project
PMIS is decision oriented
PMIS is capable of providing exception reports Website.http://pmis.negd.gov.in/

PROJECT MONITORING WEBSITE FOR ECOURTS : The website was planned to develop, deliver, install and implement automated decision-making and decision support system in 700 courts of Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata & Chennai; 900 courts in the 29 capital city courts of states and UTs and 13000 district and subordinate courts. The objective of the project was to help judicial administrations of the courts in streamlining their day-to-day activities. Website.http://ecourts.nic.in/

PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (PFMS) : PFMS initially started as a Plan scheme named CPSMS of the Planning Commission in 2008-09 as a pilot in four States of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Mizoram for four Flagship schemes e.g. MGNREGS, NRHM, SSA and PMGSY. After the initial phase of establishing a network across Ministries / Departments, it has been decided to undertake National rollout of CPSMS (PFMS) to link the financial networks of Central, State Governments and the agencies of State Governments. Website.https://cpsms.nic.in/

PUSA KRISHI : With the vision to take technology to the farm fields, Pusa Krishi application was developed. The app helps the farmers to find easy solutions to problems in their farm fields and get information about weather and accordingly take measures to save crops. It also offers information related to new varieties of crops developed by Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), resource conserving cultivation practices as well as farm machinery and its implementation will help in increasing returns to farmers. Website.http://agricoop.nic.in/recentinitiatives/mobile-apps-kisan-suvidha-and-pusa-krishi-launched

SARANSH : A CBSE Initiative, Saransh is a tool for comprehensive self-review and analysis for CBSE affiliated schools and parents. It enables them to analyze students' performance in order to take remedial measures. Saransh brings schools, teachers and parents closer, so that they can monitor the progress of students and help them improve their performance. Website.http://saransh.nic.in/?language=en

SHAALA DARPAN : KV Shaala Darpan is an e-Governance platform for all Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country. It aims to improve quality of learning, efficiency of school administration, governance of schools & service delivery to key stakeholders namely, students, parents, teachers, community and schools.

Website.https://darpan.kvs.gov.in/shaaladarpan/

Shala Siddhi : The National Programme on School Standards and Evaluation (NPSSE), known as Shaala Sidhdhi is a comprehensive instrument for school evaluation leading to school improvement. Developed by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), it aims to enable schools to evaluate their performance in a more focused and strategic manner and facilitate them to make professional judgments for improvement. Website.http://shaalasiddhi.nuepa.org/

SMS-BASED MID-DAY MEAL MONITORING SCHEME : Mid-Day Meal mobile app is meant for effective monitoring of daily and monthly mid-day meal data to be sent by the schools. The app provides additional data communicating mechanism for the MDM in-charge/teacher who has to send the daily/monthly data using SMS. The app, once installed on android device, does not need Internet to send MDM figures as user has option to send the figure through SMS from the app. This simplifies the job of MDM in-charge, who even does not have to remember the SMS formats. The higher authorities at Block, District and State level have a very simple and effective mechanism in shape of this app on their mobile devices for effective and efficient monitoring of daily as well as monthly data transmission by all the MDM in-charge falling under their jurisdiction. The authorities can send SMS alerts to all defaulters using single button available in the app. Website.http://mdm.nic.in/

SOIL HEALTH CARD : It aims at promoting Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) through judicious use of chemical fertilisers including secondary and micro nutrients in conjunction with organic manures and bio-fertilisers for improving soil health and its productivity; strengthening of soil and fertiliser testing facilities to provide soil test based recommendations to farmers for improving soil fertility; ensuring quality control requirements of fertilisers, bio-fertilisers and organic fertilisers under Fertiliser Control Order, 1985; upgradation of skill and knowledge of soil testing laboratory staff, extension staff and farmers through training and demonstrations; promoting organic farming practices etc. Website.http://www.soilhealth.dac.gov.in/

STARTUP INDIA PORTAL AND MOBILE APP : Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India, intended to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and Startups in the country that will drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. The Government through this initiative aims to empower Startups to grow through innovation and design. Website.http://www.startupindia.gov.in/

SUGAMAYA PUSTAKALYA : “Sugamaya Pustakalaya” is an online platform that makes accessible content available to print-disabled people. The library houses publications across diverse subjects and languages and multiple accessible formats. It has been created by Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in collaboration with member organizations of Daisy Forum of India and powered by TCS Access.

