Policy Update
Meenu Mohan
History
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) was established in 2016 to oversee IT policy, strategy, and the growth of the electronics industry in India. It was previously known as the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and was part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
Mandate
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is responsible for formulating and implementing IT policies, promoting the IT and IT-enabled services industry, driving e-governance initiatives, ensuring cybersecurity, bridging the digital divide, developing the electronics manufacturing sector, setting standards and quality benchmarks, collaborating internationally on IT matters, supporting R&D, overseeing IT regulations, and contributing to India’s digital transformation and economic growth.
Schemes / Programmes / Missions / Applications
API Setu
API Setu, is an Open API (Application Programming Interface) Platform that enables swift, transparent, safe and reliable information sharing across applications and to promote innovation. Central and State Government Departments are already available on the API Setu platform and provides access to thousands of APIs for various data points such as Driving License, Vehicle Registration, PAN, CBSE, e-District in MeitY’s DigiLocker.
Abhilekh Patal
Abhilekh Patal is a digital initiative with a mission to provide easy access to India’s historical archives, comprising an astounding 7 million records. It is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Abhilekh’ signifying records of ancient times, and ‘Patal’ representing a platform or a surface, is a digital repository thoughtfully curated by the National Archives of India (NAI). Here, researchers, students, and those seeking knowledge can explore primary source materials that illuminate events, people, and societal shifts.
Anuvaad, Web Service Text Translation
An innovative technology that seamlessly aids translation in text-to-text, text-to-speech, speech-to-speech, and speech-to-text modes, and language detection. It is a part of Bhashini, the National Language Translation Mission, which aims to transcend language barriers.
Bharat Maps
A Multi-Layer GIS Platform which depicts core foundation data as “NICMAPS”, an integrated base map service using 1:50,000 scale reference data from Survey of India, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), FSI (Forest Survey of India), RGI (Registrar General of India) and so on. It encompasses 23 layers containing administrative boundaries, transport layers such as roads & railways, forest layer, settlement locations etc., including terrain map services.
Biometric Attendance System-Delhi Central (BAS)
BAS enables an employee to register attendance by using his / her biometric (fingerprint/iris), which is authenticated online after one-to-one match with the biometric attributes stored in the UIDAI database against the employee’s Aadhaar Number. The system allows anyone to track the employees’ attendance on the designated website. The cloud-based attendance software is installed and operated from NIC National Data Centre.
CHAVI-Comprehensive Archive of Imaging in Oncology
It is the first imaging biobank dedicated to oncological imaging from India, developed as a part of the National Digital Library of India (NDLI), in partnership with Tata Medical Center, Kolkata and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. CHAVI adheres to the FAIR data principles – that is data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.
Chips to Startup (C2S)
The C2S Programme aims to train 85,000 VLSI (Very-large-scale integration) and Embedded System Design specialists over 5 years, fostering a vibrant fabless chip design ecosystem in India. By promoting industry-academia collaboration and encouraging IP core development, the program seeks to leapfrog India’s ESDM (Electronics System Design and Manufacturing) sector and incubate startups.
Common Services Centers Scheme (CSC)
Common Services Centres are the access points for delivery of Government-to-Citizen (G2C) e-Services within the reach of the citizen, by creating the physical service delivery ICT infrastructure at a pan-Indian level. This scheme is one of the mission mode projects of the Digital India Programme.
Design Linked Incentive (DLI)
The scheme aims to offset the disabilities in the domestic industry involved in semiconductor design in order to move up in value-chain and strengthen the semiconductor chip design ecosystem in the country, and offer financial incentives as well as design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design(s) for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design(s) over a period of 5 years. CDAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) is the Nodal Agency responsible for implementation of the DLI Scheme.
DigiDhan Dashboard
To monitor the growth of digital payments, MeitY has developed “Digidhan Dashboard”, a platform for accurate reporting, monitoring and analysis of all digital payments transactions occurring in the country and enablement of infrastructure through deployment of Physical/Mobile/BHIM Aadhaar PoS devices. It will help in tracking the growth of digital payment transactions in the country and will provide inputs for effective planning of digital payment promotional activities.
DigiLocker
DigiLocker aims at ‘Digital Empowerment’ of citizens by providing access to authentic digital documents to citizen’s digital document wallet. The issued documents in DigiLocker system are deemed to be at par with original physical documents as per Rule 9A of the Information Technology Rules, 2016.
