One of the key enablers of a country’s growth and prosperity is good governance. Progressive yet focussed efforts of a government to strive for excellence in administration, efficiency in providing public services with the optimal utilization of public money and inclusive participation of citizens in government are critical to achieve good governance. The Indian government has always been proactive to take necessary steps and derive policies for adopting various emerging ICT tools & technologies to realize good governance.
A weeklong celebration of Good Governance Week 2015 concluded with a grand event held at Habitat Centre, New Delhi on the 28th of December. Every year, the nation observes Good Governance Day on 25th December. The celebration this year, the theme for which was “Digital India for Good Governance”, took place gracefully with enthusiasm and vigour.
The Hon’ble Minister of Communications & Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated the celebration event by lighting a traditional lamp in the presence of eminent dignitaries from government. Shri J.S. Deepak (Secretary, Deity), Smt. Kaveri Banerjee (Secretary, DoP), Shri Peeyush Agarwal (Member Technology, DoT), Ms. Caralyn Khongwar Deshmukh (CEO & President, NEGD), Shri A.B. Pandey (Director General, UIDAI) and Shri Ajay Kumar (Addl. Secretary, DeitY and DG, NIC) were the distinguished dignitaries on the stage of inaugural session. Senior officials of various departments of the government including Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Department of Posts (DoP) and other delegates from related agencies were among the fully packed audience to grace the occasion.
Speech of the dignitaries highlighted various efforts and effectiveness of important initiatives of the government that have made transformational changes in services delivery and life of citizens. Some of the prominent initiatives were MyGov, Jeevan Pramaan, Digital Literacy, CSC, Aadhaar enabled Biometric Attendance System, e-Commerce, e- Transaction, Electronic Manufacturing, Telemedicine, Bharat Net and e-Education. During the event, a number of novel initiatives and schemes were also inaugurated along with launching of the monthly newsletter on Digital India. Screening of films on realisation of the Digital India movement was another highlight of the occasion.
The Hon’ble Minister, aiming to boost the country’s rural post office system has handed over the first lot of solar powered PoS (Point of Sales) devices to 6 branch postmasters of 3 pilot circles of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. This initiative is to facilitate postal and financial transactions in rural branch post offices powered by India Post Data Centre. The Hon’ble Minister also awarded tactile graphic enabled book on Maths to a visually impaired student, symbolising the need for better education to differently abled citizens.
During the inaugural speech, Hon’ble Minister emphasized the pledge of Government to achieve various goals set for ‘Digital India’. He said that the initiative would take a big leap to transform India into a truly ‘digitally empowered society and knowledge economy’. He further accentuated that e-services should reach more people at the earliest and sought cooperation from State Governments, Industry and Academia for quick achievement of the goals, which would bridge the gap between ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.
Shri J.S. Deepak highlighted the accomplishments and advancements in the country through inception of ICT in governance. He mentioned that while it took us 20 years to get 1st 100 million internet connections, it took only 3 years for 2nd 100 million connections and just 18 months for 3rd 100th million connections. On his note, Shri Ajay Kumar reiterated the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s ‘P2G2 mantra’ in which P2 means ‘Pro People’ and G2 stands for ‘Good Governance’. He spoke on the efforts of DeitY towards achieving Digital India.
KEY PROJECTS LAUNCHED 23 new key projects were launched during the event, which were under four categories:- Digital Infrastructure, Digital Services, Digital Empowerment and Industry Promotion. Following were the projects/initiatives launched under each category.
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE • Public Wi-Fi Hotspots at Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar and Dargah Sharif, Ajmer • One million connections in NGN network, Voice, Data & Multimedia • National Centre of Geo-informatics for the use of GIs in GOI • NIC’s 4th National Data Centre at Bhubaneswar • Initiating empanelment for private Cloud service providers for e-Governance • 251st ATM Post Office at Gole Dak Khana, New Delhi
DIGITAL SERVICES • Government Payment Portal enabling 100% e-Payment across the country • Mobile App for Digital Locker account holders • Transfer of Text to Speech technology available in 9 Indian languages developed by a consortium of 12 institutes led by IIT Chennai • Installation of solar panels to enable rural post office as multi- service delivery centres and post terminals • 12000th Post Office to offer Core Banking Solution • Pan India Free Incoming Roaming Facility for MTNL and BSNL customers. Free roaming for all new/existing prepaid and post-paid customers’ inkling mobile number portability customers.
DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT • Special Manpower Development Program - Chips to System Design • Olabs: Virtual laboratory for class IX-XII being rolled out at all CBSE Schools in the country • Information Security Education Awareness Phase II for creating Capacity & Awareness for 1.14 lakh persons through 45 participating institutions • Digital India e-Newsletter: Monthly electronic newsletter from DeitY starting December 2015
INDUSTRY PROMOTION • All India BPO Scheme, creating 48,300 BPO seats in Tier II and Tier III • Dedicating first BPO centre under North East BPO scheme at Guwahati and 8 new STPI centres in Bihar, Odisha & Uttar Pradesh • Maths tactile books indigenously developed by IIT Delhi • Digitally programmable hearing aid indigenously developed by CDAC, Thiruvananthapuram
“A new world is being created. This world demand’s good governance. This world demands its delivery! The quest for good governance is taking shape by its own force and it is a primary responsibility to ensure delivery of that” RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GOI
“Good Governance is almost like Oxygen. While it is there, it makes you feel good, but you notice only when it disappears. Digital governance has to be nurtured and taken forward slowly in steps and pushed all the time” JS DEEPAK SECRETARY, DEITY
“Post Office has embarked upon a transformational journey, one that will surely assure transformation of public services delivery and access. This would further make post offices to be the flag bearers of e-governance and good governance in the country” KAVERY BANERJEE SECRETARY, DOP
AWARDING CEREMONY The Hon’ble Minister, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad awarded 3 outperforming States for their achievements in the Digital India programme. Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya were the States which stood first, second and third positions respectively. 77 Districts across 29 States/ UTs were also conferred with certificate of appreciation for being the best performing Districts.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Caralyn K Deshmukh, President & CEO, NeGD. The celebration was webcasted live by NIC for nation-wide viewership and on-demand video of the complete event is available at NIC’s Webcast Portal (http://webcast.gov.in).
“This year, we have adopted progressive measures to open up not only business opportunities, but also efficient use of spectrum resources. Guidelines for spectrum sharing, trading & liberalization have been issued” PIYUSH AGARWAL MEMBER-TECHNOLOGY, DOT
“Digitization is an answer to good governance. In a big country of ours, I think we cannot stop till we have joined every single citizen with Digital Technology. It is our focus and our efforts would be to enable that the e- services reach one and all” AJAY KUMAR ADDL. SECRETARY, DEITY & DG, NIC
“Our efforts should surely usher in a digital India where there would be no digital divide, where equal opportunities would be available for all citizens and where government services would be available at finger tips of citizens” CARALYN K DESHMUKH CEO & PRESIDENT, NEGD
Hon’ble Minister and other dignitaries with branch postmasters of 3 pilot circles of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan displaying solar powered PoS devices received.