Digitise Government Services

CONTEXT: Pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have showcased potentials and pitfalls of digitization. 

Recent Measures taken by the Government in the digitization of governance.

• Digitization of health records: Government has taken steps under the National Digital Healthcare Mission to make patient record accessible everywhere and can be studied and worked on by healthcare professionals.
• Will help in improving preparedness in facing future epidemiological challenges.
• Digitized Taxation: Both direct and Indirect tax have been moved to a digital platform, improving tax compliance.

• Digitization of Land Records: Exercise to store Land records in electronic form has been carried out by most of the states.

• Benefits of proper land record management:

• Breaks the inefficiencies of the land market: It helps in resolving issues related to a broken chain of title deeds and multiple sales of the same price of land, thus creating a transparent land market.

• Relief to the judiciary: A vast majority of civil cases in Indian courts relate to property disputes, many of them traceable to lack of clarity on the title.

• Land can be used as collateral for raising loans: Poor people would be able to obtain formal credit from banks.

Way Ahead: Steps to be pursued by the Government for further digitization:

• Taking services online: Various citizen services such as obtaining license, clearances and regulatory approval, to be moved online.
• Internal process to be digitized to capture value-added at each level, help in the evaluation and improve in overall efficiencies.
• Moving from ‘registration of titles’ to ‘title by registration’: Shift from the current system of registering titles to Torrens System of land registration.
• Building a Land Register to map all land of India and be assigned to a person/entity.

• Transfer to occur by changing the name of the owner of the corresponding land in the central Land Register.
• The onus of responsibility and authenticity of ownership under the register lies with the Government.

• Use of Technology: Use of satellite and drone mapping, forensic audits of family tree and transaction records, by states to map parcels of land and accord them to rightful owners.
• Digitization of Judiciary: Courts to be fully digitized at all levels of the judiciary. 
• Faster dispute resolution by an automated recording of the court proceeding, sorting of cases based on the legal principle involved and available evidence.
• It also would help to remove arbitrariness and inefficiencies existing in the judicial system.
• Role of start-ups: Start-ups would bring a fresh perspective to workflow and design in government business.
• Digitization will mean a lot of new business, for providers of hardware, software, system integrators and trainers.
• Digitization should include local start-up along with trusted companies, and scale of digitization would help to stimulate various digital sectors such as hardware, software, system integrators and trainers.
• Collaborative Approach: Young graduates from different field to be connected with experts, faculty, retired civil servants, judges and think tanks, to re-engineer the governance model 
• Models of Subsidiarity to be incorporated: Delegating decision making at the level where it can be executed most efficiently.
• Suggestions from private business and the public should be encouraged.
• Bridging the digital divide: By arming citizens with a digital device and digital education.

Conclusion: Government can fill the gaps in the digital ecosystem and in the process, stimulate economic and societal growth.