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The Discovery of Digital India

DIGITAL INDIA: 

The Complete Reference

How to discover and use Digital India Services for your personal and professional productivity and success.


Ravindra Dastikop

https://youtube.com/user/dastikop



2020


CHALLENGE

Today Digital India information is scattered and lodged in different systems and places hence my professional 

 

 

MISSION:

To organize Digital India information  and make it universally accessible and useful to every Indian resident.


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Mission 

PREFACE

TARGET AUDIENCE  

Organization of this book 

How to use this Book for Results


PART I  : GETTING STARTED

What is digital India ? - Its vision and mission, structure, Digital India platform nature and components 

PART II :  DIGITAL INDIA SERVICES FOR CITIZENS

These services provide information, services, and other functionality to citizens  and receive input and feedback from citizens. More recently, active citizen engagement in government policy development using social networking technologies, as well as a number of surveying and consultation methodologies, is contributing to more effective citizen- and business-centric government  policies, strategies, and services.


PART III: Government to Business (B2G )

Digital India services those that facilitate any of the range of relationships and interactions between government and businesses.  Government-to-Business (G2B) initiatives receive a significant amount of attention, in part because of the high enthusiasm of the business sector and the potential for reducing costs through improved procurement practices and increased competition.14 The G2B sector includes both the sale of surplus government goods to the public, as well as the procurement of goods and services. Although not all are directly dependent on the use of information technology, several different procurement methods are used in relation to the G2B sector

PART IV : Government to Government (G2G) 

These are Digital India projects or systems that support information sharing and  collaboration within or between government agencies. G2G e-government involves sharing data and conducting electronic exchanges between governmental actors. This involves both intra- and inter-agency exchanges at the federal level, as well as exchanges between the central , state, and local levels

PART V Government to Employees (E2G ) 

Digital India information and internal services that provide easy access to  government information and systems that enable staff to perform well, provide opportunities for feedback, engagement, and collaboration. 

PART VI  Government to Visitors/Foreigners (F2G)

Digital India information, advice, and services for individuals and businesses planning to invest, visit, work, study, and live in the country.


PART VII  DIGITAL INDIA STACKS 

India stack, National Health Stack 

PART VIII India Enterprise Architecture

 India Enterprise Architecture-  Vision, Purpose, Scope, Structure

PART IX  DIGITAL INDIA PLATFORM 

Digital India Infrastructure, Digital India Services,  Digital India Empowerment

Digital India CYBER LAWS, Conclusion  

 

 





 PREFACE

India’s Digital Transformation is underway 

1

As I was putting the final touches to the draft of this online  book  Times of India reported that (1) FASTags has overtaken cash collection in National Highway tolls and   (2) The Finance Minister announced that UPI based payments and RuPay debit card transactions are exempted from MDR. These two developments among others illustrate the speed with which Digital India is transforming the way government is serving citizens and how nation is moving from traditional ways of conducting transactions- cash or paper to DIGITAL . 


Today in India we have available enough infrastructure, knowledge, exposure and experience needed for the successful practice of Digital India. National Government Services Portal (https://services.india.gov.in/) lists nearly 10,000 services most of them offered on fully online mode.  However, the percentage of people who are aware of these resources and applying them in their daily life for professional and personal purposes is very small compared to the rest of the population.

Let me give you an example.  As part of digital India citizen services suite  the Indian government has made available a world class secure digital storage service called Digilocker. Digilocker is open and available to every Indian resident.  Residents can store and share documents securely. 

2.

Digital India Resources are underutilized 

However the number of Indian residents who have created accounts on Digilocker and using it on a regular basis is very small (34 million users) . In my opinion every college student in India  should have created account by now and has been using it actively.  This needs immediate attention and action.

3

The  Goal 

This work sets its goal as to help overcome this situation and bring Digital India resources central to every Indian resident and join this wonderful journey of transforming India into Digital Economy and Knowledge society as envisaged in Digital India programme.   

