E-Paper
Number of services will gauge Digital India success
Digital India’s success will be assessed on number of government-to-citizen services that go online by end of the financial year.
Digital India’s success will be assessed on number of government-to-citizen services that go online by end of the financial year.
These services will then be pitched by the communications ministry to attract higher financial resources and tax concessions in the Union budget, according to a top official, involved in budget preparation in the Telecom Commission.
To push more government-to-citizen online services, Telecom Commission, which is the policy making body of the communications ministry, plans to set up a monitoring unit for the implementation of the Digital India mission. On top of the list is offering access to Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana details on mobile phones.
“Before end of January 2016, the DoT plans to offer safe online transaction of insurance schemes such as payment of premium and generation of receipts. The project will cover universal mobile connectivity in the country at a cost of about Rs 16,000 crore in 2015-16,” said another source in the Telecom Commission.
Telecom Commission may suggest a separate fund for building the backend services and staff for Digital India under in the budget. “A separate fund will help the nodal agency and officers to take quick decisions and disbursal,” the Telecom Commission official explained.
There are nine focus areas in Digital India programme: broadband highways; universal access to mobile connectivity; public internet access programme; e-governance; e- delivery of services; information for all; IT for jobs and early harvest programme.
