2454-2415 Vol

Digital India:
Transforming Higher Education and Interdisciplinary Research

Savitesh Kushwaha1 , Meenu Kumari 2

1 M.Phil. Research Scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, India
Contact - +91-8802348373
Email- savitesh.sunny@gmail.com
2 Engineer, Oriental Institute of Science and technology, Bhopal, M.P, India
Contact - +91-7903929551
Email meenukumarioct@gmail.com

Abstract: In order to transform the entire ecosystem of the India and make India digitally tuned. It is an
public services through the use of information umbrella program which includes several
technology, the Government of India has launched the departments. It is coordinated by deity,
Digital India program with the vision to transform India implemented by the entire government, both at the
into a digitally empowered society and knowledge center and the state.
economy. The main aim is to make a transparent and
responsive government via e-governance and to ensure Digital India aims to provide the much-needed
the e-service delivery in various sectors. This program thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely
has nine pillars each focusing of certain growth areas.
These pillars are transforming the system of higher 1. Broadband Highways,
education and interdisciplinary research by marking their 2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity,
significance in easing access to the services. Launched 3. Public Internet Access Program,
schemes and agendas are boosting the growth in the 4. e-Governance: Reforming Government
education and research field. But the problem is the lack through Technology,
of proper implementation and awareness among the 5. e-Kranti - Electronic Delivery of Services,
targeted population. Government has to make the
schemes to reach the clientele and ensure that the service
6. Information for All,
delivery system and visions were fulfilled properly. In 7. Electronics Manufacturing,
8. IT for Jobs
up-to is maximum extent and there is a need to find the 9. Early Harvest Programs.iii
The government vision towards the area of digital
interdisciplinary research. India is structured as a
1. Infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen:
Keywords: - Broadband, Digital India, e- 2. Governance and Services on Demand:
governance, Interdisciplinary, NKN (national 3. Digital Empowerment of Citizens. iv
knowledge network), Technology.
Higher education comprises all post-
Introduction secondary education, training and research
India has one of the fastest growing economies in guidance at education institutions such as
the world. In the way of modernization and universities that are authorized as institutions of
scientific approach the digital India program has higher education by state authorities v . Higher
boosted the progress rate of the nation. In order to Education sector has witnessed a tremendous
transform the entire ecosystem of public services increase in the number of Universities/University
through the use of information technology, the level Institutions & Colleges since Independence.
Government of India has launched the Digital India The number of Universities has increased 34 times
program with the vision to transform India into a from 20 in 1950 to 789 in February 2017vi . India
digitally empowered society and knowledge Higher education system is 3rd largest after U.S.
economy (power to empower) i . With a clear and China vii . In addition to higher education,
vision, the present government is pushing ahead the Interdisciplinary research is also getting more
Digital India initiative to transform the country into remarkable integrational importance with higher
a digitally empowered society and a knowledge education. interdisciplinarity in higher education is
economy. By the launch of this initiative on 2 nd often associated with liberal educational tradition,
July 2015 the government aims to reach out to which is related to the cultivation of certain values,
citizens in the remotest of locations and make them leadership qualities, critical thinking, knowledge
ii
. This scientific and and ideals, and maintaining academic standard viii .
technical approach towards the nations growth has An interdisciplinary approach marks are own,
constructed many dreams and opportunities, and theoretical, practical and common method
the generation of ideas got wings to move across existence. Moreover, the focus is on the common

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existence of methodology and generation of new 1. Broadband highways

