INTRODUCTION

Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India in order to ensure the
Government's services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online
infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or making the country digitally
empowered in the field of technology. The initiative includes plans to connect rural areas
with high-speed internet networks. It consists of three core components: the development
of secure and stable digital infrastructure, delivering government services digitally, and
universal digital literacy.
Launched on 1 July 2015, by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is both enabler and
beneficiary of other key Government of India schemes, such as BharatNet, Make in
India, Startup India and Standup India, industrial corridors, Bharatmala, Sagarmala
For India, the rise of Information and Communication Technology is an opportunity to overcome historical
disabilities and to become the master of one's own national destiny. The GOI has recognised the potential of ICT
for rapid and all-round nationaldevelopment. The National Agenda for Governance, which is the Government's
policy blueprint, has taken due note of the ICTRevolution that is sweeping the globe.

TECHNOLOGICAL INITIATIVES BY GOVERNMENT

Initiatives have been taken by National Informatics Centre to provide most of the information through a portal
where indifferent kinds of digital documents on the governmental activities can be accessed. But these efforts also
have not been properly coordinated and digital documents brought out by many of the departments do not form
part of the Web site.Country’s digitisation can be measured using six key attributes:

Ubiquity: the extent to which consumers and enterprises have universal access to digital services and applications.

Affordability:the extent to which digital services are priced in a range that makes them available to as many peopl
e as possible.

Reliability: the quality of available digital services.

Speed :the extent to which digital services can be accessed in real time.

Usability: the ease of use of digital services and the ability of local ecosystems to boost adoption of these services.

Skill: the ability of users to incorporate digital services into their lives and businesses the pace of digitization and
movement between stages is accelerating rapidly. Not only has the pace quickened, but the jump in development
has also been moremarked
PILLARS OF DIGITAL INDIA: THE ROAD TO SMART GOVERNANCE

I. BROADBAND HIGHWAYS: The first step is to provide high speed broadband highways through fiber
optics that connect all the remote areas, government departments, universities, R&D etc. Web based portals
and Mobile apps will be developed to access online information while on the move.

II. UNIVERSAL MOBILE ACCESS: In the coming years, network technologies like 3G, 4G and
upcoming 5G will storm the speed. Government is
specially preparing to connect unconnected areas and speedy use of these technologies. General public will
access the online government services with the help of handheld devices. Nation is ready to be well-connected,
efficient, and more productive in every aspect.

III. PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS: Virtuous technologies that support cost containment, collaboration,
security, services-on-the-go, social-connect, and in-built intelligence that deliver remote access to any
information or service available across the domain. This change will open new doors of e-services to
every citizen.
IV. E-GOVERNANCE: This governance will transform every manual work into fully automation system.
It will revolutionize the system in the following ways: Online access to applications i.e. availability of
all databases and information in electronic format.
V. E-K RANTI: This kranti will fully focus on digital knowledge program where education, health,
farming, rights, financial and many more services will be delivered on a very high bandwidth. Physical
boundaries no longer are a limitation when almost everyone and everything is a digital handshake
away.
VI. INFORMATION FOR ALL: Websites and mobile apps will convey data and realistic participation
and through social media. Everything is connected through virtual networks. Swift work flow and no
delays due to wait in queues.
VII. ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING: This milestone will create a huge base for electronics
manufacturing in India with the aid of digital technologies and skills. The empowerment of
manufacturing through the Internet of Things will enable intelligent workshops that demonstrate data
driven operational excellence and decentralized production control systems within and beyond the
physical factory walls
Objectives of Digital India
The motto of the Digital India Mission is ‘Power to Empower’. There are three core components to the
Digital India initiative. They are digital infrastructure creation, digital delivery of services, and digital
literacy.
The major objectives of this initiative are listed below:

1. To provide high-speed internet in all gram panchayats.

2. To provide easy access to Common Service Centre (CSC) in all the locality.
3. Digital India is an initiative that combines a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single,
comprehensive vision so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal.
4. The Digital India Programme also focuses on restructuring many existing schemes that can be
implemented in a synchronized manner.
Advantages of Digital India Mission
Digital India Mission is an initiative that encompasses plans to connect the rural areas of the country with
high-speed internet networks. Public Internet Access Programme is one among the nine pillars of digital
India. On the platform of digital adoption, India ranks amongst the top 2 countries globally and the digital
economy of India is likely to cross $1 trillion by the year 2022.
Some of the advantages of Digital India are:

1. There is an increase in electronic transactions related to e-governance.

2. An optical fiber network of 2, 74,246 km has connected over 1.15 lakh Gram Panchayats under
the Bharat Net programme.
3. A Common Service Center (CSC) is created under the National e-Governance Project of the
Indian government which provides access for information and communication technology (ICT).
Through computer and Internet access, the CSCs provide multimedia content related to e-
governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment, and other government and private
services.
4. Establishment of digital villages along with well-equipped facilities such as solar lighting, LED
assembly unit, sanitary napkin production unit, and Wi-Fi choupal.
5. Internet data is used as a major tool for the delivery of the services and the urban internet
penetration has reached 64%.
Challenges of Digital India
The government of India has taken an initiative through the Digital India Mission to connect the rural
areas of the country with high-speed internet networks. Apart from the various initiatives taken by Digital
India, there are several challenges faced by it.
Some of the challenges and drawbacks of Digital Mission are mentioned below:

1. The daily internet speed, as well as the Wi-Fi hotspots, are slow as compared to other developed
nations.
2. Most of the small and medium scale industry has to struggle a lot for adapting to the new modern
technology.
3. Limited capability of entry-level smartphones for smooth internet access.
4. Lack of skilled manpower in the field of digital technology.
5. To look for about one million cybersecurity experts to check and monitor the growing menace of
digital crime.
6. Lack of user education.
Digital India Initiatives
The Government has taken up many initiatives under the Digital India campaign. Discussed below are
few such important initiatives:

1. Digi-Lockers – This flagship initiative aims at ‘Digital Empowerment’ of the citizen by

providing access to authentic digital documents to citizen’s digital document wallet
2. E-Hospitals – It is a Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) which is a one-stop
solution in connecting patients, hospitals and doctors through a single digital platform. Till
February 2021, as many as 420 e-Hospitals had been established under the Digital India campaign
3. E-Pathshala – Developed by NCERT, e-Pathshala showcases and disseminates all educational e-
resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals and a variety of other print and non-print
materials through the website and mobile app
4. BHIM – Bharat Interface for Money is an app that makes payment transactions simple, easy and
quick using Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
Impact of Digital India Campaign
Since its launch in 2015, the Digital India campaign has left its impact in various fields:

 Around 12000 post office branches in the rural areas have been linked electronically.
 The Make in India initiative has improved the electronic manufacturing sector in India
 Digital India plan could boost GDP up to $1 trillion by 2025
 Healthcare and education sector has also seen a boost
 Improvement in online infrastructure will enhance the economy of the country