POINTER:: To know current number of Digilocker users see here https://Digilocker.gov.in 


3

With Digital India programme gaining momentum in the recent  years, its penetration into the fabric of our lives is getting deepened. Today the three basic services required for online transaction- online identity Aadhaar, online document sharing- Digilocker, online payments- BHIM are up and are serving millions of Indians.  There are more than 1200 services or apps deployed by Digital India  which a citizen can choose from and use depending on her requirement.  Special services are available for farmers, students, teachers and entrepreneurs and like.  Digital India is a new reality and compelling.

4

Digital India information on services is scattered in many places- government websites, app stores , publications and other location. It is very hard for citizens to discover them on the fly and use them. This work intends to offer a remedy for this.   Between the covers of this book, citizens will be able to find essential and important  information and links that help them to explore and understand available services.and choose the appropriate ones that meet their specific requirements.  For instance, a senior citizen will find how to get an online living certificate or  student will find where to discover scholarship online or access learning resources. Digital India is all inclusive and has service each one of its citizens. 

5

A book of this sort gathers information from an innumerable  sources - web sites, published documents and books, discussion forums , blogs and more.  Hence it is not possible to mention every source consulted by the author while composing the content. However, an alert reader can discover soon that the author has borrowed a great deal of content from  many government websites run by different departments both center and state. Another important resource is publications such policy documents and white papers. No references or sources or links  are mentioned in the text to enable reader go through smoothly without distraction. However a brief bibliography is included for the interested reader.


Digital India is the theme of our times. It is affecting all of us and each one can benefit from it.  Author has enjoyed learning it and teaching a set of courses on them. Now author wishes to share the same with the rest of the nation.  Hope this book finds relevance in the life of every Digital Indian.


Digital India is a living and growing andSuggestions/corrections if any may be emailed to author at digital.india.master@gmail.com 


Ravindra Dastikop

January, 2020

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 


Influencers 

My interest in Digital India started around 2010 when the term “ Digital India” was not even coined. However the foundation (Aadhaar) work of future Digital India was already underway. By then,  Aadhaar project  had already enrolled one crore residents and was to release Aadhar API by end of 2011. Parallelly , NPCI was working on what is now called UPI.  Since then, makers of these groundbreaking innovations have influenced me in many ways through their articles, interviews, videos , forum participation and books. These influencers include Nandan Nilekeni,  Pramod Verma , RS Sharma. Later the Indiastack team.  Sanjay Jain and Sharad Sharma , Nikhil Kumar through their presentations and workshops have intensified my interest in digital India and enriched my understanding.  I acknowledge their deep influence in shaping my interest and  which is evident across many pages of this book. I thank each and all of them.  


NURTURERS   

I am working as faculty in SDM College of Engineering, Dharwad, Karnataka  for  over the last three decades. My interest in technologies such as Internet and cloud computing are shaped and strengthened due to excellent laboratory resources and freedom to experiment and use them. First of all, I thank our beloved President, Dr. Veerendra Heggade, who has been the inspiration for me all these years and continue to be so. . My present principal  Dr,  S B .Vanakudare and past principals have directly or indirectly influenced in sustaining my interest in upcoming technologies.     My deans, Head of the departments and colleagues both current and past have contributed towards this work. I thank all of them  


Publishers 

For quite some time, I was thinking about publishing a book on digital India. Once, I had even approached Notion Press and expressed my desire to publish. Somehow.  I failed to pursue it further and went on procrastinating it and all the while executives from Notion Press kept on calling me and every time I was able to dodge them. But when in December, 2019 when Suriya called me and insisted, I obliged and submitted the draft. I thank him for his insistence, without which I would not have come this far.  I also extend my gratitude to Mr. Ashish, who was in charge of publishing my book and did a great job. 


The Target Audience

1.

DIGITAL INDIA PLATFORM FOR EVERY RESIDENT 

Digital India is new platform. It is a technology platform. Future of India and its citizens will happen on it. The Indian government has created Digital India Platform for reaching out every citizen online and deliver citizen services electronically. Hence awareness of Digital India movement, it's scope and services must be there for every Indian. Be one living in cities or deep rural India.  Be a housewife or a student or a shopkeeper or an entrepreneur.  Digital India is all inclusive and is for every Indian irrespective of gender and geography or  age or area. It is universal. Digital India is everyone's concern and everybody's reality. Hence the first purpose of this book to change this low ratio of Indian residents using Digital India resources and make  them aware of these resources and encourage them to  start using them in their daily life.


