A workshop on tracing digital India’s progress in enhancing public services in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan was held at the conference hall of the Central University of Karnataka near Kalaburagi on Thursday.
The event was organised by the Department of Public Administration of the Central University and sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).
Acknowledging India’s progress in the field of science and technology at the workshop, the former Vice-Chancellor of Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University at Nashik E.A. Vayunandana said that India is on par with developed nations in terms of technological development and application.
“Make technology a facilitator not a master. e-governance was started to bring governance on the doorsteps of people. The government has implemented e-governance at grassroots level and we have seen the impact of this on the transformation of people’s lives,” he said.
“Adoption of digital technology in governance has delivered many benefits, including efficiency in administration, inclusiveness, time saved, convenience, corruption and hassle-free operations, reduction of operational cost, accessibility, transparency and enhanced accountability. Due to e-governance, people’s satisfaction, trust, reliability in public governance and ease of use has increased,” he said.
A former professor of Computer Science at Gulbarga University B.V. Dandra said that the anatomy of digital India consisted of digitisation of documents, digital data, digital infrastructure and statistical software.
“Along with this structure, digital India is dependent on broadband, universal access, public internet, ICT, infrastructure, hardware and chips and e-governance. Digital India is also facing some challenges such as inadequate digital infrastructure, lack of digital literacy, lack of access to quality internet, privacy and security,” he said.
Another guest professor Y. Parthasarathi said that public administration institutes identified early the need for the application of digital technology in governance (e-governance) and opened the gateway for e-governance.
“Initially, there was resistance. But, later, people realised its importance and came forward to adopt it,” he said.
Central University Vice-Chancellor Battu Satyanarayana, who presided over the programme, said that the purpose of research should not be for getting promotion but for solving social problems.
“All the university teachers and students should come forward and work on issues around you. Central University has worked on PM Ujwal, Skill India, PM Kisan Samman and Digital India project assessment. Findings of these studies will help the government to take better decisions,” he said.
Dean, School of Social Science, Channaveer R.M., Project Director Sandeep Inampudi, other project directors Gururaj Mukarambi, Dinesh Gehlot, Supriya David, faculty members Mallikarjun Hugar, Alok Gourav, Kiran Gajnur and others were present.
