IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Indian upstart Reliance Jio Infocomm is planning to introduce a 4G-enabled free WiFi service across Kolkata, according to local media reports. It could be the first of many.

WiFi is clearly an important part of Reliance Jio's 4G strategy. Because there is a shortage of spectrum in India for use with 3G and 4G services, WiFi could play a critical role in supporting the adoption of high-speed mobile data services. As cellular networks become increasingly congested with data traffic, it could provide a kind of mobile data sluice. Unsurprisingly, most of India's service providers are experimenting with WiFi to some extent.

Moreover, the government's push for digitalisation through initiatives such as Digital India is further striving to bring transformation in India's digital journey.

While the wheels of digital transformation were set in motion much earlier, the pandemic accelerated their speed. It significantly impacted how organisations approach their IT ecosystem and security. Cloudflare's 2021 report, 'Data security in the Age of Zero Trust', indicated that around 90 per cent of IT influencers and decision-makers from Indian organizations expect a more mobile workforce in the future with greater use of personal devices. This impacts IT security and makes it vital for organizations, governments, technology providers, and leaders to make decisions driven by insights to build a secure and efficient digital ecosystem.

If we make a list of all the plans and projects that are being implemented to make India a better nation, making India go digital will probably top the list.

To boost the nation’s digital journey, the Government of India is planning to make one lakh villages of India digital, and they will be called Digi Gaons.

Rural India and Gujarat led a record 35% surge over a year in mobile-phone and computer-based transactions with the government, an indicator of demand and future potential in recreating India’s interaction with its government.

Hosted on mKisan—a portal that allows central and state government organisations to potentially connect over text messages with more than 80 million farm families—the video above indicates just one aspect of the increasingly evident presence of government with electronic devices, in particular mobile phones.

Smart Cities Mission, an initiative launched in 2015, aims at creating the next generation cities in India. These cities would not just have an easy-to-access infrastructure but also be technologically advanced in government-citizen interaction. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Radio-frequency identification (RFID), cloud computing, and many more would be used by the government to offer ‘smarter’ solutions. It would ease the resource-deficit burden of the country by empowering the government to do much more with less.

And when cities are becoming smarter, the traditional methods of governing would not suffice. That’s why the government is taking new eGovernance initiatives that are laced with the latest technologies. Digital transformation in government is here and each government agency is taking required steps to ensure smooth eGovernance.

Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest information technology (IT) services company, said on Saturday it was expecting its local business to pick up faster on anticipation of increased spending on technology by the new government at the Centre. The company also said though the rupee was appreciating against the dollar owing to the decisive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, only a volatile currency could be a cause of concern.

“I expect the India business to pick up with the kind of mandate the Bharatiya Janata Party got on Friday. I do expect that the new government would adopt technologies faster, while we will see a revival in corporate spending across the board,” N Chandrasekaran, chief executive and managing director of the Mumbai-headquartered company, said. Among Indian IT services companies, TCS has a fairly high degree of exposure to the local market, from where it derives around seven per cent of revenue. However, the region has been under pressure in the past couple of quarters due to the slow pace of technology spending in the country. In the quarter ended March, the company’s India business posted a growth of 0.3 per cent.

In a White Paper released today, Tata Consultancy Services, the leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing firm, has identified opportunities for improvement in e-Governance in India and provided recommendations to help the Indian government drive forward a program for comprehensive and effective e-Governance in the country.

The White Paper is an attempt by TCS to use its experience in e-Governance projects to define a road-map for India and highlight current impediments like a silo-based approach that is limiting the benefits of technology use.

“Growth of a sustainable telemedicine network in India depends upon introduction of legal frameworks, development of national e-health policies, trained human resource and regular funding,” highlighted the study prepared by the ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau (AERB).

India’s telemedicine market which has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 20 per cent holds the potential to cross $32 million (mn) mark by 2020 from the current level of over $15 mn, noted a recent study by apex industry body ASSOCHAM.

Innovations in telemedicine will “not only result in the substantial reduction of health care disparities, but also in a reduction of health care costs across the country,” Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) and Louisiana state Sen. Sharon Weston-Broome (D) write in The Hill’s “Congress Blog.”

