Digital India: We’ve adapted quickly during current COVID-19 crisis

On July 1, 2015, the Government of India launched Digital India, to push for online infrastructure throughout the country and to empower “digitally” the citizens of India. In five years a lot has been achieved and a lot still has to be done. Here’s what some industry leaders think about the initiative…

Disruption is at the heart of every great innovation

As history can testify, disruption has been at the heart of every great innovation. It has laid waste to established norms, while simultaneously birthing new ones. We are in the midst of an unprecedented disruption on a global scale. But, over the last few years, everyone, from small businesses to state enterprises, has been preparing for large-scale digital disruption. And while the current crisis is a disruption that the world wasn’t expecting, we have been able to respond and adapt quickly, owing to our preparedness in anticipation of a digital disruption.

Our preparedness comes, in part, from the government’s Digital India program, which has served as an impetus for everyone to embrace technology. Today, the government is once again leading the charge on adopting technology to keep people safe, informed, and connected. The Aarogya Setu COVID-19 tracker app, COVID-19 microsite, and MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot, etc. are all proving instrumental in keeping citizens updated continuously. Government bodies are leveraging cutting-edge technologies to stay on top of this crisis. We have several examples—in the state of Gujarat, over 80 COVID hospitals are connected and collaborating over Cisco Webex; several state governments are using video to train nurses and hospital staff in handling ventilators; the Aarogya Setu app is using data and GPS to track the spread of infection, etc. If not for our preparedness, our response would not have been as swift or effective.

—Sameer Garde, President, Cisco India and SAARC.

Healthcare can capitalize on digital advances

Digital India initiative helped us in leveraging the power of technology and making technology more accessible. Today, it is not only the anniversary of Digital India, but also a day to applaud government’s efforts in enabling digital health in times of COVID. From AI-assisted healthcare solutions to telemedicine, there is a great deal of work ahead of us in the healthcare industry. Through initiatives like these, healthcare providers can capitalize on digital advances, change care-delivery outcomes and harness tech-driven decisions that can empower the entire nation and the healthcare industry.

—Gerd Hoefner, Managing Director and President at Siemens Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.

We’ve come a long way but still a fair distance to cover

Digital India Campaign launched to improve the country’s Digital Infrastructure, Digital Literacy and Digital delivery of services, has come a long way but still has a fair distance to cover. While digitization of services and apps Like UMANG, supported with a more robust digital infrastructure made life easy for folks during lockdown allowing them to manage a number of jobs and transactions online from the safety of their homes, there is lot more work to be done in improving the availability of broadband and in the field of electronic manufacturing. Enhancing digital delivery of services is and will continue to stay an ongoing process. The journey of these 5 years has been good and encouraging and if the Government keeps the focus we should see more enhancements and efficiency build up across sectors.

—Ratish Pandey, business coach, Ethique Advisory.

Empower software companies to build amazing things

Congratulations on the 5th anniversary of the Digital India initiative! At DigitaOcean, our goal is to empower developers and software companies around the world to build amazing things, and our robust, affordable, and simple infrastructure is making the cloud more accessible than ever. Today, India is home to the fastest growing ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurs, thanks to the efforts of initiatives like Digital India and Startup India. At DigitalOcean, we are glad to partner with these initiatives to support every startup from India to grow and succeed.

—Prabhakar Jayakumar, Global Head, GTM, DigitalOcean.

India cannot afford to wait on the sidelines

5 years of Digital India is something that we should be proud about but beyond that we must look at investing more and getting connectivity to the farthest reaches of India. We have to effectively use all the media available to be able connect people. As an independent podcaster with my own platform, I have first-hand seen how this digital revolution is changing the world. India cannot afford to wait on the sidelines. Investments in technology development and intellectual property is a must. We must look at the opportunities that we are being provided and use Digital India as a platform to develop solutions.

—Sriram Ramaswamy, Founder & Independent Podcaster, Chakravyuh Labs.

Strong digital eco-system at ground level

India has built a strong reputation for itself as a global technology provider. With the recent success of Indian companies such as SirionLabs in the global enterprise SaaS space, we are rapidly moving up the innovation value chain. The Digital India initiative takes this technology movement to the next level by focusing on building a strong digital eco-system at the ground level and is playing a key role in helping India achieve its potential as a digitally empowered society.

—Kanti Prabha, COO, SirionLabs.

India shifted to remote working seamlessly

Innovation and technology have become an integral part of human life. The economy today is driven by data making technology an indispensable part of our lives. The Digital India Campaign is a vision to change our nation into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. We realised the true potential of Digital India during the COVID-19 lockdown when the country shifted to remote working, learning, online payments and adopted the new normal quite seamlessly. We at Jigsaw Academy have witnessed a significant surge in the demand for IT training and upskilling courses in new-age tech amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. These are signs that the country is embracing technology, allowing it to disrupt the traditional processes and leveraging the strength of new age technology.

—Sarita Digumarti, Co-Founder & COO, Jigsaw Academy.