‘One click can change a lot of things: PM’
Vote via mobile phone by 2019?
A digitally-connected India will be a wealthy, and a robustly democratic country: can stand taller than its communist neighbour which stifles its citizens with filtered (censored) information. India’s GDP, and other indices may not be at par with China but Indians have the fundamental right: express.
India expresses!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a digital visionary: he had also identified ‘how unclean’ Hindustan is, and kicked off ‘Swachh Bharat’ to clean the country. He is urging the (celebrity) citizenry to voluntarily take up efforts to maintain an odorous, and litter-free India. Since its launch in October 2014, is ‘Clean Bharat’ underway? Beyond Lutyen’s Delhi and the premises of celebrities’ habitations, watch out of the window…stroll down the street…travel in a train (sight of human faeces and spots of urinals are not uncommon; rare tracts of cleanliness is a sheer delight: Jai Bharat Mata ki). Because we need sewage treatment plants in every taluq and district: do we have them? (Is it a state subject or Centre’s? Who will fund them? Politicking!) Every city has open drainages and breeding malarial diseases: dengue, malaria, chikungunya…We need municipalities, municipal corporations and panchayats to segregate waste (organic waste, inorganic waste; tins and glass bottles separately; plastic and wrappings), and incinerate them. Are we doing that?
However, whether how ‘swachh’ Bharat is, or not, is not the question at this juncture. India needs to rectify the digital divide in the country (among economic and social inequalities).
A country with unhindered access to Internet let it be on mobile phone, or laptop or desktop can change the modes of communication, and also in governance.
Unlike the success or failure of Swachh Bharat, Digital India ought to translate into reality for the citizens. So that they are empowered in terms of accessing information and utilizing the services of the government rather than paying a bribe to petty official for a certificate of caste or date of birth/death, for pensions and for plethora of documents which only the State can give.
Digital India is a series of policy initiatives under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY: what an acronym; unlike MGNREGA) under the Ministry of Communications Technology but the initiative will be overseen by a Monitoring Committee headed by none other than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Launching the Digital India week in the national capital (Digital India will decentralize flow of information), Prime Minister noted the gravest threat as a result of Internet: bloodless war, and he called for the credible cyber-security systems which could be innovated by the net-savvy Indians, and IT startups among others which could fructify if Digital India succeeds.
Narendra Modi has the first-hand experience of the utility of Internet (social media) and the advantages of Internet penetrating into India: transparency in government. He exhorted the captains of India’s IT industry to boost production of electronic devices (Make in India) to reduce dependence on imports (and save the precious ‘foreign exchange’ reserves). He was apt to point out that a country with 125 crore has a Digital Divide and this barrier has to be smashed for which he is leading the nation from e-governance to m(obile)-governance (Government services to be available on the mobile phone). He said, “I dream of a digital India where High-speed Digital Highways unite the Nation; 1.2 billion connected Indians drive innovation; technology ensures the citizen-government interface is incorruptible.” If the initiatives of Digital India—Communication Infrastructure and Services (BharatNet, Wi-Fi Hotspots, Next Generation Network), Products (Digital Locker, National Scholarships Portal, e-Hospita, e-Sign, Digital India Platform), Portals and Apps (MyGov, Swachh Bharat, Aadhaar), Research Institutions and Important Policies (Electronics Development Fund, e-Governance Policy Initiatives)—bears a fruit, the country can create employment for about 18 lakh people, apart from brining in investments to the tune of Rs 4.5 lakh crore!
India has missed a Renaissance in the 2nd millennium (we can always take shelter in the Golden Age of India, ah?), and Industrial Revolution but the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not letting the IT (Internet/Digital) revolution to miss. India is a socialist country but has capitalists of pre-Independent and post-Independent origins: Prime Minister ensured the socialistic country is taking along the capitalists to build a vibrant and digital India (we are a mixed economy since the days of Nehru). India’s top capitalists (who are making a mark, globally, now and then) also assembled at the launch of Digital India ‘week’ who committed to invest in IT-related services and products. RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani succinctly observed: Normally, the industry moves faster than the government, but with Digital India, the government has moved faster.
Bless us, Bharat Mata!
Did you count how many tweets the Prime Minister has posted on Twitter at the launch of Digital India? Indeed, he is not only the digital-friendly Indian but also the digitally-inclined Prime Minister to communicate, and express: Our demographic dividend must get digital strength.
PM is a visionary because he is thinking of not just e-Governance but also m-Governance: if this happens by the time India gears up for the General Elections in 2019, most citizens will be in a position to vote via mobile phone, probably they will for Modi. Only? The Prime Minister stressed in a tweet: “585 regulated markets across India will be integrated with common e-platform. This will be hugely beneficial for farmers.” Undoubtedly, this will be a great assistance for the farmers: like for cars and goods, price comparison website for fruits and vegetables.
One click can change a lot of things, said the Prime Minister in a tweet. Yes, with one click many things can change. From farmers checking the prices of agricultural produce to digital innovators thriving in Digital India, youngsters checking out what to study and where to study, and learning on internet-enabled devices…if all this happens, the credit goes to the Prime Minister Modi.
Additionally, if the ‘Digital India’ enables the citizenry to vote via mobile phone, obviously they cannot think of none other than the man from humble background (chai-wallah) with manicured grey-beard and bespectacled eyes with tumbling vision: Narendra Modi. The man would have risen, or towering above the BJP, and delivered: Digital India.
(Kovuuri G. Reddy is the author of ‘Handbook of Journalism and Media: India, Bharat, Hindustan’. He can be reached at [email protected])
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