Digital India Abhiyan
- Launched in 2015, it is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MietY) with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
- It is transformational in nature and would ensure that Government services are available to citizens electronically.
- This programme is centred on three key vision areas,
- Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen
- Governance & Services on Demand
- Digital Empowerment of Citizens
- The overall scope of this programme,
- To prepare India for a knowledge future,
- On being transformative that is to realize IT (Indian Talent) + IT (Information Technology) = IT (India Tomorrow),
- Making technology central to enabling change,
- The programme weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision, so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal,
- Common branding - The Digital India Programme will pull together many existing schemes which would be restructured and re-focused and implemented in a synchronized manner.
- Digital India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely
- Broadband Highways
- Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
- Public Internet Access Programme
- e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology
- e-Kranti - Electronic Delivery of Services
- Information for All
- Electronics Manufacturing
- IT for Jobs
- Early Harvest Programmes
- With the help of Digital India; DigiLocker; One Nation, One Ration Card scheme; One Nation, One MSP; e-NAM portal; eSanjeevani; National Digital Health Mission; Aarogya Setu; COWIN app; PM-WANI scheme; One Nation, One Card; are being implemented.
Common Service Centre
- The Common Services Centre (CSC) program is an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY).
- CSC are Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access points created under the National e-Governance Project.
- These access points deliver various electronic services to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society.
- They enable community participation and collective action for engendering social change through a bottom-up approach with key focus on the rural citizen.
- CSCs enable the three vision areas of the Digital India programme. The services provided are,
- Agriculture Services
- Education & Training Services
- Health Services (Telemedicine, Health Check-ups, Medicines)
- Rural Banking & Insurance Services (Micro-credit, Loans, Insurance)
- Commercial(DTP, Printing) and Entertainment Services
- Utility Services (Bill Payments, Online bookings)
- CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd is a Special Purpose Vehicle incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 by MeitY to monitor the implementation of the CSCs Scheme.
- It provides a centralized collaborative framework for delivery of services to citizens through CSCs, besides ensuring systemic viability and sustainability of the scheme.
- Through computer and Internet access, the CSCs as a kiosk provide multimedia content related to e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment, and other government and private services.
- DigiGaon or Digital Village conceptualized as the connected village where the citizen can avail various e-services.
- They are change agents that promote rural entrepreneurship, build rural capacities and livelihoods through community participation.
- The aim of the program is to turn each village into a self-sustaining unit.
DigiLocker
- It is a flagship initiative of MeitY under ‘Digital India’ programme.
- It is a platform for issuance and verification of documents & certificates in a digital way, thus eliminating the use of physical documents.
- Indian citizens who sign up for a DigiLocker account get a dedicated cloud storage space that is linked to their Aadhaar (UIDAI) number.
- Organizations that are registered with Digital Locker can push electronic copies of documents and certificates directly into citizens’ lockers.
- Citizens can also upload scanned copies of their legacy documents in their accounts. They can access it through their mobile number.
- These documents can be electronically signed using the eSign facility.
- Apart from e-documents, DigiLocker can store a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) link of e-documents issued by various issuer departments.
eSanjeevani
- Telemedicine service platforms of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched two variants of eSanjeevani namely,
- Doctor to doctor (eSanjeevani AB-HWC) and
- Patient to doctor (eSanjeevaniOPD).
- eSanjeevani AB-HWC - It is a doctor to doctor telemedicine system, being implemented under the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centre (AB-HWCs) programme.
- AB-HWCs are envisaged to be the platform for delivery of an expanded range of primary health care services closer to the communities.
- It seeks to connect all 1,50,000 HWCs using the hub-and-spoke model by 2022. Under the model, a network will be established comprising,
- Hub - An anchor establishment, which offers a full array of services,
- Spokes - Secondary establishments that will complement the anchor establishments. They offer limited services, routing patients needing more intensive services to the hub for treatment.
- E-Sanjeevani OPD (out-patient department) - It is a telemedicine variant for the public to seek health services remotely.
- It was rolled out in April 2020 during the first lockdown in the country.
