Digitization is set to become a norm in the new normal!
In the age of new normal caused by Covid-19, digitization is all set to become a new norm, indispensable to every act of planning and pursuits for sustainable progress. Being digitally multifaceted will be the need of the hour for years to come now. From education to the health system, every developmental planning has to be digitally fine-tuned and perfect. It is so assuring to say that today India as a nation is adopting technologies very fast, which will accelerate the pace of growth marked by transparency.
The Union Budget 2022 has rightly laid a significant amount of emphasis on the enhanced use of technologies. Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) is going to be launched aimed at empowering citizens with skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training. Startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ and Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS). The use of drones in agriculture will open up new vistas of opportunities for tech startups. Taking the use of technology in the financial sector a step further, the newly proposed digital rupee will prove a very important milestone in faster, safer transactions, and cost effectiveness. It will be a big value addition to the ease of doing business.
In sync with the dynamics of new National Education Policy-2020, ‘One class-One TV channel’ programme of PM e-VIDYA will be expanded to 200 TV channels. Virtual labs and skilling e-labs will be set up to ‘promote critical thinking skills and simulated learning environments.’ The move to create high-quality e-content to be delivered through digital teachers will add a new dimension to classroom teaching. For the world-class quality universal education with personalised learning experience, a Digital University will be established.
The role of emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics, internet of things and hyper automation is going to be critical for the services sector. These technologies will create new job opportunities in the services sector. Even the universities are increasingly using new technologies for providing the best learning experience to students. At the macro level, technologies are already playing a critical role in nation building. From e-Passport to one nation, one ration card (ONORC) – a technology driven distribution system that makes food security portable across the country – the increasing use of technology is empowering common men, paving the way for inclusive and good governance.
During Covid-19, we saw the effective use of technologies by hospitals and doctors in attending to patients online. It is now becoming a preferential mode for doctors to attend to patients instead of calling them to OPDs. An open platform for National Digital Health Ecosystem, as is being envisioned by the Central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, will add much needed resilience in our health system. Similarly, ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’ will make quality mental health counselling and care services a universal reality. Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) is the backbone of India’s vaccination drive.
The use of technologies by the Haryana government is quite pervasive. The state is moving fast towards paperless governance by making e-governance central to the functioning of almost every department. Auto Appeal Software (AAS), Antyodaya Saral Portal, CM Window Portal, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, and Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) are some of the initiatives which show the state government’s resolve to go digital in governance in a comprehensive manner. PPP is a unique initiative, aimed at bringing the entire family under one roof so that wholistic benefits of government schemes reach them. In fact, digitization does not only enhance delivery of services and benefits of welfare schemes transparently but also helps us in plugging loopholes faster and reaching out to those left out swiftly.
(The views expressed are personal of the author)