Budget 2021: Omidyar Network India's Roopa Kudva welcomes emphasis on technology as an enabler for social impact

Roopa Kudva, MD, Omidyar Network India, welcomes Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget 2021 for emphasising the use of technology to enable social impact and inclusion in important areas such as healthcare, education, and provision of benefits for migrant workers; a snapshot of her reaction:

• Emphasis on technology as an enabler for social impact a positive
• Education delivery can benefit from 45 percent increase in allocation to e-learning and other schemes
• A platform for unorganised migrant workers to access welfare schemes a positive for social inclusion
• Need to continue focusing on improving digital infrastructure going forward
• Need for good data governance to ensure Budget benefits all
• Need for good community engagement to ensure benefits reach every Indian

Here's her full reaction to Budget 2021 where she emphasises on the need for good data governance and community engagement to ensure the benefits of the Budget reach every Indian:

It is great to see the emphasis in the budget on using technology as an enabler for social impact and inclusion in critical areas like education, urban governance, and provision of benefits to migrant workers.

A 45 percent increase in the allocation to e-learning and the launch of a new scheme PM e-Vidya to provide multi-modal access to education for teachers and students can go a long way in strengthening education delivery, especially post COVID-19 pandemic.

The proposal to create a platform for unorganised migrant workers to access benefits under various welfare schemes is an important step, as migrant workers have been left out of the social safety net so far.

There is also a new target to digitise 125 civic services across 25 cities through the Smart Cities Mission.

Digital infrastructure should continue to be given importance going forward.

In addition to the technology, we will need good data governance and community engagement for the benefits to reach every Indian.

For YourStory's multimedia coverage of Budget 2021, visit YourStory's Budget 2021 page or budget.yourstory.com