 2

DIGITAL INDIA CITIZEN

This book (accompanying  presentations, videos)   intends  to put the Digital India resources at the center of every  Indian’s professional and personal day-today life and transform her into an empowered DIGITAL INDIA CITIZEN. Digital India projects are built for and meant for every Indian. It is very inclusive in its objectives and services, every Indian will be affected by it and more importantly benefited by that. Making every Digital India Citizen , the largest group of people in India aware of these resources and guide them towards  harnessing their potential is the first and foremost objective of this work.


3

DIGITAL INDIA WORKER

The second important audience of this book is DIGITAL INDIA WORKER. Digital workers constitute the second largest growing group in India.  These are people  who use digital India infrastructure and resources within the context of their work and professions. They are employees of state and central government who are directly affected by Digital India programme and working with it- officials,  professors, heads of educational institutions, teachers, outsourced skilled office workers, business executives who come across situations where digital India can play a key role and contribute towards their accomplishments and success.


4

DIGITAL INDIA SHAPERS

The third intended audience of the book is DIGITAL INDIA SHAPERS. These are the Indians who are playing leading roles within their groups and communities.  They have within them the power to use digital India systems and services to enhance the performance of their own and that of their teams and  shape a new collective future. These digital India shapers can be institutional leaders, community  leaders, law makers, functionaries in local government , people's representatives and more.


5

DIGITAL INDIA DEVELOPER

The next important target audience of this resource is the DIGITAL INDIA DEVELOPER. Software applications or simply apps have become the de facto means of building and offering services to both business customers and citizens. In fact today Indian government is offering many of its services through apps such as BHIM or UMANG.  The futuristic Indian government not only wants to use digital India platform for offering its citizens services. Instead it is opening its platform along with an incredible number of software resources both data and APIs for developers to build and offer innovative services. The digital India platform often technically called IndiaStack.  It is a set of  layered resources for developers to build and offer innovative apps to billion Indians. For Indian developers this is a dream come true and an emerging market in their own home country.


6

DIGITAL INDIA INNOVATORS

Another important audience intended by the book is DIGITAL INDIA INNOVATORS.. These are the small, but significant and rapidly emerging digital Indians who have deep dreams and tall talent to look at digital India infrastructure and come out with innovative product, services and business models. These solutions could be india-specific to be targeted at a section of Indian society say rural or urban. These services  can be for meeting specific in-transition population  - say people who earn and spend all the money in cash. The innovator solution can also be with global focus but may start in India and use Digital india as a test bed.


FACT: UPI which is financial layer of Indiastack is very successful in India and attracting the attention of leading countries in the world


7

DIGITAL INDIA LEADERS

Another important target audience is DIGITAL INDIA LEADERS whose operative mandate is at state , regional levels. These are people who might carry the baton of national process further into the future.  Leaders who are in their mid career stages  and are expected to take India to new but unknown future 

 8

 NON RESIDENT INDIANS

Another important interested audience of this book is NRIs. They may be interested in knowing the technological developments undertaken back home and would be surprised at the speed of developments and sophistication of the resulting infrastructure and  their resourcefulness.

Digital India is a national technology platform built on open, global standards and practices. Its awareness is a must for Indians outside India also. The NRI community living around the globe and experiencing technologies in advanced countries must have a basic understanding of Digital Technology. Not only they will feel proud about the same, but also find it pleasant surprise when come back home that they can experience global technology within their home also. Entrepreneurial Indians dreaming of making big in advanced countries may find that the technological platform resulting due to Digital India in India is worth considering for their entrepreneurial ventures and is comparable in sophistication with those available in the developed countries.

