New Delhi, Delhi, 31st Of December 2024 : The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has introduced significant policy initiatives/amendments in 2024, aimed at fostering innovation, enhancing governance, and empowering citizens.
Policy Developments: Policies or amendments introduced in 2024
1. CCTV Security Standards Update
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has updated regulations for CCTV cameras under the Comprehensive Regulatory Order (CRO), effective October 2024. All CCTV cameras manufactured or sold in India must meet strict security standards, including physical security, access control, network encryption, and penetration testing. This update aims to enhance the quality and cybersecurity of surveillance systems in the country.
2. Notification of Forensic Science Laboratory as Examiner of Electronics Evidence under Section 79A of IT Act 2000
CHAPTER XIIA of the Information Technology Act, 2000 empowers the Central Government under section 79A to notify any Department, body or agency of the Central Government or a State Government as an Examiner of Electronic Evidence for the purposes of providing expert opinion on electronic form evidence before any court or other authority specified by notification in the Official Gazette.
MeitY has entrusted STQC Directorate for assessment and evaluation of applicant laboratories seeking notification as Examiner of Electronics Evidence under Section 79A of IT Act 2000. As on date 15 Forensics labs are notified and many other labs are under process of notification
Regional Outreach: Highlights of regional initiatives or programs implemented in various states
1. Strengthening cybersecurity
Under the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative, MeitY is strengthening the cybersecurity capabilities of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and IT officials to combat cyber threats. NeGD organized the 43rd CISO Deep-Dive Training Programme in April 2024 and a CISO Workshop in September 2024 in New Delhi, with over 250 participants, focusing on building awareness and resilience. Additionally, a three-day Cyber Security Workshop was held in Kerala in November 2024, training more than 100 state officials to enhance cyber defence capabilities and mitigate risks effectively.
2. Empowering traders & citizens through CSC welfare Camps
CSC e-Governance Services and CAIT signed an Memorandum of Understanding to empower traders and citizens by facilitating access to social security schemes like NPS, Atal Pension Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri SVANidhi through dedicated camps. With nearly 6 lakh CSCs nationwide, CSC SPV bridges the gap between government schemes and remote areas.
CAIT, representing over 9 crore traders, aims to ensure social and financial security for the trading community, aligning with the Digital India Mission and the PM’s vision of inclusive empowerment.
3. Capacity building programme by National e-Governance Division
MeitY, through NeGD, is enhancing digital governance with a Capacity Building Programme on AI/ML applications in collaboration with IIM Vishakhapatnam. The program aims to equip officers with strategies for responsibly implementing AI in governance, ensuring data privacy, security, and ethical standards. It emphasizes tackling regulatory challenges and ensuring AI applications are transparent and comply with privacy standards.
4. Workshop boosts state officials understanding of E-Gov and AI
The Digital India State Consultation Workshop, organized by NeGD, MeitY, and TNeGA in Chennai on November 28, 2024, aimed to enhance Tamil Nadu state officials’ understanding of central e-governance initiatives and AI integration. Key programs like DigiLocker, UMANG, and API Setu were discussed, alongside topics such as cybersecurity and capacity building. Tamil Nadu showcased its innovative projects, including GID-based land records, e-Office, and the AI-based cataract detection app, E-Paarvai.
India’s Digital Revolution: Transforming Infrastructure, Governance and Public Service
India’s digital infrastructure has undergone a transformative evolution in recent years, positioning the country as a global leader in digital adoption. With a rapidly expanding digital economy, driven by innovations in cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and digital governance, India’s infrastructure is continuously evolving to meet the growing demands of the public and private sectors. Key initiatives and projects have been rolled out to strengthen the country’s digital backbone, ensuring accessibility, scalability, and security in delivering government services, fostering economic growth, and enhancing citizens’ lives.
India’s Digital Infrastructure Landscape
One of the central pillars of India’s digital infrastructure is the expansion and development of data centres. These centres are crucial for supporting the increasing demand for cloud computing, data storage, and AI/ML applications. India’s data centre industry is poised for substantial growth, with expectations for a significant increase in IT load capacity, which is approximately at 1000 MW currently.
