Cyber Technological Paradigms and Threat Landscape in India by Ramnath Reghunadhan

Author:Ramnath Reghunadhan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811691287
Publisher: Springer Singapore

Pillars of Digital India

The pillars of the Digital India Programme consist of: “Broadband Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access Programme, e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology, e-Kranti, Information for All, Electronic Manufacturing, IT for Jobs and Early Harvest Programmes” (Reghunadhan, 2018, 39–40).

The Broadband Highways2 has the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) as the nodal agency in the country. It targets digital inclusivity and connectivity through the infrastructure integration through the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) in rural and urban areas. It also focuses on providing internet services and solutions through the upgradation of existing infrastructure, as well as the development of new projects and those already under construction. The initiatives by both the public sector (BSNL, MTNL, etc.) as well as the domestic private sector (Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, etc.) have been transformative in terms of internet penetration and connectivity.

The nodal department for the National Information Infrastructure (NII) is the “Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)”, which focuses on integrating the country’s digital network and cloud-related infrastructure. This has been transformative in terms of bureaucratic and governance-related connectivity as well as activities of various departments, viz. e. viz., panchayat-level, taluk-level, district-level, state-level and national-level. The infrastructural components include the National Knowledge Network (NKN), State Wide Area Network (SWAN), National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN), Government User Network (GUN) and MeghRaj Cloud (PMO, 2021; Reghunadhan, 2018).

An Indian subsidiary of the US-based internet-service provider giant Hughes India has partnered with Indian Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) Telecommunications Consultants India Private Limited (TCIL) and Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) “to provide high-speed satellite connectivity to 5,000 remote gram panchayats” in October 2020. Further, the Union Budget 2020–21 allocated around 5.36 billion USD to India’s communication sector, a growth rate of 3.62% from the Union Budget 2019–20 (IBEF, 2020a).

The “Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is the nodal department Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity project”. This “focuses on network penetration” and bridging gaps in internet connectivity and accessibility to digital connectivity. Nearly 40,000–55,000 villages will gain access to mobile connectivity, thus providing a huge impetus to achieving universal connectivity and accessibility. The Public Internet Access Programme3 is implemented. Under the programme, the CSCs would be strengthened and expanded to panchayat-level, focusing on “viable and multi-functional at different end-points for delivering services” (Reghunadhan, 2018).

In 2015, the CSC 2.0 scheme for panchayat-level outreach “under the National Rural Internet Mission (NRIM)”. It is expected to cover 250,000 villages with MeitY as the nodal agency and 150,000 post offices with the Department of Posts (DoP) as the nodal agency (MeitY, 2021). This has empowered the district administration through the District e-Governance Society (DeGS),4 which envisages transaction, capacity building and maximization of efficacy, accessibility and delivery of e-Services (DeitY, 2012; Reghunadhan, 2018).

The e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology focuses on “re-engineering, simplifying and making government processes efficient and effective in various domains” through e-governance and cyber technological paradigms. This enables streamlining of (digital) procedures, transparency, accountability and accessibility. Further, it focuses on the “integration of services and platforms like

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