interrelating approaches among various disciplines.
Rural 2,50,000 Gram Panchayat coverage under
The concept of rethinking from another dimension
National optical fiber network.
or discipline arises via interdisciplinary approaches
and an effective method of problem solving can be Urban Virtual network operators for service
generated through this approach. It helps in solving delivery and Mandate communication
real life problems and broaden the mind of students infrastructure in new urban development and
to thrive in the real world. There are also buildings.
drawbacks of interdisciplinary research in higher
National Information Infrastructure Nationwide
education, some of them are listed below: -
integration of SWAN, NKN, NOFN in 2 years.
1. Researcher tends to lose focus on the core areas (up-to 2016)
of research.
These above-mentioned initiatives provide a
2. Choosing a good supervisor according to the
high range connectivity across the nation and
topic of research is really difficult.
3. Mastering in interdis ciplinary approach is time access to the various educations networks. The
researchers from various fields at various places are
taking and compared to core research areas.
able to share the area of interest and the findings in
4. Academics in India is still structured and focused
according to core disciplines, so less future scope. the research. The virtual network and cloud based
data storage provide the researchers access to
5. The job after interdisciplinary research is less
various updates and help them to be on
and really confusing to choose field in current
education system. communication line even working in the rural
areas.
6. Concern arises on interdisciplinary methods and
quality of research. The National Knowledge Network (NKN) is
Digital India in Higher Education and aimed at creating knowledge societies without
boundaries by implementing knowledge via various
interdisciplinary research
resources.
Time has now changed and the world is
getting digitally and technically sound, acquiring Role of NKN:
knowledge through books is getting old fashioned. -speed connectivity among
The new dimensions of knowledge base are NKN connected institutes which will help in
generating over the internet and digital platforms knowledge and information sharing.
which is saving time and money. In the sector of
Higher Education and interdisciplinary research the
digital initiative provides the real-time knowledge innovation amongst NKN connected institutes .
about the different parts of India and the world.
With multiple scope and vision, the Government of specialized fields like engineering, science,
India has progressed a lot after the implementation medicine etc.
of the digital India program. The demanding
approach and penetrable methodologies has made -high-speed in e-governance.
this program a great success in past 2 years. It
changed the way of acquiring the knowledge by network in research field.ix
implementing the various e-schemes. The pillars of
digital India which is the actual base for the NKN is an important step which will enable
transformation in the higher education and scientists, researchers and students from across the
interdisciplinary research have different module India to work together for advancing human
and parts which have own importance in reshaping development in critical and emerging areas.
the education and research. It provides the platform 2. Universal access to mobile connectivity
where the fusion of different discipline occurs, no Program to increase national network penetration
barriers existence, and people from different and coverage of gaps. This will enable students,
discipline come and acquire knowledge. They researchers and scientists to connect to various
communicate with each other for sharing thoughts network, especially NKN.
and problem in various research disciplines.
3. Public Internet Access program - The two sub
The Nine pillars strengthening the Digital India components of Public Internet Access Program are
Program have impact on higher education an d Common Service Centers and Post Offices as
Interdisciplinary research, the description of impact multi-service centers. This will strengthen the
of each pillar individually is given below. CSCs and convert post offices into multi service
center. This will help in delivering the e-services to
the citizen, which in turns provides access to

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various educational services to various parts of the So, these are pillars supplementing higher
India. education and interdisciplinary research in the
digital world making easy access to services.
4. e-Governance: Reforming Government
Before embarking on the changes and adapting to
through Technology Through e-Governance the
the digital era, the main question is, what is the
students or researcher are benefitted through the
purpose of the higher education system going
resources and facilities provided by the government
forward. The fundamental shift that is taking place
to the candidates. This make easy availability of
in the wake of digital transformation in the higher
various services and are accessible from various
education is triggering the transition from
location and saves time and money of beneficiaries. xi
. The access to internet
5. e-Kranti: Electronic Delivery of Services By to explore a whole range of information and
introducing the e-education system the students in services free of cost or at a nominal cost have
the rural areas have access to the study material and created a new awakening among the people to learn
they can know about the current educational towards socialistic mind set. The government of
patterns and scope in various fields. Also, National India has launched several schemes under Digital
scholarship portal helps students pursuing higher India to target the special group of population.
studies and research to get updated about the Some of the schemes which were launched for the
various scholarships. educational purposes which can enhance higher
education and interdisciplinary research are:
6. Information for all This Pillar provides the
online hosting of information and documents. The 1. VISVESVARAYA PHD SCHEME FOR
information is provided via the existing ELECTRONICS AND IT One of the main aim
infrastructure of social networking and online of the Visvesvaraya PhD scheme is to encourage
messaging. This will help students or researches to working professionals and non-PhD faculty
keep them updated about the various on -going members to pursue PhD in the ESDM & IT/ITES
events of their interest via social media platform. sector as part-time candidates. It is envisioned that
having part-time PhD students is likely to
7. Electronic Manufacturing - This pillar focuses encourage the Industry-academia interaction, help
on promoting electronics manufacturing in the
in the alignment of the R&D efforts between them
country with the target of NET ZERO Imports by
and results in the benefit of the country.xii
2020 as a striking demonstration of intent x. This
includes skill development strategies and enhance 2. UDAAN - Udaan is a special initiative to deal
PhDs for various manufacturing sectors. It provides with the needs of the educated people of the J&K
single window clearance to the proposals which who are unemployed. It is focused on youth of the
will reduce time and increase efficiency. It also state, who are graduate, post graduate and three-
provides financial development fund provide fund year diploma engineers. The program is designed to
for various start-ups (laboratories etc.). encourage corporates to meet and hire aspiring
youth in J&K who wish to work with the
8. IT for Jobs - This pillar focuses on providing
corporates. Udaan provides a framework of support
training to the youth in the skills required for
to the youth training in firms and transit to work.xiii
availing employment opportunities in the IT/ITES
sector. There are eight components with specific 3. SWAYAM SWAYAM seeks to bridge the
scope of activities under this pillar. But none are digital divide for students who have hitherto
directly related to the interdisciplinary research and remained untouched by the digital revolution and
higher education. have not been able to join the mainstream of the
knowledge economy. This is done through an
9. Early Harvest programs It consists of
indigenous developed IT platform that facilitates
basically 10 projects which are to implemented hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms
within short timeline. Under this biometric
from 9th till post-graduation to be accessed by
attendance will be implemented to all govt. offices
anyone, anywhere at any time.xiv
and universities, this will help in proper service
delivery to the public and students. 4. SUGAMAYA PUSTAKALAYA
Implementation of WIFI in all universities under
NKN helps the researchers and students to access organizations to end the book famine faced by
paid study material and other essential information. people with print disabilities. Here, one can access
Public WIFI hotspots removes the location barrier book in diverse languages across various languages
and one can access information anytime anywhere. across the India and world.xv
Also, the school books are accessible as free e-
5. STARTUP INDIA PORTAL AND MOBILE
books, supplementing the knowledge anytime and
APP Startup India is a flagship initiative of
anywhere via digital platform.
Government of India, intended to build a strong