The 5G network, the latest generation of wireless technology, is described as the next frontier of digital revolution. It has, however, come to the forefront of an ongoing geopolitical and technological rivalry between the China and the United States. Chinese telecom giant Huawei is dominating the market and has become the leading supplier and manufacturer of this new technology. However, its close ties with the Beijing government, opaque ownership structure and past allegations of legal violations, has raised concerns that its equipment could be used for espionage and surveillance.

The United States has taken a slew of measures to ban Huawei and is persuading its allies to follow suit. Beijing has criticized nations for blocking Chinese telecom companies—terming it is a flagrant attempt to politicize a technology issue—and has hinted towards the use of ‘reverse economic sanctions’ if Chinese companies are banned. Against this backdrop, India’s decision on a supplier for 5G technology, equipment, and software is a crucial one.

The covid-19 pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for the digital future of India.

What is Digital India Mission?

We as individuals have switched to a virtual model of work and society is being empowered by the methods of digitisation (which has become the need of the hour during pandemic times), the world has shrunk at our fingertips. The Indian Government found it necessary to make the government services available to all its citizens electronically.

No doubt, Android is one of the leading mobile operating platforms in the world. There is absolutely no competition from any other company ever since Microsoft abandoned Windows Mobile. You will not find any other smartphones with competing operating platform. You can extend the functionality of Android smartphones with the help of apps. India has gone digital long back with the introduction of Digital India and the growth has increased ever since the eruption of COVID-19. We have several India-centric apps to enhance the lifestyle of the people. The Modi-led Government in India has taken an initiative to create awareness among people regarding the usage of e-Governance apps. The department of IT has developed several apps for the benefit of the people, which enhances the lifestyle of the citizens. In this article, we will examine the Top 5 Indian Government Android Apps of 2020, which has been exclusively developed to enhance the lifestyle.

Under the umbrella of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship programme of Digital India, the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) has joined hands with the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), an autonomous Scientific Society of DeitY, Government of India, to train 16,000 government employees of all the northeastern states in two years.

This is an effort of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India under a special scheme ‘Preparing North East for Digital India’. Under this programme 4,400 government officials are to be trained in all districts of Assam.

India has broken into the top 100 in the United Nation’s E-government Index in 2018, Financial Express has reported. India’s rank has improved by 22 places in the past four years and 11 ranks in the past two years. Currently, India occupies the 96th position in the ranking.

The UN E-government index is released once in two years.

The initiative is also aimed at expanding the diffusion and use of ICT as a tool to expand economic opportunity, boost productivity, create jobs, and empower citizens, according to a joint press statement issued after a two-day meeting of a joint working group.

The most honest way to define development is when a country aims to simplify everyday things for its citizens and the signs of development in India are hard to ignore. At the helm of this philosophy lies the Digital India campaign. The devil they say is in the details. So what if every detail of your life is simplified with fewer steps and lesser queues? Unthinkable right? When we’ve all grown up waiting in some queue or other most of our lives. It’s almost second nature to Indians.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started Digital India programme. Being communications & IT minister, the implementation of this programme is on your shoulders. What is the progress?

'Digital India' is a revolution in itself. It will be possible in three phases -- all gram panchayats are to be connected first, all government services should be provided on digital platform and to strengthen every Indian, informed and educated in terms of digital platform.

The programme, to be implemented in phases till 2018, will ensure government services are available to citizens electronically. Various projects worth about `1 lakh crore will be undertaken to transform India into a digitally empowered knowledge economy. Such a huge task cannot be performed by the government alone and must involve a deeper engagement with India’s IT industry that employs nearly three million professionals against 10,000 in the government. The government must leverage the Indian IT industry in implementing the vision.

But while the government here is now talking about using apps like WhatsApp for citizen complaints, our neighbour has been using government-made smartphone apps to help officials deal with a range of issues from fighting dengue to extending arable land to crime monitoring.

A massive new market will open up as the Aadhaar UIDs enable hundreds of millions of poor and migrant residents to open bank accounts, get loans and expanded access to jobs, health insurance, mobile phone services and the like, while facilitating the delivery of public services including government programs for school children and the poor. The program also promises to improve the labor market with more efficiency in running pension plans, discouragement of jobseekers with spurious certificates, and improved tracking of attendance and performance for school students.