Top 10 digital initiatives taken by the Indian government

The ambitious ‘Digital India’ project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been in news for all the good reasons. The project having a total overlay of Rs 1 lakh crore aims to transform the country into a knowledge economy. It aims to ensure easy access to technology infrastructure and government services to citizens. With the government completing its first year, Dataquest takes a dig into all the digital initiatives undertaken by the government this year.

Digital Locker: This initiative eliminates the need for people to carry the hard copies of the certificates issued by states, municipal agencies, and other bodies. Birth certificates, school and college leaving certificates, residence and marriage proof, and even PAN cards will be digitized. For this, the government is expected to roll out a national depository that will hold these records. Each private locker will store all the important documents of users, which are digitally verified by the government. Now rather than sending physical copies, the link of that cloud folder having digital copies of verified certificates can be shared.

Digital Life Certificates: The ‘Jeevan Pramaan’ scheme launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a sigh of relief to a million of retired government employees. With this, the pensioner will do away with the requirement of submitting a physical life certificate in November each year and can now digitally provide proof of their existence to authorities for continuity of pension every year. A software application developed by the Department of Electronics and IT enable the recording of the pensioner’s Aadhar number and biometric details from their mobile device or computer, by plugging in a biometric reading device. The key details of the pensioner, including date, time, and biometric information, will be uploaded to a central database on real-time basis, ultimately enabling the pension disbursing agency to access a digital life certificate.

Digital Boost to MGNREGA: Another commendable initiative is the digital boost to the flagship rural job scheme MNREGA. A total of 35,000 gram panchayats are covered to ensured better implementation through mobile monitoring system. This initiative will help the implementation agencies with live data from the worksites, an online and real-time updation of data base, real-time visibility of the data for complete transparency, and location of assets with geo-tagging for easy verification.

Twitter Samvad: Amongst the most popular initiatives is the Twitter Samvad which will enable the citizens to be the first to know about new government initiatives and actions. It is a service that lets leaders and government agencies communicate with the people through tweets and SMS.

Madad (Help): Launched by the External Affairs Minister, the portal ‘Madad’ will enable Indian citizens living abroad to file consular grievances online to address the complaints promptly. The initiative will speed up forwarding and handling of complaints, improve tracking and redressal and escalate unresolved cases. According to officials, maximum priority would be given to cases related to bringing back ‘mortal remains’ of any national.

SMS-Based Cyclone Warning System: As part of the Digital India initiative, this program is to create an SMS-based weather information and disaster alert system. Information on warnings will be disseminated to officials involved in administration, district magistrates/collectors besides fisherman, farmers, and general public. This process will take almost a year to get operational as it requires collecting huge amounts of data.

Online Facility for Firms to File Single Return: In an effort to ease down the complexities of doing business and reduce cost, the Labor Ministry launched an online facility for firms to file a common return on its portal to comply with as many as eight labor laws at one go. With this, the companies can now file single unified return which will reduce cost of business transaction.

Online facility to Issue PAN Card in 48 hours: An online facility under which a PAN card will be issued within 48 hours of applying. Under this initiative, special camps will be organized throughout the country including rural areas to help people get PAN cards.

eMoney: The Department of Posts (DoP) has planned to provide electronic money order service to 70% of its total post offices by December. According to officials, this service will enable India Post to remit money next day to the doorstep that earlier took about a week. Also, it will make the whole process secure and fast. People can send a maximum of Rs 5,000 through e-money order. With this, the department has seen a tremendous growth in commission from money order service to about Rs 600 crore in 2014-15, up from Rs 481.6 crore in 2011-12.

PRAGATI: It is an interactive platform launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for public grievances redressal. It is aimed at monitoring and reviewing programs and projects of the Government of India as well as state government initiatives and also addressing common man’s grievances. This step is expected to make governance in India more efficient and responsive.