Digital India, its challenges, and solutions

Hasan Zia Rizvi

‘Digital India’ initiative proposed by the central government is a great idea and can contribute much to the digital economy but its preparation and implementation in India lack clarity in policy and fidelity.

The reason is that the basic step towards making digital India is to develop strong internet connectivity not only in metros but in rural areas too unfortunately the daily internet speed and the Wi-Fi hotspots are slow as compared to other advanced countries. Smooth internet access like in developed nations is the need of the hour. In other countries, they don’t need to worry about internet speed or internet services. Though we are moving from 4G to 5G but still 4G services in India aren’t over the mark, and a large number of people suffer due to it.

Other roadblocks when we talk about digital frugality are the issues of taxation and other nonsupervisory guidelines. Delayed infrastructure development is the biggest hindrance in furnishing high-speed data services. Some Indian states have launched free wifi services that were limited and haven’t developed yet. There is a lack of collaboration between the central government and state governments over it.

An advantage of digital India is the increase in online transactions, several apps were created to allow users smooth digital transactions but with this boon comes the bane. Cybercrimes have increased to a position where secure payment gateways were indeed compromised. With the proliferation of cloud-based services in India, data security has surfaced as a foremost challenge.

We have a lack of professed skill force in the field of digital technology and we have to look for about a million cybersecurity experts to check and cover the growing imminence of digital crime in the country. development of digital infrastructure is what we need today and the government along with private enterprises formulate a strategy for last afar connectivity. Government should try to make fresh spectrum available to telecom service providers for the deployment of high-speed data networks.