Citizens centric public services have to be made universally accessible: Amitabh Kant

New Delhi [India], May 19 (ANI): Citizen-centric public services should be made universally accessible, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said on Thursday.
Addressing GovTech India Summit, organised under the aegis of EasyGov, Kant said, "We need very simple, efficient and transparent government processes."
Kant added, "The whole process of digitization is a transformational journey. All the Government Regulations should be light-touch regulations. The Government job should be only public policy which is predictable for 2-3 decades."
GovTech is a multi-billion opportunity to serve over a billion population of India. Globally, GovTech is defined as the technology used by governments for improving internal efficiency and/or delivery of services, as well as interacting externally with citizens and businesses.
According to Amit Shukla, MD & Founder, EasyGov, "GovTech is not about the start-ups having government clients. Indian start-ups are doing extremely well in FinTech, EduTech, eCommerce, HealthTech, DeepTech, Agritech, etc. However, GovTech is a challenging area for start-ups in India and it is reflected in the fact that there are very few GovTech start-ups in the country."
"Globally, the GovTech consist of Financial Inclusion and Welfare, Citizen Engagement, Smart Cities, Justice and Legal, Energy and Utilities, Culture and Tourism, Tax and Regulations," he said.
The Summit brings into the fore the understanding objectives of any government expenditure on technology. The objectives in essence are to put people first and to design and deliver services/ benefits that are accessible, affordable, and inclusive.
Abhishek Singh, President & CEO, NeGD & CEO, MyGov, Government of India stated, "There are over 500 data sets which are available through the data.gov.in portal. We are looking into gaps in the data sets. We are soon going to announce a National Data Governance Framework. There will be an India Data Management Office which will look into gaps in government data. There will be Chief Data Officers in various Departments who will be supported by Data Analysts and Data Scientists." (ANI)