Website.https://library.daisyindia.org/NALP/welcomeLink.action

SWATCH BHAARAT app : The Swachhta Abhiyan has turned into a National Movement with citizens now becoming active participants in cleanliness activities across the nation. The dream of a ‘Clean India’ once seen by Mahatma Gandhi is being realized with millions of people across the country joining the cleanliness initiatives of the government departments, NGOs and local community centres to make India clean as a part of this ‘Jan Andolan’. Website.https://swachhbharat.mygov.in/

SWAYAM : SWAYAM seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.This is done through an indigenous developed IT platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from 9th class till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time. Website.https://swayam.gov.in

UDAAN : Udaan is a special initiative to address the needs of the educated unemployed in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). It is focused on youth of the state, who are graduate, post graduate and three year diploma engineers. The programme is designed to encourage corporates to travel to J&K meet with the youth and hire aspiring youth in J&K who wish to explore the opportunity to work with corporates. Udaan provides a framework of support to the youth to travel, undergo training in firms and transit to work. Website.http://nsdcudaan.com/

UMANG : UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-Age Governance) is one of the key initiatives under the Digital India program to develop a common, unified platform and mobile app to facilitate a single point of access to all government services. It is envisaged to act as a master application, which will integrate 200 applications which will offer around 1,200 services of various government departments of the Centre, states and local bodies, and even some important utility services from the private sector. Its primary aim is to abridge inconvenience faced by users in managing multiple mobile apps and facilitate a one-stop-solution to avail varied government services. Website.https://umang.gov.in

UN-RESERVED TICKET THROUGH MOBILE APPLICATION (UTS APP) : In order to promote paperless economy, Indian Railways has launched its new UTS on mobile application. This official android mobile ticketing app enables booking unreserved paperless journey ticket, issue/renew season ticket and platform ticket. The app has introduced two modes of booking mobile tickets-Paper Ticket and Paperless Ticket. Website.https://www.utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.in/RDS/

EMPOWERMENT Projects List

AADHAAR ENABLED PAYMENT SYSTEM : AEPS is a bank led model which allows online interoperable financial inclusion transaction at PoS (MicroATM) through the Business correspondent of any bank using the Aadhaar authentication. It is a payment service empowering a bank customer to use Aadhaar as his/her identity to access his/ her respective Aadhaar enabled bank account and perform basic banking transactions like balance enquiry, cash deposit, cash withdrawal, remittances through a Business Correspondent. Website.http://npci.org.in/home.aspx

BPO Scheme : The India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) seeks to incentivize establishment of 48,300 seats in respect of BPO/ITES operations across the country. It is distributed among each State in proportion of State's population with an outlay of Rs. 493 Crore. This would help in capacity building in smaller cities in terms of infra & manpower and would become basis for next wave of IT/ITES led growth. This scheme has potential to create employment opportunities of around 1.5 lakh direct jobs considering three shift operations. It may also create good number of indirect jobs. Website.https://ibps.stpi.in/

DigiDhan ABHIYAAN : The initiative plans to enable citizens and merchants to undertake real time digital transactions through the DIGIDHAN Bazaar.Through organising DigiDhan Mela’s across the country, it aims to handhold users in downloading, installing and using various digital payment systems for carrying out digital transactions. Website.https://digidhan.mygov.in/

MyGov : MyGov platform is a unique path breaking initiative which was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. It is a unique first-of-its-kind participatory governance initiative involving the common citizen at large. The idea of MyGov brings the government closer to the common man by the use of online platform creating an interface for healthy exchange of ideas and views involving the common citizen and experts with the ultimate goal to contribute to the social and economic transformation of India. Website.http://mygov.in

NATIONAL MISSION ON EDUCATION USING ICT : The National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) has been envisaged as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to leverage the potential of ICT, in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in Higher Education Institutions in any time any where mode. It is a landmark initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to address all the education and learning related needs of students, teachers and lifelong learners. Website.http://www.nmeict.ac.in/#

NORTH EAST BPO PROMOTION SCHEME (NEBPS) : The North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) has been approved under Digital India Programme, to incentivize BPO/ITES Operations in North East Region (NER) for creation of employment opportunities for the youths and growth of IT-ITES Industry. The objectives of NEBPS are as under:

Creation of employment opportunities for the local youth in NER, by promoting the IT/ITES Industry particularly by setting up the BPO/ITES operations.
Promotion of investment in IT/ITES Sector in NER in order to expand the base of IT Industry and secure balanced regional growth.

Website.http://meity.gov.in/nebps

NREGA-SOFT : NREGAsoft envisions implementing e-Governance across State, District and three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions. It empowers the common man using the information technology as a facilitator. NREGAsoft provides information to citizen in compliance with the right to information Act (RTI Act). It makes available all the documents like Muster Rolls, registration application register, job card/employment register/muster roll issue register, muster roll receipt register which are hidden from public otherwise. Website.http://www.nrega.net/ict/

OPEN FORGE : OpenForge is Government of India's platform for open collaborative development of e-governance applications. Through this platform, the government wants to promote the use of open source software and promote sharing and reuse of e-governance related source code. OpenForge has the following objectives:

To provide a platform for maintaining code repositories and version control for government source code
To promote a culture of open collaborative application development between public agencies and private organizations, citizens and institutions
To reduce development cycles and fasten the rollout of e-governance applications in the country
To deliver e-governance services and solutions of higher quality and security through increased transparency and mass peer review
To reduce e-governance project cost and bring down total cost of ownership through a system of reuse, remixing and sharing

