Leading the paradigm shift

Innovations and developments in technology have led the transformation of telecom sector in a big way influencing the lives of common people in India. Today, the performance indicators of telecom sector are not just limited to connectivity but also are content and service delivery. The evolution of high-speed Internet and broadband services has also led the foundation of a robust digital ecosystem in the country.

The state support

Since the very beginning, the Government of India has been an active proponent of embracing technology to improve the lives of citizens by setting up centers of eminence in technology. This was the genesis of the formation of National Informatics Center which has played a pivotal role in applications of technology in various sectors of development spanning across the length and breadth of the country.

Technology has helped us re-imagine the way services are offered and think beyond the obvious. From the use of chalkboards, notice boards to real-time display of results during different games, elections and examinations, technology has extended the access to information to people across the country.

The 9th Asian games in 1982 witnessed the use of telecom technology in India where computer terminal network for providing computerized information systems was implemented.

This provided computerized information support in different dimensions of games and connected the venues of Asian games in India to present instantaneous display and tabulation of results. This was an important landmark in the history of NIC and demonstrated the potential of connected government.

In 1985, Teletext services were another initiative in this direction for dissemination of mass information much before the advent of internet in the country. The information provided through teletext was organized into magazines such as news and general information, online railways timings and seat availability, and airlines timings and seat availability.

Connected government

The success of these initiatives was an inspiration which led to the concept of connected government and thereby satellite based VSAT technology was used for the first time in the country to connect government institutions across the length and breadth of the country, central and state government alike.

In early 1980s, NICNET, a VSAT-based pan-India communication network, facilitated communication and exchange of information amongst various establishments across central government, Centre to state government and even at the district administration level. Besides regular exchange of information between the government departments, NICNET also played a crucial role during general and state elections across the country. It has continually evolved with the State of art technology from VSAT based networks to copper cable to radio frequency to fiber optic, WiFi while applying right technology to the right context.

NICNET facilitated building of national data bases and information systems in various sectors of social development be it rural development, agriculture, healthcare, education or financial services.

To address the challenges of connectivity in difficult terrain and facilitate access of information & services to the citizens in those regions, a concept of Community Information Centres (CICs) was introduced in 2002, under which information centres were setup in Jammu & Kashmir, all the North-Eastern states further extending up to Nathu La pass in Sikkim so as to bring the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to the citizens.

These CICs provided a citizen interface for IT enabled E-Government services and enabled access to information through Internet and E-mail.

As a nation, we have evolved in the way we use technology to communicate between the different government departments, and ensure better governance at all levels. Video Conferencing services since 1995 have helped connect and bring administration close to each other.

As on today, over 2,200 videoconferencing studios have been established across different departments of the government supporting several government meetings each day. Videoconferencing services have also been used for monitoring of various government projects, schemes, public grievances, monitoring of law and order, hearings of RTI cases, distance education, telemedicine, monitoring of election processes, to even connecting the courts to prison to avoid movement of criminals from prison to courts.

National knowledge network

The establishment of the National Knowledge Network (NKN) brought the use of next generation technology in communication networks in government. NKN, a multi-gigabit nationwide network connected through 10G backbone provides robust, resilient high-speed network for government communication.

The NKN has also extended high-speed Internet access to leading research and academic institutions of the country, thereby providing an opportunity to collaborate for carrying out research at national & international levels. NKN has connected over 1,700 institutions benefiting five crore students, researchers and faculty across the country.

The revolution brought by telecom infrastructure in the country and access to broadband and data services has helped empower the common people through affordable access to information. This has brought-in a paradigm shift in the way services are offered i.e. from counter based assisted mode to a self- service mode.

A stable and a scalable telecom infrastructure along with robust IT systems in place facilitated the adoption of a cloud computing. National cloud set up by NIC has supported various departments in launching their national programmes within a short period of time under the Digital India initiative without worrying for estimation, approval, procurement and maintenance of IT infrastructure.

Cloud technology has further helped in consolidation of many IT solutions to national platforms where stakeholders associated at different levels can all connect to a common platform. This has given rise to the concept of platform making in e-governance solutions leading to the concept of One Nation One Platform.

The fourth industrial revolution has brought in a developing environment in which emerging technologies and trends such as the IoT, robotics, VR and AI are changing the way we live and work. With these technologies in place, we are witnessing small scale implementations in areas such as precision agriculture, crop-disease control, traffic management, telemedicine, AI-enabled health diagnostics etc. We will see a widespread implementation of these services in the years to come.

As we get more and more citizens from diverse demography into the fold of digital ecosystem, we need to pay attention to cybersecurity as a focused domain. With more technologies getting embedded into these systems, there is a need to continually upscale the cybersecurity, measures in our infra, applications as well as our end-points.

- Dr. Neeta Verma

-- The author is Director General of National Informatics Centre.