Day 47 – Q 3.In what ways can technology be leveraged in the development industry? Illustrate with the help of suitable examples.

3. In what ways can technology be leveraged in the development industry? Illustrate with the help of suitable examples. 

विकास उद्योग में किन तरीकों से प्रौद्योगिकी का लाभ उठाया जा सकता है? उपयुक्त उदाहरणों की सहायता से चित्रण करें।

Introduction:

The development industry involves international organizations, government departments, NGO’s, international charities, and social movements, who are all working to fight against the causes of poverty and inequality.

Body

In the last few years, governance in India across sectors has been redefined through business process reengineering, technology and data analytics. Technology is reshaping the way government is designing and implementing programmes. The use of technology has brought in better systems, greater efficiency and is beginning to have a profound impact on governance. Some of the areas where digital technologies are transforming lives and revolutionizing governance are:

• Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) India has combined the use of unique biometric
  identifiers and financial inclusion for effectiveness in social benefits and to  reduce the vast number of illegitimate beneficiaries under welfare programmes. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has been implemented across 437 schemes, and helped save Rs 83,000 crore till date. Its implementation has led to 2.75 crore duplicate, fake or non-existent ration cards being deleted and 3.85 crore duplicate and inactive consumers for liquefied
  petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy being eliminated. 
• Artificial Intelligence can expedite achievement of the SDGs. For example Population Foundation of India is carrying out a project in North India using AI to give adolescents access to sexual and reproductive health information. 
• Using Cisco’s video conferencing technology, specially trained teachers of APD deliver lessons during weekends and holidays to disabled students spread across districts of Karnataka enabling these students to continue their education who might have otherwise discontinued because of huge challenges that they face every step of the way.  
• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) have triggered a plethora of private sector-innovated apps, which have significantly eased citizens’ bill payments towards services provided by GoI.  Digital payment transactions have now become extremely simple, thanks to the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) UPI.
• Akshaya Patra, Bengaluru-based NPO, strives to eliminate classroom hunger by organizing mid-day meal schemes in government schools. As of now, they serve about 2 million children from over 14,000 schools across 12 states. With growing numbers, the Akshaya Patra is using data analytics efficiently to serve the children and make productive use of their funds. Data analytics is helping them in solving logistic problems like figuring out the optimum route to deliver food. 
• Save Life Foundation – Road accidents led to the death of more than 10 lakh Indians in the last decade. Save Life Foundation, therefore, commissions nation-wide surveys to gauge the public perception about road safety in India. These surveys serve as blueprints for initial diagnosis and the data collected will be used to analyse, predict and eradicate the risk-prone areas.
• “Seva Kitchen”:Food sharing app – To fight against food poverty, a NGO has designed an app called “Seva Kitchen” which helps you to share excess food to the needy group. Foods are wasted at larger quantities during marriages, functions & parties and the rationale behind is to share the same with those who are in real need of the food. Although they started off by making meals accessible to relatives of patients in hospital, the “Seva Kitchen” continues to cover a broader ambit of addressing hunger needs.
• Ayushman Bharat – The Ayushman Bharat scheme will digitally link primary and community health centres with district hospitals. Along with the Rs 5 lakh health insurance, which will cover 50 crore Indians, it will ensure healthcare

Conclusion

For years, India has been a complex nation, making it difficult for the common man to access services. The rapid adoption of technology across sectors is making things easy and eliminating all forms of human intervention. This has a major impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of governance.