The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has established state-of-the-art National Data Centres (NDC) in cities like Delhi, Pune, Bhubaneswar, and Hyderabad, providing robust cloud services to government ministries, state governments, and public sector undertakings (PSUs). These data centres also offer essential disaster recovery and hosting services, ensuring continuity in government operations.
At NDC, storage capacity has been expanded to approximately 100PB, including All Flash Enterprise Class Storage, Object Storage, and Unified Storage. Additionally, around 5,000 odd servers are deployed to support various cloud workloads. Another state-of-the-art NDC (Tier-III) of 200 Racks expandable to 400 Racks is being established at Guwahati, Assam.
To address the unique challenges faced by India’s Northeastern region, the National Data Centre – North East Region (NDC-NER) was launched in September 2020. This facility aims to bridge the digital divide, foster socio-economic development, and improve public services in the region by providing a reliable, high-performance data storage and cloud service infrastructure.
Enhancing Cloud Services: The role of NIC and MeghRaj
India’s cloud ecosystem is key to its digital transformation. The NIC National Cloud Services project, launched in 2022, enhances e-Governance service delivery. Over 300 government departments use cloud services. The GI Cloud (MeghRaj) initiative aims to provide ICT services via Cloud to all Government Departments at the Centre and States/UTs, promoting the Cloud ecosystem nationwide.
It ensures optimal use of IT infrastructure and accelerates the development and deployment of e-Gov applications such as digital payments, identity verification, and consent-based data sharing. MeitY has initiated the empanelment of Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) to address the evolving Cloud needs of Government Departments.
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): A Game-Changer
India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) drives accessible and secure public services, transforming the digital economy. Key achievements include 138.34 Crore Aadhaar numbers being generated. Unified Payment Interface (UPI) facilitates digital payments and enhances financial inclusion. As on 30 June 2024, it has facilitated 24,100 Crore financial transactions. DigiLocker, a platform for digital document verification. It has facilitated more than 37.046 Crore users and made available 776 Crore issued documents.
Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA), is the world’s largest education platform. As on 22nd July 2024, 556.37 Crore learning sessions have been imparted using DIKSHA. It has achieved 17.95 Crore course enrolments and 14.37 Crore course completions.
India’s digital ecosystem includes platforms like GeM for procurement, UMANG for government services, and API SETU for open APIs. Co-WIN and Aarogya Setu have revolutionized health services, while eSanjeevani, e-Hospital, and e-Courts enhance healthcare and justice delivery. Tools like the Poshan Tracker, e-Office, and the NCD platform improve governance and health management. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission has created 67 million ABHA numbers. Skill India Digital Hub supports skilling, and India Stack Local showcases 493 state-level digital solutions.
The National Knowledge Network (NKN) connects data centres, area networks, and institutions to support G2G, G2C services, and collaborative research. It has 1,803 institutional links and 637 district links, fostering resource sharing and efficient digital governance.
Citizen-Centric digital services
Innovative digital services like UMANG and MeriPehchaan enhance citizen engagement and simplify access to government services. UMANG offers 2,077 services across 32 States/UTs in 23 languages, streamlining interactions with over 7.12 crore users.
MeriPehchaan’s National Single Sign-On (SSO) processes over 132 crore transactions, ensuring seamless authentication. The e-Hastakshar (e-Sign) service enables citizens to digitally sign documents, providing a legally accepted alternative to physical signatures. A total of 81.97 Crore e-Signs have been issued by all ESPs.
Another important project, API Setu, facilitates the implementation of the government’s Open API Policy, enabling seamless data exchange and service delivery across government systems. Over 6,000 APIs have been published, facilitating more than 312.01 Crore transactions. With 1,700+ publishers, including key entities such as PAN, Driving License, Vehicle Registration, COVID Vaccination Certificate, and CBSE, the platform also serves more than 634 consumers.
The MyGov platform is the Government of India’s citizen engagement initiative, allowing citizens to share ideas, opinions, and feedback on various government policies and programs. With over 4.89 Crore registered users, MyGov fosters transparency and encourages active citizen participation in governance.
