Partial digitisation, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• Estonia fully digitized all citizen services, including divorce, by December 2024.
• Gujarat is involving private firms like WhatsApp to expand digital service delivery.
• India's digital services face issues like lack of citizen trust, underinvestment, and weak cybersecurity.
• Many dysfunctional online services are the responsibility of state governments.

Detailed Insights:

• Despite citizen-centric claims, a lack of trust in citizens persists within India's digital service delivery systems.
• Underinvestment leads to availability and reliability issues in digital services.
• Cybersecurity vulnerabilities remain a concern, with institutions like CERT-In not fully addressing the challenge.
• Users often have to repeatedly enter the same details on various online forms, even with systems like DigiLocker.
• Accessibility and intuitive design are often overlooked, disadvantaging persons with disabilities.
• Systems like e-Sanad, launched a decade ago for document legalization, remain underutilized due to limited state participation.
• Analogue alternatives to broken digital services, such as Aadhaar updates, remain cumbersome.
• The benefits of Digital Public Infrastructure like UPI and Aadhaar are limited without government trust and service quality.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): Shared digital platforms and systems that enable various services and applications.
• Cybersecurity: Measures taken to protect computer systems and networks from digital attacks and unauthorized access.
• Citizen-centricity: Designing and delivering services with the needs and convenience of citizens as the primary focus.