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Technology-driven solutions are said to be the most effective way to uplift India’s population, something that the new government can bank on. What’s your take on this?
India is at a unique position. On the one hand, economic growth is below expectations; on the other hand, we are at a point where we must accelerate our growth by reaping the benefits of our demographic dividend. Let us count out the fundamental issues that are holdingIndiaback: (1) poor governance with low accountability and inefficient systems; (2) infrastructure issues such as energy and water; (3) the unattained MDG goals in healthcare; (4) significant fraction of the population not being employable without substantial reskilling (from agriculture to industry) and education, etc. These are problems that are extremely difficult to solve using conventional “brick and mortar” approaches. We clearly cannot build enough coal-fired energy plants, or enough hospitals and schools, or bring radical reform in the way government functions. Technology is the answer, and if deployed well, can help uplift the entire country. And yes, inclusive growth is critical for the government to focus on. Without inclusivity, economic growth cannot be sustained. Moreover, the stability of the government depends on the entire country progressing.
Five areas that the government should leverage technology in to connect with people and enhance accountability?
The time is right for us to think about this because of a confluence of maturing technologies (Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud) that makes IT more affordable, more intelligent, offering better quality, all at an incredible scale:
(1) Rapid digitisation of all government processes will bring in transparency. The effect of this transparency will be to start questioning systems and processes and will eventually lead to cost-effective reform, quality infrastructure, and reduced corrupt practices. It all starts with the correct data being captured in digital form.
(2) Financial inclusion and bringing everyone into the banking system is critical. Reducing cash-based economy leads to efficient transactions, and a reduced opportunity for corruption and generation of black money.
(3) Adoption of analytics technologies will make public policy and budget allocation become more data-driven and evidence-driven. Similarly, these technologies will make service delivery more targeted and efficient by ensuring that the right services are delivered to the right people at the right time.
(4) Healthcare inIndiais ripe for transformation across both public and private sectors. It’s in fact a “low hanging fruit” because of under-penetration of IT in this sphere. We can start with something as foundational as personal health records for each citizen and rapidly leverageMobile(m-Health) solutions and cloud and telemedicine platforms for delivering quality healthcare to every citizen. Predictive analytics can augment the skill of a nurse, or a general practitioner for better diagnosis and error reduction. Without systematic use of technology in healthcare, we will face an increasing economic burden that will hamper our ability to grow.
(5) The government should partner with the private industry to develop citizen engagement platforms both for getting new ideas, as well as getting citizen feedback on infrastructure and policy proposals. We have many experts in all fields, and most of them are NOT in government. A good number of them would be willing to contribute their expertise if the government can use them wisely. It would be good to have a mechanism to tap into this pool. The new government has shown that it can effectively leverage social media (facebook, twitter) in its campaign. Extending this to the way government connects with its people is a step that we hope the new government will take.
Should the government actively encourage social media oriented efforts for redressal of public grievances?
Absolutely. Technology can put a lid on corruption, but it has to go hand-in-hand with legislation and enforcement. First, digital workflows will bring in transparency. With more data at its finger tips, the government can use advanced data analytics techniques to sniff out fraud and corruption. These technologies exist. All it needs is commitment to see they are used for this purpose. Second, the government should give teeth to data.gov.in and get serious about putting public data into public domain. Third, there are grass roots efforts for public grievance like “ipaidabribe.com”. The government should actively encourage social media oriented efforts for public grievance redressal.
The government cannot do all this alone, and must have an appetite for a public-private partnership to see these technologies built/customised and deployed.
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