Digital India: Perspective, challenges and future direction

Abstract

On July 2015, the Indian government unveiled “Digital India” or (DI), an action plan expected to push forward the socio-economical evolution by means of seamless Internet connectivity between the rural parts of the nation. Digital India also envisages to provide rapid growth in all areas of society while crating huge pool of jobs, especially in Information Technology (IT) and electronics manufacturing. The ultimate purpose of this plan is to provide following three benefits — well equipped digital infrastructure as a core tool to every Indian, smart e-governance, on demand digital services and digital empowerment of citizens. However, the Digital India scheme is still in its nascent phase of journey, it lacks in multitude forma such as (1) Internet adoption and access, and (2) innovationdriven ecosystem and genuine inclusiveness. In this article, I present a schematic framework by incorporating Digital India's vision, managerial structure, methodology and structural pillars to accomplish its goal. I also describe Digital India's characteristics from fifteen different perspectives and elaborate the state-of-the-art for the plan while including selective initiatives being taken in agriculture, health, industries, commerce, governance, rural development, social development, energy distribution, science and technology, transport, sports, environment protection, education, communication and interaction with citizens. The plan faces several challenges, but also offers promising futuristic developments.