Digital India - A Programme to Transform India

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was approved by Govt. of India in year 2006 with a vision to “Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man.”

Under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), 31 Mission Projects were approved. Currently 24 Mission Mode Projects are operational and providing a wide range of services with an average of over 27 crore Transactions per month.

Despite the successful implementation of several e-Governance projects across the country, the Digital Governance / e-Governance could not make the desired impact for delivering the public services. Hence, a need was felt to enhance the scope and quality of e-Governance in the country by bringing in transformational government process reengineering, focusing on integrated services, interoperable systems and making best use of emerging technologies.

Govt. of India has now embarked upon an ambitious programme called ‘Digital India’ with a vision to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of Information Technology. The goal is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. In order to achieve its objective, the ‘Digital India’ Programme is centered on three key areas, namely, “Infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen”, “Governance and Services on Demand” and “Digital Empowerment of Citizens”. Digital India Programme aims to provide the much needed thrust through the nine pillars of growth areas in the country, 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. Majority of the initiatives under ‘Digital India’ programme is set to be realized within next three years.

‘Digital India’ programme would build holistic capabilities across IT infrastructure, Electronic manufacturing, Software services and Delivery platforms, IT skill sets and Job creation, etc., which in turn will lead to the creation of a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The focus is on providing easy access of services to the citizens, anytime, anywhere as well as making the country ready for ease of doing business.

In short, ‘Digital India’ prorgamme is a transformative approach by the Government to create equitable access of Digital Governance / e-Governance to citizens in an easy, efficient and transparent way. This would not only create digital empowerment to citizens but also enable them to participate in the government.