FACT: UPI has been used by Google in launching its Google Pay app


9

 TEACHERS AND LEARNERS

Digital India is expected to be an indispensable part and parcel of every resident’s daily life. Hence, an added audience is the teachers and parents who might use these resource and illustrations while teaching to inspire students. Parents can use this resource to keep themselves updated about new and emerging Digital India. Digital India has developed dedicated educational services such as SWAYAM (https://swayam.gov.in/)  to meet varying needs of learning community 


10

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS 

Next target are  the social entrepreneurs and change agents who might be interested in seeing how Digital India adds a new dimension and resource pool for them in engaging their audiences, enlarging their base of operations and enriching their stakeholders. 


11

DIGITAL WORLD CITIZENS

Digital is the world wide phenomenon. Individuals, institutions, businesses and countries are adopting digital technologies into their fabric of existence. India is leading the way in transforming delivering citizen services online and electronically. The grand approach to digitize India  and the comprehensive nature of its scope, makes it one of the biggest e-governance projects in the world. Countries and communities around the world are interested in and may learn from India’s experience in transforming paper based, brick and mortar and location specific citizen services onto anywhere, anytime and anyhow service model. Hence this book also considers the rest of the world - Digital World Citizens to be target audience for this work

12

DIGITAL INDIA FOR WORLD GOVERNMENTS 

India's experience with creating digital infrastructure platforms as public goods offers multiple lessons learned in technology, system, and regulatory architecture. It demonstrates how multiple such systems can be leveraged in concert—such as the India Stack—for development objectives. Governments and businesses alike are building for diverse use cases on top of the stack. By lowering the transaction costs of serving the poor, we are achieving better inclusion.

Such digital infrastructure is not a unique requirement in India. It is estimated that approximately 161 countries currently have or are building their own digital ID systems. Many countries have local interbank payment systems and are now looking to upgrade them for a mobile-first world. As various countries build their own systems, the Indian experience with Aadhar serves as a real-world example to learn from. Even if the systems may look different, we believe the principles adopted in their development would serve well globally.

How to use this book for Results 

Digital India is a comprehensive programme. It  is for  every resident. Like in the case of our constitution, every resident must have a basic understanding of Digital India in terms of its scope and services. However, the range of services deployed under Digital India are too many for one person understand and all of them are not relatable or relevant to everyone. Hence each resident should use the following core services to begin with 

CORE SERVICES

A set of digital India services aimed at every resident or citizen are called core services. They are  

  1. Digital identity - Aadhaar

  2. Cloud Storage - Digilocker

  3. Digital signature - e-sign   

  4. Online payments-  BHIM (UPI) 


SECTORAL SERVICES 

The rest of the services are called sectoral service are  aimed at a sectional of society- such as  students, farmers, teachers,  senior citizens, enterprises , women empowerment, people with disabilities and such sections of society. Reader can go directly to such relevant services and make the most of them. 



ORGANIZATION OF THIS BOOK 

The book is organized in 8 parts. Part I is a general introduction to Digital India. It is recommended that every reader may go through this part and gain a basic understanding of the scope of Digital India programme and its overall structure and services.  The rest of the parts of aimed at specific groups. Reader is advised to go directly to those parts which is directly relevant to him or her 

PART II :  DIGITAL INDIA SERVICES FOR CITIZENS

PART III:  DIGITAL INDIA SERVICES FOR Government to Business (B2G2B)

PART IV : DIGITAL INDIA SERVICES FOR Government to Government (G2G) 

PART V : DIGITAL INDIA SERVICES FOR Government to Employees (E2G2E) 


PART VI  :  DIGITAL INDIA SERVICES FOR Visitors/Foreigners (G2F) 

PART VII  : DIGITAL INDIA STACKS 

PART VIII: INDIA ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE 

PART IX  : DIGITAL INDIA PLATFORM 

Digital India Services Directory

UMANG:

UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive Mobile Governance in India. UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services.   Visit UMANG HOME PAGE 

JEEVAN PRAMAN 

Jeevan Pramaan is a biometric enabled digital service for pensioners. Pensioners of Central Government, State Government or any other Government organization can take benefit of this facility. Visit JEEVAN PRAMAN HOME PAGE 

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