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Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) is the backbone of third industrial revolution
which has helped the world to attain fair degree of automation. When coupled
with social sector development projects, service delivery to public and public
infrastructure development it has proved itself time and again in effective
implementation. But owing to level of digital literacy in India ICT based
projects have encountered several drawbacks. Government of India and state
government have provided a number of ICT based solutions to its citizens which
have not been as successful as envisioned.
Factors which leads to failure of ICT based
programmes and projects:
• Lack of digital literacy among
targeted beneficiaries is a vital factor behind failure of these programmes.
• For example, literacy rate
among farming communities in India is very low (digital illiteracy: about 90%
of Indian population is digitally illiterate) due to which they are unable to
use ICT based platforms such as Kisaan Knowledge Management System, National
Agriculture Marketing Portal, Agmarknet Portal e.t.c.
• Complexity in some platforms
such as Goods and service tax which requires filling online forms and details
which caused extra economic burden on businessmen to hire employees for it is
another example of unpopularity of ICT among beneficiaries.
• Lack of user education and
there are limited facilities to train personnel. India needs over one million
cyber security experts to check and monitor the growing menace of digital
crime.
• There is a vital gap in
information sharing mechanism as digitally literate persons also could not access
these platforms due to lack of knowledge about them. It happens due to lack of advertisement
and awareness by the government.
• Unavailability of
telecommunication and internet services also hinders the accessibility of ICT based
platforms in remote rural areas.
• Privacy concerns and threat of
ransom ware.
• Slow roll-out of Wi-Fi hotspots
and the slow speed, in comparison to other developed nation.
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Measures to be taken to successfully
implement ICT based programmes and projects:
• Complexity of the serving
platforms must be reduced so that beneficiaries can easily access them with
little knowledge.
• Training – Making rural
population familiar with the use of computer and basic functions. Exampleb–
PMGDISHA
• Campaigns targeted to educate
beneficiaries about accessibility of these platforms should be promoted by live
demonstration and/or through teleconferencing. Example – National Optical Fiber
Network: to ensure broadband connectivity.
• Educating vulnerable sections
such as unorganized workers through top to bottom approach in industries in
which they work will help reap to benefits of these platforms.
• Connecting Gram panchayats and
remote corners of the countries will help to fulfill the ambitions as envisaged
by ICT based programmes.
• Capability building measures of
the people at the grassroots level.
• Nudge and motivate citizenry to
make use of the information and communication technology (ICT) mechanisms.
Example: incentives for digital transactions.
• Enactment of Data protection
bill.
Governments move to provide accessibility to
ICT based programmes:
• Government has setup Common
Service Centers (CSCs) across the country to help marginalized section of
community to access benefits of these platforms.
• CSCs are working in 1.8 lakh
gram panchayats and very soon it will reach 2.5 lakh gram panchayats by end of
the year. Close to 2 lakh CSCs are currently operational in the country.
• Apart from it, government has
setup service centers for various e-services in banks, post-offices and other
government offices.
• Further, improvement of
internet connectivity through National Optical Fibre Network under Bharat Net
will boost accessibility to these platforms.
Conclusion:
For
a vast country like India, it becomes imperative to provide citizen centric
solutions based on ICT to reduce congestion in government offices and provide
alternative of effective service delivery to its citizens. United Nation
declaring right to internet as basic right of an individual must be fulfilled
by state along with imparting of education related to ICT operation. It will
help India by providing social sector services and better technologies and
expertise to its citizens at their doorsteps.
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