Common Services Centres (CSCs): Reaching rural India
The CSCs initiative, managed by the MeitY, has played a vital role in bringing e-services to rural India. As of October 2024, over 5.84 lakh CSCs are operational across the country, including 4.63 lakh at the Gram Panchayat level, the initiative has facilitated the delivery of more than 800 services ranging from government schemes to education, telemedicine, and financial services.
Citizen-Centric digital services
Unified Mobile Application for New-Age Governance (UMANG) is key initiative aimed at simplifying access to government services. With over 7.12 Crore users, UMANG has streamlined the way citizens engage with government services. UMANG is available in 23 multilingual languages (for top 100 services), including English and Hindi. As of now, UMANG offers about 2,077 services from 207 departments of the Central and State Governments.
The MeriPehchaan platform, a National Single Sign-On (SSO) service, provides citizens with a seamless way to authenticate and access various government services using a single set of credentials. Over 132 Crore transactions have been processed on this platform, improving service delivery and reducing the complexities of managing multiple accounts and credentials.
The e-Hastakshar (e-Sign) service enables citizens to digitally sign documents, providing a legally accepted alternative to physical signatures. A total of 81.97 Crore e-Signs have been issued by all ESPs.
Another important project, API Setu, facilitates the implementation of the government’s Open API Policy, enabling seamless data exchange and service delivery across government systems. Over 6,000 APIs have been published, facilitating more than 312.01 Crore transactions.
The MyGov platform is the Government of India’s citizen engagement initiative, allowing citizens to share ideas, opinions, and feedback on various government policies and programs. With over 4.89 Crore registered users, MyGov fosters transparency and encourages active citizen participation in governance.
Revolutionizing government 0perations
In line with the government’s vision of paperless governance, Digi Locker has become a revolutionary platform for the issuance and verification of documents. With over 37 Crore registered users, Digi Locker has transformed the way citizens access and authenticate their documents.
Collab Files is a centralized platform for government officials to create, manage, and share office documents such as spreadsheets and text files. It integrates with platforms like e-Office and NIC email and ensures secure access via government-issued email IDs, and maintains records of document sharing.
Gov Drive is a cloud-based, multi-tenant platform offering storage as a service for Government of India officials. It enables secure storage, sharing, synchronization, and management of documents across devices, allowing officials to store, access, modify, or delete files and folders online through the GovDrive application.
The Gov Intranet Platform is a modern, secure portal for government officials, streamlining workflow management with Single Sign-On (SSO) via Parichay. It provides access to applications like eMail, eOffice, and the Ministry Performance Dashboard while enabling efficient calendar management, task assignment, event planning, and secure
Upcoming Plans of MeitY: Shaping India’s Digital Future
1. Boosting the Semiconductor Ecosystem
MeitY is committed to position India as a global semiconductor hub through its Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes. By fostering collaborations with global technology giants and nurturing local startups, the Ministry aims to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain, ensuring sustainable growth and global competitiveness in this critical sector.
2. Advancing AI Development and Regulation
Under the IndiaAI Mission, MeitY is set to allocate substantial resources toward building advanced compute infrastructure, promoting AI research, and enabling AI-driven applications in healthcare, agriculture, education, and other key sectors. A special emphasis will be placed on generative AI and its seamless integration across government and private sector operations, fostering innovation and ensuring responsible AI use.
3. Expanding Digital Public Infrastructure
Plans are underway to enhance existing digital platforms such as Aadhaar, UPI, and DigiLocker. MeitY also aims to expand the IndiaStack ecosystem, driving global interoperability and fostering new opportunities in digital finance and e-governance. These efforts are designed to streamline services and empower citizens and businesses alike.
4. Strengthening Cybersecurity
With a focus on building robust and resilient infrastructure to counter cyber threats, MeitY is leveraging advanced technologies and strengthening public-private partnerships. These initiatives aim to safeguard India’s digital assets and ensure a secure environment for citizens and enterprises.
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