M-governance is about monitoring big time announcements

digital india, governance, narendra modi, industry, investment, jobs

gautama

Dr. GD Gautama | July 6, 2015


#digital india   #governance   #narendra modi   #industry   #investment   #jobs  

"Digital India" meet on July 1 turned out to an investment meet as the captains of the industry announced in 150 seconds allotted to each one of them how much investment they are going to make. It added to some Rs 26 lakh crore over next few years.  Some said in one year, some two years and some said over the next five years. Significantly, this time the captains also announced the jobs which will be created.

In any investment meet they talk of the investment in terms of rupees but never give employment figures, may be very rarely. I have a feel there must have been a nudge from some quarters to give these figures.

Jobs also added up to 80 lakhs as per media reports. Mind you these were the figures announced on the dias, it was mentioned by the PM that this does not include the figures of those, who are in audience. May be it could be more.

The numbers are mammoth, given the problems our country has in terms of joblessness and revenue. I have said it before and I repeat, lots of agreements/MOUs have been signed both in the country and abroad in the recent past. These figures are astronomical too. There is NO SYSTEM in place in public domain to monitor their status. Any announcement should be accompanied  by quarterly progress (if not monthly) eg a project of 100 crore to be completed in a year's time should have 4 components Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4!!!

Q1...10, Q2... 20, Q3... 30 AND Q4... 40...just for illustration. These figures will of course vary project and scheme-wise!

It is fine as long as these numbers are there and most importantly MONITORED. There is always a huge gap between announcement and implementation. The industry also faces lots of problems on the ground, land, statutory clearances, local issues, power, road, water etc etc.

This kind of a Q (if not M) monitoring will put pressure on the government as well. This will be a win win situation otherwise the government will face words vs realisation jibe much sooner than later. There should be a dedicated website to monitor these noble intentions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this M is not for Modi it is for Mobile (mobile age). But the MISSING M is Monthly monitoring!!!

Dr. G D Gautama is a retired IAS officer and presently serves as the State Information Commissioner of West Bengal

Comments

 

Other News

The Xi-Trump summit: The unending rivalry

Diplomacy is akin to an art, wherein the summitry, conflict resolution and negotiations form apt constituents of the entire context of deal making and “playing for keeps” in the international arena. The Xi-Trump summit in Washington last week, in which the American president broke all conside

“Indians, yet treated like outsiders”

Moving to Delhi-NCR for education can be an exciting experience for students from Northeast India. It gives us a chance to meet new people, experience a different culture and become more independent. But living away from home also comes with challenges that people who have not experienced them may not al

Import duty on major edible oils cut

The government has reduced the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on major imported crude edible oils with a view to moderating domestic edible oil prices, providing relief to consumers and mitigating inflationary pressures arising from the sharp increase in international edible oil prices.  

From pyramid to platform: BRICS agenda for Global South

In his opening address at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12, prime minister Narendra Modi did something India`s diplomacy has been building towards for three years: he moved the ‘Voice of the Global South’ from a slogan to a work plan. Addressing the leaders, he argued that t

How to realise the full transformative potential of PM-JAY

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), a welfare scheme which covers approximately 45 crore beneficiaries across India, provides cashless health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year. It is the largest health insurance scheme which helped crores of poor families by reducing out-of-pocket expend

The missing men in India`s family planning story

Every pregnancy requires two people. Yet India`s family planning programme continues to ask only one of them to bear almost all of its medical consequences. The newly released National Family Health Survey-6 (2023-24) confirms just how entrenched this asymmetry remains: 36.5% of currently married women a

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter