New Delhi, Feb 22 (UNI) Rapid strides taken in digitising administration during past four and a half years have brought the country to a stage where outside world is keen to learn from Indian experience, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday.
“Digital journey of India is at a position of no return. National Informatics Centre’s efforts have brought us into the era of digital administration. More than 2300 services are already available on digital platform,” Mr Prasad said while speaking at the Digital Awards ceremony.
He said the National Informatics Centre has responsibility to deploy technology for improving governance and make growth more inclusive and sustainable.
The Minister said Digital India initiative should be seen beyond IT and governance. It is an initiative of the Modi government aimed at empowering ordinary people.
NIC has the responsibility to make people use digital technology with the objective of bridging rural-urban gaps and also ensuring that the national efforts to bring about transparency in governance are reached, he added.
“India has everything to be the hub centre of data analytics and NIC has the pivotal position to take India to a position of dominance in this sector.”
Another issue of immediate concern, Mr Prasad said, is development of low cost cyber security solutions. The Government’s technology custodian should not hesitate in extending supporting hand to private sector.
Besides, he said, NIC should work towards use of technology for improving Indian agriculture scene, standardise primary education by equipping government schools with technological tools, health care with low cost technology.
Mr Prasad said the Digital India Awards have played a pivotal role in promoting the use of World Wide Web platform as an effective tool for e-Governance. At the same time, numerous departments have been able to take inspiration and emulate the successful innovations which have been recognized and rewarded on the Digital India Awards platform.
Since its inception the Digital India Awards have seen four editions, beginning from 2010, and biennially being conferred in 2012, 2014 and 2016. A new addition to the awards this year is the introduction of a new category known as ‘Emerging Technologies’, seeking to identify and reward those digital initiatives that have made exemplary use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Virtual Reality, Block Chain, Internet of Things (IoT), Voice User Interface, Big Data and Analytics.
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