CONTENTS:
- The Prime Minister of India unveils 30-feet tall bronze statue of Alluri Sitarama Raju
- Prime Minister inaugurates Digital India Week in Gandhinagar, Gujarat
The Prime Minister of India Unveils 30-Feet Tall Bronze Statue of Alluri Sitarama Raju
Focus:
GS-I: Personalities
Why in News?
- PM launches year-long 125th birth anniversary celebration of legendary freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh
- PM unveils 30-feet tall bronze statue of Alluri Sitarama Raju
About Alluri Sitarama Raju
- Raju is believed to have been born in present-day Andhra Pradesh in 1897 or 1898.
- He is said to have become a sanyasi at the age of 18
- He gained a mystical aura among the hill and tribal peoples with his austerity, knowledge of astrology and medicine, and his ability to tame wild animals.
- In August 1922, he launched the Rampa Rebellion against the British.
Alluri Sitarama Raju & Rampa Rebellion:
- The Rampa Rebellion of 1922, also known as the Manyam Rebellion.
- It was a tribal uprising, led by Alluri Sitarama Raju in Godavari Agency of Madras Presidency, British India.
- The Rampa administrative area, situated in the hills of what are now the Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh comprising tribal population of approximately 28,000.
- They had traditionally been able to support their food requirements through the use, in particular, of the podu system, whereby each year some areas of jungle forest were burned to clear land for cultivation.
- While for the tribes, the forests were essential for their survival, the Britishers wanted to evict them so that they could plunder these areas for wood, which would eventually help in building their railways and ships.
- To get the forests cleared, ‘The Madras Forest Act, 1882’ was passed, thereby restricting the free movement of the tribal communities and prohibiting them from engaging in their traditional Podu agricultural system.
- This oppressive order was the beginning of the Manyam Rebellion.
- It revolt broke out in August 1922 and took the form of guerilla warfare, ending in May 1924 with the capture and shooting of Raju.
Prime Minister Inaugurates Digital India Week in Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Focus:
GS-II: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.
Why in News?
The Prime Minister today Inaugurated the Digital India Week, a Digital Expo – Digital Mela at Gandhinagar, Gujarat organized by the Ministry of Electronics and information Technology (MeitY) with the arching theme ‘Digital India: Catalyzing New India’s Techade’ a digital transformation journey for showcasing India’s Technological prowess to the world.
- The initiative is aimed to showcase the digital initiatives that have been undertaken for enhancing e-Gov and digital solutions.
- To demonstrates the Department’s initiatives to go Digital, improve justice delivery and to make it more citizen centric
What is Digital India Mission?
- Digital India is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
- The Government of India approved the NeGP, comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components in 2006, developed by Department of information & Technology and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.
- The 11th report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2008), titled “Promoting e-Governance – The Smart Way Forward” called for government to expand its e-governance capacity.
- In 2015 the Union Cabinet gave its approval for the Approach and Key Components of eKranti -National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) 2.0.
- This programme provided for the establishment of Common Service Centres for citizens to have an easy access to government services through various applications.
Vision and Vision area of Digital India
The vision of Digital India programme is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
The Digital India programme is centred on three key vision areas:
- Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen
- Availability of high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens
- Cradle to grave digital identity that is unique, lifelong, online and authenticable to every citizen
- Mobile phone & bank account enabling citizen participation in digital & financial space
- Easy access to a Common Service Centre
- Shareable private space on a public cloud
- Safe and secure cyber-space
- Governance & Services on Demand
- Seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions
- Availability of services in real time from online & mobile platforms
- All citizen entitlements to be portable and available on the cloud
- Digitally transformed services for improving ease of doing business
- Making financial transactions electronic & cashless
- Leveraging Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) for decision support systems & development
- Digital Empowerment of Citizens
- Universal digital literacy
- Universally accessible digital resources
- Availability of digital resources / services in Indian languages
- Collaborative digital platforms for participative governance
- Citizens not required to physically submit Govt. documents / certificates
Approach and Methodology for Digital India programme are:
- Ministries / Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT Infrastructure established by GoI. DeitY would also evolve/ lay down standards and policy guidelines, provide technical and handholding support, undertake capacity building and R&D etc.
- The existing/ ongoing e-governance initiatives would be suitably revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India. Scope enhancement, Process Reengineering, use of integrated & interoperable systems and deployment of emerging technologies like cloud & mobile would be undertaken to enhance the delivery of Government services to citizens.
- States would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional state-specific projects, which are relevant for their socio-economic needs.
- e-Governance would be promoted through a centralised initiative to the extent necessary, to ensure citizen-centric service orientation, interoperability of various e-Governance applications and optimal utilisation of ICT infrastructure/ resources, while adopting a decentralised implementation model.
- Successes would be identified and their replication promoted proactively with the required productisation and customisation wherever needed.
- Public Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible to implement e-governance projects with adequate management and strategic control.
- Adoption of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification, authentication and delivery of benefits.
- Restructuring of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT support to all government departments at the Centre and the State levels.
- The positions of Chief Information Officers (CIO) would be created in at least 10 key Ministries so that various e-governance projects could be designed, developed and implemented faster. CIO positions will be at Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary level with over-riding powers on IT in the respective Ministry.
