Urban Local Bodies (Ulbs) and State Governments Beginning to Go Digital

MAJOR MUNICIPAL corporations have already taken the digital runway with multiple small steps and plans to takeoff with opportunities for widespread adoption.

- Abhishek Raval

India has witnessed a major digital push in the last couple of years under transformational projects like Digital India, Smart Cities, Startup India, etc. While the past few years have seen the adoption of disruptive technologies like cloud, big data, mobility; the year 2017 will largely emphasise on integrating all these technologies and providing seamless connectivity across all platforms.

The Watal committee appointed in August 2016 to suggest measures to recommend appropriate measures for encouraging digital payments submitted its final report on December 9, 2016. Digital payments to be made within the Government is one among a number of recommendations. While the central government has already kicked off taking decisions to mandate digital payments, the state governments and municipal corporations have already set the ball rolling by accepting payments in digital forms.

The huge push from the Government for accelerating the adoption of digital mediums has certainly helped in a big way. For example, according to statistics available at eTaal, the Government web portal for dissemination of e-Transactions statistics of National and State level e–Governance Projects, the transactions for availing government service electronically have increased by 33 per cent to cross 1,000 crore in 2016. The portal takes into account all e-transactions related to public services delivered from the Government to the citizens across sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, telecommunication etc.