Bengaluru: All transactions, including receipts and payments, of the central government departments would be in electronic mode soon across the country, a top official said on Thursday.
“As part of the Digital India programme, all departments of the central government across the country will receive and make payments through the electronic mode,” department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) additional secretary Ajay Kumar said at a tech event here.
With increasing computerisation and internet penetration through broadband network, citizens can transact with all departments from computers, laptops and mobile devices, using e-payment gateways and banks.
Key central ministries such as finance and commerce are already using e-payment gateway for transactions by citizens, companies and organisations across the country.
“As mobile devices like smart phones are used for public interface, all central departments will soon offer citizen services on mobile as in Karnataka, first state to launch mobile governance in the country,” Kumar said at ‘CeBIT India’, a three-day IT event at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).
Electronic payments through computers or mobile devices will also minimise use of hard cash in transactions as in case of public utilities and business transactions using debit and credit cards.
“To make Digital India an inclusive programme and accessible to all, websites of all central departments will be in three languages – English, Hindi and an official language of each state across the country, with links to other languages having common script,” Kumar told about 500 delegates participating in the second edition of the event.
The government will also make optimal use of Jan Dhan Yojana (financial inclusion scheme), Aadhaar biometric card and mobile subscriber base for interfacing with over a billion people through voice, short message service (SMS) and e-mail.
“About 900 million people are connected through mobile (feature or smart phones) and an equal number of people have Aaadhaar card, which can be used for multiple purposes, including government services, payments and receipts,” Kumar added.
The government’s Digital India initiative provides a huge opportunity to all stakeholders, including industry and academia to collaborate for providing seamless technologies, products (devices) and services.
“Digital India is a Rs.39,000 crore business opportunity for all stakeholders in terms of building the infrastructure, networks and making devices to run on various applications for citizen services and cashless transactions,” Kumar added. (IANS)