- It enables virtual meetings between the patients and doctors & specialists from geographically dispersed locations, through video conferencing that occurs in real-time.
- At the end of these remote consultations, eSanjeevani generates electronic prescriptions which can be used for sourcing medicines.
BHIM App
- Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is a mobile payments application based on National Payment Corporation of India’s (NPCI’s) Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
- Developed by the NPCI, it is an initiative to enable fast, secure, reliable cashless payments through your mobile phone.
- It is based on UPI to facilitate e-payments directly through bank. It is interoperable with other UPI applications, and bank accounts.
- Unified Payment Interface (UPI) is an instant payment system built over the IMPS infrastructure.
- It allows you to instantly transfer money between any two parties’ bank accounts.
National Digital Health Mission (NDHM)
- It aims to develop the backbone necessary to support the integrated digital health infrastructure of the country.
- It will be launched with four key features - Health ID, personal health records, Digi Doctor and health facility registry.
- It is a part of the National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB).
- It is implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- NDHB aims to enhance the healthcare delivery by setting up a core e-health database of international standards. It allows patients to have control over their health data.
- It envisages creating a national health ID for every Indian. It uses technology to streamline processes such as record-keeping, sharing of healthcare data and similar healthcare processes.
Deciding Defection Petitions
- The Supreme Court of India put on hold a petition to frame guidelines for fixing time limits by which the Speakers of Parliament and the Assemblies should decide defection petitions against MLAs.
- It said the court cannot legislate i.e. cannot fix time limits. It said that this is the prerogative of the House.
- However, it gave lawyer for the petitioner time to study a judgment of the Supreme Court in the Karnataka MLAs’ case on the point.
- The 2019 Karnataka judgment had said Speakers who cannot veer away from their constitutional duty to remain neutral don’t deserve the chair.
- The court had urged Parliament to re-consider strengthening certain aspects of the Tenth Schedule [anti-defection law], so that such undemocratic practices are discouraged.
Vaccine Hesitancy
- The Vice President of India stresses the need to address vaccine hesitancy in some sections of the population, especially in rural areas.
- According to the WHO SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy, vaccine hesitancy refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccine services.
- It is complex and context specific varying across time, place and vaccines.
- It is influenced by factors such as complacency, convenience and confidence.
Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor
- Minister of Commerce & Industry chaired a meeting for the review of 20 large-scale critical infrastructure projects with issues enlisted for resolution, with the Project Monitoring Group (PMG).
- Among the projects reviewed, a few notable names are as follows:
- Dedicated Freight Corridors
- Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC)
- AKIC is being developed along the alignment of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) traversing seven States.
- [Seven States are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.]
- Objectives of AKIC to,
- Optimise the present economic and employment potential of the region,
- Stimulate investments particularly in the manufacturing, agro-processing, services and export oriented units and
- Promote overall economic development of the area through creation of high standard infrastructure and an enabling pro-business environment.
Short Span Bridging System
- The first production lot of 12 Short Span Bridging System (SSBS)-10 m, designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has been inducted into Indian Army.
- The SSBS-10 m plays a crucial role of bridging the gaps up to 9.5 m as a single span providing a 4 m wide, fully decked roadway, ensuring faster movement of the troops and enhance the mobilization of resources.
- Research & Development Establishment, Pune, a premier engineering laboratory of DRDO, has designed and developed the system.
- The 12 bridges are part of 102 SSBS-10 m from M/s L&T Ltd, which is the production agency.
- The Project Short Span Bridging System involved the development of
- Two prototypes of 5 m SSBS on Tatra 6x6 chassis and
- Two prototypes of 10 m SSBS on Tatra 8x8 re-engineered chassis.
- This system is compatible with multi span Sarvatra Bridging System (75 m), where the last span requires covering gaps less than 9.5 m.
- The deployed bridge is of the load classification of MLC 70.
- Number of mechanised mobility solutions has been developed by DRDO for the Indian Army like Single Span 5 m and 10 m, Short Span Bridging System, 46 m Modular Bridge, Sarvatra Bridging System etc.
- Manually launched 34.5 m Mountain Foot Bridge was also developed by DRDO earlier.
Source: PIB, The Hindu
