10 initiatives for a Digital India in order of priority that can help make a practical roadmap

Initiatives for Digital India 1.Optical fiber and making high-speed internet available to even the remotest areas of India 2.Digital / E-police 3.Digital courts 4.Digital services 5.Digital complaints and resolutions 6.Digital governance 7.Digital forms, verifications 8.Digital government offices 9.Digital Education and libraries 10.Digital land details Details of each of these initiatives, what do they mean and how to get these implemented is given in the following slides.

High Speed internet / Digital Infrastructure No digital initiative would go far in implementation without the basic infrastructure in place that means that availability of internet (read high speed internet) to the remotest of areas across India. This could be made possible with the following options: 1.PPP model for providing the internet services 2.Government sponsored Fiber optics that could also be leased to other companies which support PPP model of providing services 3.Making internet as cheap as is usage of mobile phones in India

Digital / E-police Law enforcement is very important in India and that is not happening. That is the reason the crime rate is very high and this is despite the fact that many incidents go un-reported by the people as they don’t the hassle of going to police station and the harassment or police doesn’t report the cases. One of the major problems in today’s India is corruption and that is also because law enforcement is not working properly. Filing a FIR should be made digital so that anyone and everyone can file a FIR. Of course it might require people to be aware of consequences of false reports but it will ensure that all cases are reported. It seems that initially the crime rate data might shoot up but it is said that “you can not control something that you can not measure.” and digital filing of FIR will make law enforcement measurable and controllable. All reported cases should be made online along with progress made on them. Those cases that a state and police logically confirms could be related to state or national security could be the only exceptions to this. All complaints against police officers should be made public and the officers should be suspended until the enquiries against them is over and clean-chit is given. There are road-rages and one of the reason is that people will have to go to police, court etc. before the claim is settled. There should be simple procedure and that could be as simple as the person hitting the vehicle signing that he is responsible for the damage, state details of the damage and the claim is settled by the insurance company of the person who is at fault. Each such case however should be digitally recorded in police records.

Digital courts There are thousands of cases pending in India’s courts, few are awaiting documented evidences from other states, others awaiting reports from certain offices, land and revenue offices etc. etc. While it will be mentioned under “digital services” that all government services should be made digital, it is imperative that the courts of India are made digital. Filing a case, knowing the status, appearing in the court, waiting for decisions etc. should be made digital. Court proceedings, wherever possible, should be available on online channels, witnesses should be able to login from their homes, offices and make a statement without disclosing their identities to the criminals and avoid exposure to being attacked/harassment etc. Lawyer and judges historical records, criminal charges etc. should be made publically available. Apart from this there could be opinion of general public taken on cases related to masses e.g. people can vote for the sentences, opinion about criminals, unreported incidents etc. and court at their discretion use this information to make the final decisions.

Digital services This might sound like digitalization of everything, however this is making all government offices digital be it licensing, hospitals, schools and colleges, laboratory services, municipals, tax offices, transport, railways, banks etc. basically every service that a citizen would use should be available as digital service making people avoid long queues, frustrated ‘babus’, corrupt officials, harassing peons etc. This would mean a lot more details in making a policy blueprint for each of these departments which I am avoiding at this point.

Digital complaints and resolutions This is quite interesting topic and while government might say that Public Grievance Portal is already available for the masses but the question is how effective that medium is so far. The complaints are normally forwarded to the concerned departments and that is all. I have personal experience of using it at multiple occasions. My MTNL connection was down for more than a month in Delhi and despite logging a complaint in pgportal it was not fixed. It should be possible to digitally log all complaints to any departments. A step by step resolution detail should be available along with the name of contact person handling the complaint at any given points in time. The service level agreements should be published which means that each department, if not being able to solve the complaint within stipulated time, will have to pay the complainant a suitable compensation.

Digital governance All policies, government procedures etc. should be made publically available. All policies, affecting masses, should seek public opinion before formalization through digital mediums. Step by step guides should be available to follow a procedure along with the forms, approval authority and where the procedure is pending and why, details should be available to the public. As mentioned in previous slide, all these should be along with proper SLAs and compensation policies to ensure work is done on time.

Digital forms, verifications What hassle it is to find the forms, fill these forms and then get the required documentation for these forms. All government forms should be made digital, easy to access, might not require printed submission and verification should be made easy. This would be difficult to implement in rural India initially but knowing that public in India is very adaptive to anything, this would take no time before India goes digital.

Digital government offices Government employees serving public have to go through piles of files, documentation etc. looking for information from other offices, approvals etc. and thus not being able to serve people despite good intentions. All government offices should be made digital with documentation, digital approval workflows and details made available to every employee working in that office or department.

Digital Education and libraries Attending school and universities is expensive, buying books is expensive and these reason hinder youth from getting the right education. Government is already working through open school and universities for making education accessible to all. However the following is still needed: 1.Libraries should be in digital format for open schools and universities leading to 1.Easy accessibility 2.Almost free to use (except for internet charges) 3.Be green, save trees 2.Government sponsored universities lectures should be videographed and made available to public e.g. why can’t government make IIT, IIM recorded sessions available to public and this would mean high quality education available to poor and needy, reduce unnecessary pressure for competition and financial burden on many.

Digital land details This requires no introduction and is reason for large percentage of black money, land scams, corruption and other criminal activities. All land in India should be digitized. Land owner information made available online and registration should be made digital, making it easy and legitimate. This would mean Higher revenue for government Reduction in Black money Complete ban of land scams Reduction in civil cases Corruption