Is India Leading the Digital Revolution in 2019?

Today India is – Digital India, all thanks to our Prime Minister of India- Narendra Modi

This campaign has made the country digitally empowered in the area of technology. The regulated government of India has made his grounds over making the availability of government services electronically. The enhanced online infrastructure and by extending Internet connectivity has eased the work of citizen. In 25 years, there have been lots of advanced changes in India, it is leading the digital revolution. The level of poverty in India has been a drop from 22% in 2012 to 16% in 2019 even after the essential growth in population.

Introduction to the Digital Revolution of 2019

Digital Revolution is all regarding developing for better tomorrow. This change can have an influential impact in different ways on different societies, economies and above all humanity.

Not only that, but digitalization also modified the way information scattered across different sectors of the globe. Giving grounds for businesses to move forward beyond the national markets to other markets, thereby leading international markets, enhancing the interconnection of the world.

One of the signs of these shifting flows is the digital revolution in India that has been catching grip since smartphones and 4G streaming have grown commonplace within urban areas including many rural areas too. There are more than 200 million smartphone users and 550 million internet subscribers live in India in 2019. This trend is being advanced by important rural-to-urban movement as poor villagers explore opportunities in India’s advanced cities.

From 2014 the Indian government has taken active participation in bringing digitalization by various measures. Such an example is demonetization, it has gained global attention has been associated with short-term job losses and economic slowdown. However, it also shows compliance for government leadership to drive India’s digital transformation.

Looking into the factors of the digital revolution from 2014 India has grown to some other level of grounds, our government of India has taken various Digital Initiatives like e- payment, digital literacy and many more.

Digital initiatives of government

India has moved forward, in all sincerity, to growing an essential engine of the world economy, we are on the edge of a transformative opportunity for the country to gain global leadership. The country is experiencing a digital revolution that is triggering transformative developments in areas like e-payments, digital literacy, financial inclusion, geographic mapping, rural development, much more. So, let us discuss all the factors which have been updated from 2014 to 2019.

• GI Cloud Program

This program is also known Meghraj, this is initiated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The program intends to make a multi-level, national cloud-sharing foundation giving affordable, secure and safe data storage for all. The cloud erases financial boundaries and generates growth by services and product. Giving affordable options to own the expensive hardware needed for data storage. It is a robust catalyst for new- businesses, start-ups and non-profit organizations.

This initiative is more for the poor and underprivileged. Aims to render digital service to more people who usually not be ready to enter the digital world. Reaching digital services can play a tremendous role in overcoming poverty.

• Market Changes

Government strategy is not the only driving constituent of the digital revolution in India. Changes in consumer refinements and function lie at the centre of the movement. India now makes up the biggest YouTube audience by country globally. Besides, Indians’ immense streaming habits win them another amount one ranking for monthly data usage, with smartphone users cooking through an average of 8.48 gigabytes per month.

Already many are expecting new market openings by India’s increasing streaming project. Global powerhouses Google, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix are all reportedly competing for a post in this emerging industry.

• Online labour

Now, this is something not everyone knows about it. This very graceful initiative of the Indian government. Online Labour Index (OLI) to state that India forms 24 % of the online labour market share (as of 2017), generating employment openings for software developers, data entry operators, online sales, and creative professionals.

• E-commerce

There are various job openings in the logistics sector because of the e-commerce industry is expanding with new services on the supplier view. There is an expectation that in 2020 the e-commerce market will increase from at yearly rate f 51 % from Rs 2,484.9 billion in 2017 to Rs 8,526.5 billion. Also, offers the potential for jobs inked to warehouse management, content developers, and marketing professionals.

• Investing sector

By Digital revolution, industries like stocks, mutual funds and other securities will develop more open to the crowds. It will not be a thought reserved for the urban states only.

Think today, even small villagers just by a few taps phone can invest in companies that are market. The digital revolution is for the mutual fund industry as well there are various choices for more active digital verification of KYC in mutual funds. Nowadays mutual funds are available online and one can easily apply their form or application realted to it. Get KYC done with 5-10 minutes.

• Aggregator model

Digital marketplaces have developed as a way to operate India’s large army of blue-collar workforce. The appearance of technology authorised aggregator business rules in sectors such as cab services, food delivery, hotel bookings and home service specialists has grown new jobs in India.

• Technology start-ups

The digital revolution has provided a great opportunity for digital market-places as many start-ups are there which are building employment options. The number of tech start-ups in India has grown by 12-15% during the 2014-19 period, extending the requirement of new job positions in the fields of Big Data, analytics and cloud computing.

Also, there has been an expansion in jobs in the area of cybersecurity, social media services, and mobile application development.

The government led by Prime Minister Modi has identified the great potential of startups in changing the economy and unleashing tech-driven conversion. Besides favourable policies, the government shall try to examine more ideas to increase participation of India’s startups in the digital conversion. Today there are about to 21,000 startups in India, out of which about 9,000 are technology startups. Several of these are unicorns, holding a cost of over a billion dollars.

