India Vision 2020 was a document that was prepared by the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) of India’s Department of Science and Technology under the chairmanship of “His Excellency A. P. J. Abdul Kalam” and a team of 500 experts. This was then further detailed in the book India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium, which Kalam coauthored with Dr. Y. S. Rajan.
One of the key area include under this was Information and Communication Technology. It aims for increased e-governance to promote education in remote areas, telecommunication, and telemedicine.
Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India to ensure that Government services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or by making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology.
It was launched on 2 July 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative includes plans to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks.
India is the second largest line the world by n the world by number of telephone users (both fixed and mobile phone) with 1.053 billion subscribers as on 31 August 2016. As on 31 March 2016, there were 342.65 million internet subscribers in the country. We have come a long way since the first mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on 15 August 1995 in Delhi and when Internet was Introduced in India starting with Laxmi Nagar, Delhi 15 August 1995.
Glancing to DI Analytics in the Digital India website gives a list of information on about the progress of the Digital India Campaign across aadhar , Government E Market Place and Social Media.
The increasing trend in the numbers makes of happy irrespective of the fact that we are not aware about what is shown.
However a bigger question remain which is not answered by the Digital India Claims. Is digital India only about increasing the mobile and internet user ? Are we considering everyone in this development or is it only for a few section of the society. If the answer to this is the former option then why are Children’s in Rural Government School not a part of this movement? How can a massive campaign be successful if we are neglecting the students in Rural India ? This section of our workforce is the one who would be taking India ahead . But how can they if they are not introduced to basic technology at this moment of time ?
According to a survey conducted by ASER across 15,630 government schools in Rural Area only a mere 20% had Computers available for Students. This was just 4% more than the number in 2010.
A huge disparity in the percentage of schools having Computers available for children is prevalent when we look at the top and bottom sates with respect to % School with availability of computers for Children.
Kerala is the leading among all the states with almost 90% of the schools having availability of computers for use by children.
A worrying fact when we look at the above is that there is a wide gap in the percentage value for the first ranked state Kerela and the fifth ranked Karnataka. The difference is about 45% .
These differences guide us to another disappointing fact that out of all the 27 States in India , 21 States have less than 18% of Government schools in Rural India where computers are available for the use of children.
Assam has the lowest percentage of schools with the availability of computers for children.
Its in general a trend for all the northeastern states however the disturbing fact here is the presence of UP in the bottom five list. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state of India and houses 16% of India/s mammoth population.
Its not that I do not love my country and have no respect for the current ruling government . What makes me ponder is that are we diluting the dream of India 2020 and not understanding the actual Idea of Digital India ?
The question is for every one to answer.
A true Indian.
Source : ASER Survey Result
References :
1- India Vision 2020 Wiki
2- Telecommunication In India Wiki
3- Digital India Wiki