Digital India Awards
These awards are instituted under the aegis of National Portal of India to encourage and honour innovative digital solutions by government entities at all levels. DIA 2022 aims to inspire and motivate not only government entities but also startups in fulfilling the Digital India vision.
Digital India Programme
A flagship programme launched in 2015, it aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society. The program has made significant strides in digital infrastructure and services, contributing to India’s position as the third-most digitalized economy globally. With a focus on emerging technologies and inclusive growth, it envisions a future where India leads the world in technological advancements and socio-economic development.
Electronic Procurement (GePNIC)
Government eProcurement System of NIC (GePNIC) is an online solution to conduct all stages of a procurement process. GePNIC converts the tedious procurement process into an economical, transparent and more secure system. Today, many Government organizations and public sector units have adopted GePNIC. Understanding the valuable benefits and advantages of this eProcurement system, Government of India, has included this under one of the Mission Mode Projects of National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) for implementation in all the Government departments across the country.
GREENE-An E-Waste Awareness Initiative
GREENE is an e-waste awareness initiative that includes a variety of programs and events to raise awareness about the environmental and social impacts of e-waste. The program aims to raise awareness about the environmental, social, and economic impacts of e-waste, and to promote best practices for environmentally friendly recycling.
Government eAuction System
National Informatics Centre, MeitY, GoI has developed a generic electronic auction (eAuction) platform to facilitate various kinds of online Auctions. It is offered in Platform As a Service model in https://eauction.gov.in and provides immediate on boarding facility.
Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW)
Released to combat inconsistencies in design and development of Government websites containing information on public services, which can hinder their effectiveness.
INDIAai-Central hub for everything Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India and beyond
The IndiaAI Mission aims to build a comprehensive ecosystem that fosters AI innovation by democratizing computing access, enhancing data quality, developing indigenous AI capabilities, attracting top AI talent, enabling industry collaboration, providing startup risk capital, ensuring socially impactful AI projects, and promoting ethical AI. This mission drives responsible and inclusive growth of India’s AI ecosystem through following seven pillars.
India Innovation Centre for Graphene (IICG)
The center envisages partnering effectively with industrial-academic activities in order to promote innovative and adventurous research with an emphasis on applications. IICG would attract internationally leading research on graphene into India and bridge the gap between scientific development and industrial applications of graphene in our country. The center also aims to create facilities and sophisticated equipment to promote research in alignment with industry requirements.
India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)
It is a specialized and independent Business Division within the Digital India Corporation that aims to build a vibrant semiconductor and display ecosystem to enable India’s emergence as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design. Led by global experts of the Semiconductor and display ecosystem, the mission aims to serve as a focal point for the comprehensive, coherent, efficient, and smooth deployment of the Program for Development of Semiconductor and Display Ecosystem in consultation with the Government ministries / departments / agencies, industry, and academia.
Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA)
To bolster India’s cybersecurity landscape, this initiative focuses on training and certifying cybersecurity professionals, fostering innovation in cybersecurity solutions, advancing research in emerging areas, and raising public awareness about cybersecurity. To support these activities, MeitY will establish a common infrastructure, the ISEA Virtual Platform (IVP), to facilitate collaboration and resource sharing among various stakeholders.
Localisation in e-Governance
The Indian government’s NeGP aims to make all government services available in all of India’s 22 official languages. To achieve this, C-DAC is tasked with localizing these IT applications using a cloud-based platform (LPMF: Localized Project Management Framework) that supports user interface, static content, and internal functionalities. This platform will also serve as a resource center for developers
MeriPehchaan-National Single Sign-On (NSSO)
A user authentication service in which a single set of credentials provides access to multiple online applications or services, this offers major benefits for both users and application administrators. For users, it eliminates the need to repeatedly prove their identities to different applications and hold different credentials for each application and also helps identify the real applications as opposed to fake ones.
Mobile Seva-National Mobile Governance Initiative
An innovative initiative aimed at mainstreaming mobile governance in the country, it provides an integrated whole-of-government platform for all Government departments and agencies in the country for delivery of public services to citizens and businesses over mobile devices using various applications installed on mobile phones, with a focus on rural accessibility.
