India congratulates Govt. for launching ‘GovPay’ platform

High Commissioner of India Santosh Jha congratulated the Sri Lanka Government for the digital initiatives launched on Friday, including the ‘GovPay’ platform for digitization of all government payments and the introduction of the Electronic Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates facility for Sri Lankans abroad. He spoke at the inaugural BIMSTEC Digital Conclave co-hosted by BIMSTEC and The Asia Group at Taj Samudra Hotel on Friday.

“At a time when mobile and data access were seen globally as a convenience, India adopted a model that envisioned digitization not only as a means of connectivity – but as a medium of equity and opportunity. And that to me is the essence of Digital Public Infrastructure.”

These initiatives form part of the special emphasis laid on digital transformation by the Sri Lankan Government led by President Anura Kumara Disanayaka. “This emphasis, together with Sri Lanka being the BIMSTEC sectoral lead for Science, Technology and Innovation, make Colombo the obvious choice for hosting this Digital Conclave.” For India, BIMSTEC represents the intersection of ‘Neighborhood First’ outlook, the ‘Act East’ Policy and the ‘SAGAR’ vision. BIMSTEC seeks to re-energize the region’s shared history and ethos with new areas of cooperation, new resources and a renewed commitment for cooperation among the Bay of Bengal nations.

India today has issued digital IDs – referred to as Aadhaar – to1.3 billion of its citizens. “We have 1.2 billion mobile phone users, 950 million internet users. 40% of the world’s real-time digital transactions take place in India. “Over the last decade, India has laid optical fiber that is eight times the distance between the Earth and the Moon! Almost every

district in India is connected to 5G services. Today, India stands as the second-largest 5G market in the world, and we are now rapidly working on 6G technology,” he disclosed.

“We have used the power of the JAM trinity – Jan Dhan bank accounts, Aadhaar or the digital identity, and Mobile phones – to revolutionize financial inclusion in India.”

“It has allowed the government to make 450 million direct cash transfers, transfer food rations to 850 million directly in full transparency in the last 10 years. Direct Benefits Transfer has amounted to about 450 billion US Dollars.” It has also plugged leakages, and has saved over 35 billion US Dollars. Digitization has been extended to government services, transforming accessibility through e-governance. There is also interest for bilateral exchanges to garner learnings from India’s GeM portal. “The benefits of these are clearly visible in India. GeM Portal alone has led to saving of 13 billion US Dollars in the last decade by bringing down expenditure on projects and procurements.” (SS)

Source: Daily News