21/11/2020 - Governance

KEY POINTS

·       Affordable smartphones and Internet access have made India a digital nation with an estimated 750 million connections and a thriving financial technology sector. Citizens inured to queues at dingy utility offices even to pay routine bills find this a major leap, thanks to fintech.

·       Digital platforms providing goods and services, including online education and telemedicine, have grown vigorously during the COVID-19 pandemic, while many professionals have maintained productivity by working from home.

·       What governance must achieve is a reliable system of digital welfare. A beginning has, no doubt, been made through government-to-citizen services using Common Service Centres, advice to agriculturists, digital payments of welfare benefits through bank accounts and, even legal advice online to four lakh people under the Tele-Law scheme.

·       With the emphasis on digitalisation, it should be possible to achieve measurable progress early on at least on one UHC component access to free, essential prescription drugs. A digital health ID would help prescribe and dispense essential medicines free.

·       The Planning Commission estimated that the public procurement cost for this, in 2011, would be 0.1% to 0.5% of GDP. If this is a medium-term goal, the more immediate task of distributing COVID-19 vaccines looms as a test for the government.

·       At a broader level, efficient digital government depends on transforming internal processes, and fixing deadlines for service delivery. If digital has to become a way of life, redefining the functioning of citizen-centric services would be a good place to start, with deadlines for government departments.

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