Digital India becoming role model for developing economies globally, says IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

The success of various Digital India initiatives made the country a role for many developing economies across the world who are keen to learn and adopt this model, according to Union IT and Electronics Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

At the launch of the international version of UMANG mobile app, the minister said, “India has a unique digital story which has to be followed by democratic governments across the world.”

The minister cited the various examples of success from Digital India which include Aadhar, GSTN, Ayushman Bharat, UPI etc. These are all the examples where technology has been leveraged for the benefit of the ordinary citizens.

“This is a great contribution of India’s mind and delivered in a successful model,” the minister said.

The occasion also saw the launch of international version of UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) which has been developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and National e-Governance Division to drive mobile governance in India.

UMANG, which was launched in November 2017, is a single platform for all citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from central to local government bodies and other citizen centric services.

This mobile app, which had 641 services during March of this year, has now risen to 2039 with many more government departments joining this platform. It is presently available in 13 languages.

The minister recalled that the goal of Digital India was to empower the ordinary citizens so that all government services were available at the fingertips.

“The number of services on UMANG indicates the sheer digital appetite of ordinary Indians and is also a resounding validation of Digital India,” the minister said.

He said the growth of UMANG app also reveals the metamorphosis of e-governance to m-governance which can help in transforming the country.

At the same time, the minister also asked the department to work on certain voice-enabled services on the UMANG app as this would increase the comfort level of people in using this platform.

He also felt that the UMANG app should also includes features which will showcase the heritage and culture of the country as this platform goes international.