NIELIT-Online Student Information and Enrollment System
It is an IT corporate with clear-cut strategies and its various operations are aimed at giving its customers a total package of IT solutions and products. Users can find detailed information on training, software development facility management, examinations, placements, recruitment, etc.
National Knowledge Network-Connecting Knowledge Institutions, New Delhi
It is a high-speed, nationwide network connecting research institutions, universities, and government agencies. Its goal is to foster collaboration, innovation, and knowledge sharing, ultimately driving India’s transformation into a knowledge-based society. By providing reliable, high-speed connectivity, NKN aims to facilitate advanced research, distance education, and e-governance initiatives.
National Portal of India
It aims to provide a single window access to the information and services being provided by the Indian Government for citizens and other stakeholders. An attempt has been made through this Portal to provide comprehensive, accurate, reliable and one stop source of information about India and its various facets. The current Portal is a metadata driven site that links to the other Indian Government Portals/websites for most updated information.
National Scholarships Portal
It allows students to check the status of their scholarship applications from previous years. By logging in, students can view detailed information about their past applications, ensuring they stay informed about their scholarship history.
Online Registration System Patient Portal (ORS)
Online Registration System (ORS) is a framework to link various hospitals across the country for online appointment system for getting consultation where counter based OPD registration and appointment system through Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) has been digitalized. The application has been hosted on the cloud services of NIC. Portal facilitates online appointments with various departments of different Hospitals using ABHA(Ayushman Bharat Health Account).
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan (PMGDISHA)
It is a Digital Literacy Scheme by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), to make six crore persons exclusively in rural areas, across States/UTs digitally literate, reaching around 40% of rural households by covering one member from every eligible household.
Special Manpower Development Program for Chips to System Design (SMDP-C2SD)
It is an Umbrella programme initiated under Digital India Program in December 2014 at 60 Academic and Research & Development Institutions spread across the country including IITs, NITs, IISc, IIITs, etc. The project aims to not only develop more than 50,000 Specialized Manpower in the area of VLSI/System Design at B.Tech, M.Tech & Ph.D levels but also to design & develop proof-of-concept Working Prototypes of 15 SoCs/ 70 ASICs/30 FPGA based designs thereby moving up in the value chain by bringing in culture of SoC/ Chip Design in the Country.
Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL)
It has the objective to develop information-processing tools to facilitate human machine interaction in Indian languages and to develop technologies to access multilingual knowledge resources. In view of the fact that a small number of people know English in India, others are deprived of the advantages of IT development. To enable wide proliferation of Information and communication Technologies (ICT) in Indian languages, tools, products and resources are made freely available to the general public in their own languages.
Tejas Portal
It is an easy, powerful, and affordable analytics visualization tool developed through the collaborative effort of NIC and NICSI (CEDA), and is a complete data preparation and analytics platform with the power to integrate all data types. This tool is completely developed in-house using open source technologies and brings together the best features comparable to those of market-leading BI tools.
Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG)
Developed jointly with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive Mobile Governance in India, it provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies.
Vikaspedia-India Development Gateway (InDG)
It is a digital platform aimed at providing equitable access to information, particularly on public policies and schemes, in regional languages. It is designed to empower citizens, especially the marginalized, by enabling them to engage with and participate in development processes. C-DAC, a premier R&D institution, is responsible for developing and implementing Vikaspedia.
eGreetings Portal
It promotes a sustainable and efficient way of sharing greetings on national holidays and other special occasions. It offers a range of customizable templates that can be used by government officials, agencies, and citizens. This platform addresses the limitations of traditional paper greetings and generic online greeting sites by providing a tailored solution for government organizations.
eTaal-Electronic Transaction Aggregation and Analysis Layer
eTaal 3.0 provides a Single Comprehensive view for Status of eServices across all states, measures the Quality of eServices(QoS), provides regional comparison of District-level eServices, has functionalities to build personalized reports for various ministries, displays data supported by Business Intelligence tools, interacts with an AI enabled chatbot, and offers a robust feedback mechanism.
References
About the Contributor– Meenu Mohan is a Research Intern at the Impact and Policy Research Institute, and holds a BSMS Degree in Mathematics from IISER, Bhopal.
Acknowledgement– The author extends sincere thanks to Dr. Arjun Kumar, Aasthaba Jadeja, Srishtistuti Roy, and Kirti Ranjan for their inputs.
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