FINGERTIP REPUBLIC

The use of digital technologies has revolutionised governance models across India. Not only has it weeded out corruption, but also ensured accountability and time-bound delivery of public services. India has already built a massive digital public infrastructure. The future depends on smart use of low-cost open-source software, uniform distribution of existing common building blocks and increased integration of Al, machine learning and blockchain. The Union and state governments have already deployed these tools to come up with several innovations. Public-private collaboration is adding further strength and speed to e-governance structures and mechanisms

- KAUSHIK DEKA

A CODE FOR PUBLIC GOOD

INDIA IS WELL ON ITS WAY TOWARDS AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE AND INCLUSIVE DELIVERY OF PUBLIC SERVICES. NOW IT HAS TO SCALE UP AND PROVIDE EQUAL ACCESS

Call it Gram Swaraj 2.0. Where no village, however remote its location, falls off the grid when it comes to the delivery of public services. Where state and citizen are linked on a simple hotline: the mobile phone. Making this possible is open source software (OSS), an affordable, easy-to-use and customisable platform that makes it the ideal vehicle for governments to dispense public services in leak-proof ways. That's especially useful in a country like ours, which has overtaken China this year to become the most populous in the world, and whose people are strung across diverse geographies. India has already built a digital public infrastructure on a scale unimaginable in other countries. The National eGovernance Plan has 31 Mission Mode projects, covering the entire gamut of government-to-citizen interactions, from health to agriculture to banking to taxation to education and more. The challenge now is to improve accessibility and to make it wholly inclusive.

WHY IT IS A GAME CHANGER

With faster, accurate and user-friendly digital services, OSS-based platforms can not only provide quality services, they can also be suitably scaled up. At the same time, such services remain dynamic and flexible enough to respond to any changes in demand and technological evolution.