Digital India – Where knowledge is strength

    08-Jul-2021
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Amitabh Kant
Contd from previous issue
In the hinterlands of India, gold coloured beneficiary cards are considered to be life savers for many, doing away with the various pillars and posts that one had to run to for equitable access to healthcare.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) is a unique blend of healthcare and technology and is the most comprehensive cashless, contactless, paperless and digital health insurance schemes in the world that covers over 500 million citizens in India, equivalent to the population of Europe.
PMJAY along with the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) is massively improving end to end healthcare delivery in India, inching towards a system that is totally technology-enabled through data-integration and standardization.
An example that truly resounds with this vision for a connected healthcare system, emerges from an aspirational district in western Uttar Pradesh. Chitrakoot, in spite of its developmental challenges, has wonderfully leveraged common service centres, village level entrepreneurs and ASHA workers to build an effective telemedicine delivery mechanism for all residents of the district. Under this intervention, patients in remote areas can avail specialist care without having to travel from their homes to hospitals, saving considerable time and money.
Digitisation and internet penetration have contributed phenomenally towards improving learning outcomes for students across India. Primary schools in Nawada, a remote aspirational district in Bihar are home to SMART classrooms, completely equipped with digital tools and internet connectivity, bringing knowledge from the world to Indian villages.
The model of SMART classrooms and e-learning has been rapidly replicated across States, introducing students from rural areas to a whole new world of learning. During the pandemic, several online learning initiatives deployed by the Government – DIKSHA, ePathshala, Swayam played an instrumental role in ensuring continued education for students in the most remote corners of the country.
The transformation of India into a digital society and a knowledge economy has tremendously improved ease of living for citizens. Universally accessible digital resources like the India Post which is the largest computerized and networked postal system in the world, the Ayush Sanjivani application, Digi Locker, UMANG app, Tele Law for legal advice, the SVANidhi scheme for street vendors and the launch of 10,000 BPCL CSC points for easy booking of gas cylinders are some of the tools that are maximising governance and minimising Government for Indian citizens.
Another revolutionary product of Digital India is the MyGov platform which is the world’s largest interactive digital democracy portal promoting participative governance.
As India moves from being data rich to data intelligent,  Machine Learning and AI will find solutions to a vast number of its challenges–water availability, learning outcomes, health improvement and enhanced agriculture productivity. Going forward, my belief is that the development of world-class technology products requires critical inputs from data-hungry young entrepreneurs and an AI-enabling policy environment. India should nurture an innovative breed of socially conscious and development oriented product managers, AI scientists, product designers and software engineers.
Building inclusive technology solutions is about high volumes with the availability of services at low cost and the convenience of video and voice in vernacular languages.  This requires a full stack design approach keeping in mind the unique attributes of India’s diversity, with special emphasis on the needs of people living in remote parts of the country.
In order to script an unprecedented success story of digital transformation, it is imperative to be fully cognisant of the aspirations and the potential of the population residing in rural and relatively disconnected parts of India.
How we enable and empower the spirit of entrepreneurship among them so that they leverage technology capabilities and data to provide solutions for not merely the people of India but the next 5 billion people of the world who will be moving from poverty to middle class, is going to be the corner stone of the next Digital India techade.
Author is CEO, NITI Aayog. Views expressed are personal.    PIB