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By Prashant Chaudhary: It is important that India marry technology and governance strategically to create better egovernance Until recently, most western countries thought of India as a land ruled by age old traditions, and foreigners visited the country to understand this. However, the 1990s saw India awakening to the world of economic liberalisation and undertook structural reforms that attracted foreign investments, unlocked entrepreneurial aptitude and led to the emergence of a neo middle class. Now, 20 years later, India still has a long way to go in terms of gaining economic stability and growth. Which is why the government’s ‘Digital India’ plan to empower each and every Indian, looks so promising. India is growing not only at the scale of knowledge, wealth and skills, it’s also undergoing a huge reformation concept, that is the concept of change in the connected economy by going digital in the true sense at the grassroot beyond the boundaries of metros. IT plays the new role of digitally connecting India, similar to the railways that connected the nation ages ago. The good news is, as a country, we are not only strategising but are also translating concepts into reality through appropriate policies, investments and engagement of stakeholders. The recent $120 million initiative is projected to churn large investments in electronics manufacturing, create millions of jobs and support trade. If we deep dive and take a look at our strength areas, there is a great potential of digital growth contribution through a younger population. India is home to 66 per cent of youth who are below the age of 35 years. Unlike matured economies like the US where the youngsters are digitally active, India has had its limitation due to infrastructural growth and appropriate governance to facilitate the need adoption. A country’s progress depends on its people but a majority of the Indians live in a state of digital darkness and hence it is of prime importance to bridge this gap in order to reap the benefits of a digitally enabled economy. Digital growth will empower people in various ways of education, employment and opportunities of business ultimately fulfilling economic needs that will prevent unprecedented migration to urban areas for job related purposes. A majority of the Indian population lives in the rural areas and does not have access to banking, government and health related benefits. A public-private consensus needs to be reached in order for the ‘Digital India’ plan to be a success so that both enterprises and people can thrive. IT inevitably is the key contributor ant supporter in the success of ‘Digital India’ mission and the primary driver of this is the push of mobile phone adoption, newer opportunities through the simplistic concept of applications (apps) touching lives of millions of Indians. From banking to e-commerce to media houses, every business has a newer app property which complements in multiple ways towards the realisation and need on being digitally active. With this boom in apps comes a need to facilitate software and solutions for every reformed application. The advent of the application economy boom coupled with mobility is at the backbone of the government’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ plan. By 2019, the government aims to empower every Indian by giving them a mobile phone and it is through the mobile that people across the nation can access government services, health and education benefits. The government recently announced the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, a financial inclusion plan. The need is to bring access to banking facilities at remote locations of the country, through the power of mobile. A click of a button can financially empower the villager through their mobile handsets. Today, mobiles and tablets have gone beyond being devices of communication and there have multiple usage in sectors like healthcare, where we can also enable people to access health facilities. This will allow people across areas to participate in the healthcare value system, something which wasn’t possible in the past but IT has enabled people to access these facilities. Though ‘Digital India’ has a host of benefits, India still has a long way to actually execute and achieve the ‘Digital India’ mission. One of the major challenges would be that of infrastructure. For a Rs 1 lakh crore project, the country will need massive infrastructure in terms of data centres to back up massive data. As a result, large chunks of investment will be needed to set up these data centers. Secondly, when it comes to IT, data security will be a prime area of concern. There is always a possibility of data being sabotaged and data theft is a major worry. According to a recent study, as high as 63 per cent of IT decision-makers admitted to delaying a project due to fear of security. Another major concern is the issue of creating a trained workforce who will be able to deal with the pros and cons of a digitalised workplace. To overcome these challenges, it is important that the policy makers, IT decision makers and senior government officials work in tandem and then only we will be able to realise our ‘Digital India’ dream. Such a massive project cannot be completed in one go and it is important that the government phases it out to ensure its completion and reach its target of 2019. We all know that the 19th century was a century of empires. The 20th century was a century of nation states. Now, the 21st century will be a century of smart cities that will be interconnected due to IT. With the right set of opportunities, it is important that India becomes a nation of change by strategically marrying technology and governance to create better egovernance which will lead to not only a Swachh Bharat but also a Shresht Bharat. (The author is senior director, sales, CA Technologies) Source: mydigitalfc.com |