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eco-system for promoting innovation and Startups Universities. It aims to reduce wastage of resources
in the country that will drive sustainable economic by repetition of research works and provide access
growth and generate large scale employment to various ongoing research across the nation.xxii
opportunities.xvi
The implemented schemes include several
6. ONLINE LABS (OLABS) Online Labs other important dimensions but focusing on the
(Olabs) is idea that the lab experiment can be higher education and interdisciplinary research,
taught online more efficiently and in low cost. This these above cited schemes are facilitating the field
help students to compete with the students who of study and research. The success of the Digital
have better school lab facilities. It has been India program is marked by the proper
developed to supplement the traditional physical implementation of schemes and delivery of
labs and bridge the constraints of time and services. Exploring the various pathways of
geographical distances.xvii interdisciplinary research these schemes serves as
the supplement for the knowledge and widen the
7. NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP PORTAL
view to look for another dimension for solving the
(NSP) NSP is a one-stop solution for end-to-end
same problems. Only 17000 village have
scholarships process right from the submission of
broadband on March 2017 target- 2.5 lakh xxiii . In
higher education the digital India is making the
disbursal to end beneficiary for all the scholarships
students self-sustainable by increasing the resource
provided by the Government of India. This
base and also by decreasing their reliability of
initiative aims at providing a simplified, Mission-
faculties up-to some extent.
oriented, Accountable, Responsive & Transparent
Conclusion:
scholarship applications and delivery of funds
The ultimate goal of Digital India in higher
directly into beneficiaries account without any
education and Interdisciplinary research is to
leakages.xviii
increase the efficiency of work and service delivery
8. NATIONAL MISSION ON EDUACTION system to save time and money. Implementation in
USING ICT The National Mission on Education various sectors is benefitting the researchers and
through Information and communication students, but the outcome is not so much efficient.
Technology has been envisaging as a Centrally The proper implementation is lacking and the target
Sponsored Scheme to use the potential of ICT, in population (students and researchers) is not getting
teaching and learning process for the benefit of all proper and depth knowledge about various schemes
the learners in Higher Education Institutions in and agendas which are launched for them. Majority
anytime anywhere mode. It is a landmark initiative of universities in the country are lagging behind,
of the Ministry of Human Resource and like in Sodhganga portal only few universities are
Development to address all the education and taking part to upload thesis and dissertation, there
learning related needs of students, teachers and is a National Mission on Education using ICT but
lifelong learners.xix the ICT is seeming not so much efficient even to
communicate the schemes of Digital India, etc. The
9. NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK
central universities and state universities must be
National Knowledge Network (NKN) project is
treated equally during projecting these schemes.
aimed at establishing a strong and robust Indian
The Indian youths in higher studies and
network which will be capable of providing secure
interdisciplinary are using Internet services to get
and reliable connective.xx
various information, but there is a need to promote
10. e- PATHSHALA e-Pathshala is developed the Digital India Schemes at university or college
by NCERT for showcasing and providing all level. Government must have to check the
educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, implementation and service delivery to the clientele
video periodicals and a variety of other print and rather than launching scheme in a slapdash.
non-print materials through website and mobile
app. The platform addresses the dual challenge of among us to make the use of these services up to
reaching out to a diverse target population and maximum extent. Being a student or a researcher
bridging the digital divide, offering comparable there must be a will to do work more efficiently on
quality of e-content.xxi any platform and we should try our best to learn
accordingly.
11. SODHGANGA Sodhganga is a repository of
thesis and dissertations submitted to Indian

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