The foremost digitally developed democracy

China is a dystopia, and the USA is falling way behind. India has made great digital strides in the last decade or so and we are on the path to being a digital leader in the world of democracies

- Sunil Rajguru

Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar F recently narrated a tale of how he and his son, a resident in the USA, visited a restaurant there. When asked about their Covid vaccination certificate, while Jaishankar showed his mobile screen, his son took a folded piece of paper from his wallet. The contrast was clear. Which is the developed country? Which is the underdeveloped one? A few years back you could not have thought of such a thing.

India's CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network) is operated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It was a remarkable achievement the way vaccine appointments were managed, and the final certificates were issued. While there were glitches, imagine the alternative of the India of old with long lines, tonnes of paper piles and bureaucratic incompetence. Almost overnight Vaccine Certificates and Passports could be made. It was done in a phased manner and finally more than 200 crore vaccines have been administered.

It was immediately integrated with the newly created Aarogya Setu mobile app which is a form of contact tracing. While this is not that popular because of privacy concerns, it did do a great job in the early days of pandemic. There were 100 million installations in 40 days. It was an example of how the government could come out with an app to suit a current crisis and integrate it into the nation's digital infrastructure.

This was part of UMANG or the Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance. You could put your vaccine certificate in your account cloud Digilocker, along with your driving licence, digital registration, academic and other documents. Another convenient initiative.