Context:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech about digitalisation and its role in human life at the Bengaluru Tech Summit.

Highlights of PM’s speech

India- a digital nation

• Affordable smartphones and Internet access have made India a digital nation with an estimated 750 million connections and a thriving financial technology sector. 
• 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. 
• India as a country is uniquely positioned to leap ahead in the information era since Our local tech solutions have the potential to go global.
• Digital India Mission launched 5 years back is no longer being seen as any regular Government initiative and Digital India has become a way of life particularly for the poor and marginalised.
• Technology is the prime reason our schemes have gone beyond files and changed the lives of the people at such a speed and scale.
• For instance, with the emphasis on digitalisation, Ayushman Bharat made it possible to achieve measurable progress on the UHC component access to free, essential prescription drugs. 

Challenges ahead

• Yet, it would be premature to declare digital as a way of life in India, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi put it at the Bengaluru Tech Summit. 

Trust worthiness

• The true measure of digital nations is the readiness of governments to use technology to create open, participatory public systems that citizens consider trustworthy. 

Need to extend to other sectors

• Though government-to-citizen services using Common Service Centres, advice to agriculturists, digital payments of welfare benefits through bank accounts and, even legal advice online under the Tele-Law scheme represent a welcome move but if digital methods were applied to other sectors, such as road safety, the results could be dramatic, potentially reducing the accident mortality rate of about 1,50,000 deaths a year.

Transforming internal processes

• At a broader level, efficient digital government depends on transforming internal processes, and fixing deadlines for service delivery. 

Conclusion 

• If digital has to become a way of life, redefining the labyrinthine functioning of citizen-centric services would be a good place to start, with deadlines for government departments.

References:

1. https://www.oneindia.com/india/best-minds-biggest-market-pm-modi-s-full-speech-at-bengaluru-tech-summit-2020-3178529.html
2. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/digital-nation-the-hindu-editorial-on-need-for-seamless-delivery-of-citizen-services/article33145775.ece