Website.https://openforge.gov.in/

PAHAL (DBTL) : The PAHAL (DBTL) aims to reduce diversion and eliminate duplicate or bogus LPG connections. The scheme was earlier launched in 2013 and was modified in 2015. Under the PaHaL scheme, LPG cylinders are sold at market rates and entitled consumers get the subsidy directly into their bank accounts. This is done either through an Aadhaar linkage or a bank account linkage. Website.http://petroleum.nic.in/dbt/index.php

PAYGOV INDIA : A National Payment Service platform has been envisaged for a common e-Governance infrastructure that will offer end-to-end transactional experience for a citizen which includes accessing various services through internet with payment gateway interface for online payments. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology along with NSDL Database Management Ltd (NDML) created a common infrastructure that can be used by Center/States/Departments to offer various services through their National / State portals with a facility to make online payment using net banking, credit cards and debit cards.

Website.http://paygovindia.gov.in/

PRADHAN MANTRI GRAMIN DIGITAL SAKSHARTA ABHIYAAN : Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan is the scheme to make six crore persons in rural areas, across States/UTs, digitally literate, reaching to around 40% of rural households by covering one member from every eligible household by 31st March, 2019. The Scheme aims to bridge the digital divide, specifically targeting the rural population including the marginalised sections of society like Scheduled Castes (SC) / Scheduled Tribes (ST), Minorities, Below Poverty Line (BPL), women and differently-abled persons and minorities. Website.https://www.pmgdisha.in/

PRADHAN MANTRI JAN-DHAN YOJANA (PMJDY) : PMJDY is a National Mission on Financial Inclusion encompassing an integrated approach to bring about comprehensive financial inclusion of all the households in the country. The plan envisages universal access to banking facilities at least one basic banking account in every household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension facility. The initiative envisages channeling all Government benefits (from Centre / State / Local Body) to the beneficiaries’ accounts and pushing the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme of the Union Government.

Website.http://pmjdy.gov.in/

PRADHAN MANTRI KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA (PMKVY) : Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The objective of this Skill Certification Scheme is to enable a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood. Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Website.http://www.pmkvyofficial.org/Index.aspx

SMART CITIES : The Government of India launched the Smart Cities Mission in June 2015.Its objective is to promote sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a lighthouse to other aspiring cities. The Smart Cities Mission is meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalysing the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country. Website.http://smartcities.gov.in/content/

TARGETED PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (TPDS) : The Government of India launched the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) with focus on the poor. Under the TPDS, states were required to formulate and implement foolproof arrangements for the identification of the poor for delivery of foodgrains and for its distribution in a transparent and accountable manner at the FPS level. The scheme, when introduced, was intended to benefit about 6 crore poor families for whom a quantity of about 72 lakh tonnes of food grains was earmarked annually. Website.http://dfpd.nic.in/

VISVESVARAYA PHD SCHEME FOR ELECTRONICS AND IT : One of the key goals of the Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme is to encourage working professionals and non-PhD faculty members to pursue PhD in the ESDM & IT/ITES sectors as part-time candidates. It is envisioned that having part-time PhD students is likely to encourage the Industry-Academia interaction, help in the alignment of the R&D efforts between them and bring value to the country. Website.http://phd.medialabasia.in/

Join PT courses | PT Youtube | PT App | Contribute | Testimonials

PT's IAS Academy

Header$type=social_icons

UPSC IAS exam preparation - Governance in India - Lecture 11

Labels:

COMMENTS

SEARCH ON THIS SITE

UPSC IAS Preparation – Powerpack Course

ALL SECTIONS - BEGIN STUDYING

Join Civils Tapasya Family

POLITY$type=list-tab$date=1$au=0$com=0$count=7

ECONOMY$type=list-tab$date=1$au=0$com=0$count=7

UPSC IAS Preparation – Powerpack Course

ENV AND ECOLOGY$type=list-tab$date=1$au=0$com=0$count=7

REPORTS$type=list-tab$date=1$au=0$com=0$count=7

MOST READ RECENTLY

SEARCH ON THIS SITE

SOLVED PAPERS

UPSC IAS exam preparation - Governance in India - Lecture 11

SHARE:

SHARE:

Labels:

COMMENTS

SEARCH ON THIS SITE

UPSC IAS Preparation – Powerpack Course

ALL SECTIONS - BEGIN STUDYING

Join Civils Tapasya Family

POLITY$type=list-tab$date=1$au=0$com=0$count=7

ECONOMY$type=list-tab$date=1$au=0$com=0$count=7

UPSC IAS Preparation – Powerpack Course

ENV AND ECOLOGY$type=list-tab$date=1$au=0$com=0$count=7

REPORTS$type=list-tab$date=1$au=0$com=0$count=7

MOST READ RECENTLY

SEARCH ON THIS SITE

SOLVED PAPERS