• Make in India and Digital India programmes

The adoption of technologies like cloud platforms and applications has added significantly to our digital momentum. The Make in India and Digital India programmes have now chosen cloud and other digital disruptors to assist in developing a new and comprehensive nation. The cloud is an open fit for swiftly developing economies. India assists in removing obstacles to costly technology, building opportunities for new services. Also, products by supporting small businesses, start-ups and NPO.

Further, it allows collaboration and knowledge-sharing among academia the business world NGOs and the immense swathes of the Indian population that will benefit our farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans.

• Education sector

Education is always the first initiative and aims for government. There are multiple schemes in the education sector. Let’s discuss them one by one.

1. SWAYAM- Its full form is Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds. This scheme was outlined to reach the 3 main sources of Education Policy which access, equity and quality. This digital scheme not only brings education at the doorstep of many students but also tries to link the digital divide as students who cannot enter mainstream or formal education can reach this application. The scheme gives a chance for students to reach courses taught in classrooms from 9th standard to post-graduation, that can be given by anyone, anywhere at any time.
2. e-PATHSHALA- This digital scheme broadcasts all educational content by the website and mobile app. This scheme launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and National Council of Educational Research and Training.
3. Mid-Day Meal Monitoring App/ Shaala Sidhi/ Shaala Darpan- 3 of them centres on the quality of school administration and assess the schools and Kendriya Vidyalas to enhance the status of education.
4. OLABS- The online labs promote research skills for school lab experiments give students the security of conducting experiments over the internet.
5. Fo higher education Government has the National Scholarship Portal, eGranthalya and National Knowledge Network.

These digital actions not only look at developing the sector of education but are reaching out in delivering education to the needy, thus using the digital revolution to bridge the gap among haves and have-nots of education.

• Digital literacy programme for rural adults

Around than 15 crore rural households are not having computers. A notable amount of these households are likely to be digitally uneducated.

The Pradhan Mantri Grameen Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) b will cover 6 crore households in rural areas to be digitally educated.

• Health services

The health sector is much needed for a safe and healthy future of society. Digital AIIMS a plan that intends to build an efficient interrelation among UIDAI and AIIMS. The ‘e-hospitals’ scheme i.e. an open-source health management system.

• Agriculture sector

When India is becoming digital what our farmers also get the benefit of it. Some of the schemes in the farming sector include:

1. mkisan
2. farmer portal
3. Kisan Suvidha app
4. Pusa Krishi
5. Soil Health Card app
6. eNAM
7. Crop Insurance Mobile APP
8. Agri Market app
9. Fertilizer Monitoring App

• Women safety

Looking to women’s safety, applications like ‘Nirbhaya app’ and ‘Himmat app’ have been started that helps to send of distress calls. Nirbhaya is a mobile phone app rendered by Uttar Pradesh Police in India that is created to improve the safety of women. Delhi Police in its initiative for women safety has started a mobile application named as HIMMAT (Courage).

• Introduction of GST( Goods and service tax)

Growth of GDP due to GST. It has helped in reducing tax rates, eliminate multiple point taxation, and develop revenues. Essentially, a uniform tax system has made India a common market and expand trade, business, and export.

• E-payments

Bharat Interface for Money-Unified Payment Interface (BHIM UPI), with over 600 million sales 2019 alone, is the fortitude combining all banks and consumers and is being front-ended by many national and international digital programs. Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon pay etc all are setting their levels in the world of digitalization.

• Ways of identification as a resident of India

Goverment of India newly gave a policy drive to secure that no Indian remains without a unique identity. Today, 99% of Indian adults have an Aadhaar identification number. The government further interlinked the status system with bank accounts and mobile numbers, appearing in the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-mobile phone) trinity. JAM has shifted the fundamental digital design ushering in holistic economic inclusion.

Challenges for the future

Being the world’s fastest-growing economy, India’s main challenge is to guarantee the smooth distribution of that growth over income levels. Digital technology gives the highest potential for decreasing the gap between wealthy and poor customers.

But suggests, building comprehensive digital economies needs the combined action of governments, industry, financiers, and civil society. While the government seems to be moving up, how the private sector and global tech companies will present to equal Indian growth continues to be recognised.

What we see are the real changes that the digital revolution in India is holding on the economic growth of the country. If this remains, India should view a notable reduction in overall poverty rates accompanying economic development.

Conclusion

Since 2014, a slew of policy dimensions like Digital India, Skill India, Make in India, Startup India, and ‘Smart Cities’ have been revealed, while operating to eliminate bureaucratic red tape and secure the country more investor-friendly. India has jumped towards digital conversion. Its benefits in leveraging digital technologies for changing governance and the lives of every Indian.

“DIGITAL EQUALITY WILL ENSURE OVERALL EQUALITY”