The Digital India Action Group (DIAG), a think tank established for ideating and monitoring policy initiatives to support the Indian Government’s mission of Digital India, set up by Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT) on Thursday unveiled two topical white papers – “IoT for Effective Disaster Management” and “Aadhaar Enablement: A Framework for Citizen-Centric Services”.
‘IoT’ White Paper reveals Prediction and Early Warning Systems with Help of IoT, Cloud and Analytics can Effectively Mitigate Disasters on Real-Time Basis. Whereas, ‘Aadhaar’ White Paper lists out the unprecedented opportunities afforded by Aadhaar-enablement for governments, helping them to radically transform their complex delivery models to become more agile, citizen centric and innovative.
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The white papers were unveiled by Hon’ble Minister of State for Home Affairs, Govt. of India, Kiren Rijiju and Debjani Ghosh, President, MAIT. Also present on the occasion were senior Government of India officers Dr. V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog; R K Jain, Member Secretary, NDMA; S Radha Chauhan, President & CEO, NeGD, and Ameya Abhyankar, Director-IT & Secretary to CM, Govt. of Goa as well as leadership teams from MAIT and the IT industry.
Launching the white papers, Kiren Rijiju, Hon’ble Minister of State for Home Affairs, Govt. of India said, “Information Technology has played a key role in changing the face of our country and noteworthy initiatives like Digital India are encouraging us to push the boundaries of innovation. I am happy that industry bodies such as MAIT have taken the lead in helping the government devise proactive policies and plans, and suggest ways to most effectively deploy Information and Communication Technologies to mitigate the effects of disasters and improve effectiveness of service delivery for the government’s social welfare schemes.”
Debjani Ghosh, President, MAIT, said, “For the Digital India vision to be successfully realized, it is crucial that we recognize and leverage the potential of emerging technologies such as IoT in disaster management, so as to avoid or minimize the negative impacts of unforeseen events on citizen lives and the economy. IoT is equally relevant for public transportation, government supply chain management, and centrally-managed citizen information repositories such as the one created for Aadhaar, where connected devices can enable efficient, timely and targeted delivery of government healthcare and educational services to citizens.”
“By seamlessly integrating cloud, analytics, and mobility solutions with IoT deployments and the Aadhaar database, the ICT industry can play the role of a trusted partner to the government in achieving the country’s developmental goals,” Ghosh concluded.
The white paper highlights the importance of real-time information management for effective preparation, planning, response and mitigation of disasters. It places emphasis on the IoT as a technology domain, which can pave the way for a radical and pioneering approach to minimize losses caused due to disasters.
Deploying Aadhaar-enabled systems can transform the relationship between citizens and the government. There is an opportunity for government to engage much more deeply with citizens and significantly enhance the quality of service delivery by using a reliable authentication system. According to the MAIT DIAG White Paper, Aadhaar generation in the country has crossed 99 crore, which covers 83 percent of the entire population of the country and more than 95percent of the adult population.
As per recent reports, Government of India estimates a total saving of Rs. 27,000 crore has been realized in the last two years by seeding Aadhaar in various welfare schemes and enabling Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT); this includes government schemes like PAHAL (for LPG cooking gas) and payment of wages under MGNREGS. In 2015-16, fund transfers worth Rs. 61,000 crore were made through DBT to over 30 crore beneficiaries – of which Rs. 25,000 crore was in the form of MGNREGS wages and Rs. 21,000 crore in PAHAL.