Explained: India`s digital leap as it nears 79th Independence Day
As India prepares for its 79th Independence Day next week, its digital governance ecosystem has made citizens more independent in accessing services and participating in governance.
Tech-enabled citizen-centric governance has led to the empowerment of citizens and inclusive development.
The Digital India initiative, launched in 2015, transformed India into a digitally enabled society and knowledge economy. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) platforms, including Aadhaar, UPI, and DigiLocker, have revolutionised service delivery.
During the last month, UPI recorded around 19.5 billion transactions worth over Rs 25 lakh crore. This translates into around 650 million transactions per day on average and worth around Rs 83,000 crore daily.
India was the first country to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) at scale, which reduced corruption and ensured the timely delivery of welfare benefits. Additionally, AI integration in governance-tailored services to citizen needs through grievance redressal systems and predictive analytics in healthcare and agriculture.
MyGov.in platform, National AI Portal (INDIAai) and Chic-CAD Plus were some noteworthy government-led programmes. POSHAN Tracker – a mobile-based application was developed for Anganwadi workers to provide real-time data on the delivery of nutrition and childcare services
Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) – a national platform for school education, and AYUSH Information Hub (AIH) for accurate and verified information on traditional medical systems, were other noteworthy programmes.
UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) helped access over 1,200 Central and state government services in multiple languages, including Aadhaar, DigiLocker, Bharat Bill Payment System, PAN, EPFO and other services.
E-governance platforms reduced bureaucratic opacity and increased public trust. Now, the country is developing AI-driven tools and multilingual platforms to ensure services reach marginalised communities.
The IndiaAI Mission, a government programme, has created 'AI Kosh', a data repository that has over 400 databases, to assist researchers and entrepreneurs in the development of multilingual AI solutions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reiterated on multiple occasions that India is willing to share technology, knowledge and expertise acquired in tech-enabled governance with the Global South.
