Mainstreaming Industry 4.0 Digital Technologies for Citizen Driven Services
It is an early winter morning in the year 2023. India is hosting G20 Summit this year. A lot of activity is going on in Delhi with think tank discussions, knowledge exchanges with Indo Pacific nations and many informal discussions among practitioners from G20 counties as well as other countries from across the world.
Samriddhi and Daivik, a sister and brother duo living in Delhi, are on their way to work. On the way, Daivik stops outside the Metro Terminal of Jan Path, where Samriddhi will catch the next train to Gurgaon. She quickly checks the schedule on the dedicated Multi Modal transport Service App that came pre-loaded onto her mobile’s SIM card. The next train is on time, about to arrive in 170 seconds. She hits the sequence of buttons on her mobile phone that would reserve her seat and pays for it with a quick data link from her mobile to the payment transaction machine installed at the entry gate of the Metro station. She is filled with appreciation for the visionary officers at multiple agencies of central and Delhi government who decided to integrate their applications and exchange data to provide seamless multimodal transport services to residents and tourists in Delhi. Almost everyone in the city has a mobile phone with pre-installed applications for various public services.
An hour later, Daivik is standing in line at the India Post’s citizen service counter. He remembers with the sense of pride that three years back, the PMO had advised MeiTY to work on upgrading the Post offices and equip them with the latest communication tools to handle the demands of the fast growing Information Society of India. Daivik is in the post office to upgrade his physical post box to a digital one. The officer at the customer service desk will take half an hour to upgrade his post box after verifying his credentials based upon his National ID card details and accessing relevant information from Secure National Citizen Database that caters to the information needs of all the central and state government agencies. After the up gradation is carried out, he will be able to have all his post, including bills, bank statements and official notices stored electronically in his Digi Locker, and will be able to get access to them via from anywhere using the 5G data services available on his handheld. No one now uses paper for communication. There are very few people left now who still don’t have access to mobile phones or not willing to go digital. Those with no electronic access at home or work have now been given electronic post box accounts and can send/receive post through the special Public Access Terminals at their nearest Common Service Centres (CSCs). These public access terminals at CSCs have specially trained staff to assist the illiterate, disabled and senior citizens. Thankfully, because of the efforts of the government agency CDAC and their PPP initiative with the Telecom players & voice recognition software companies, the messages can be either received in print format or through voice/video mail in the language of choice of the citizens. The citizens also have the choice of typing letters in at the terminals in CSCs or writing them at home and having them scanned in at the CSCs. With a few exceptions, actual deliveries have been limited to parcel drop-offs. Finally, Daivik reaches the window. He holds up his mobile phone that also stores his National ID in the digital format, hits the digital signature button, and his identity details are beamed across to the NFC enabled terminal . A moment later, it beams an encrypted access code into his mobile phone device. Daivik can now add digital mail to his array of messaging options, from e-mail and instant messaging to voicemail and video-mail to positioning and remote working. Just to make sure the new codes haven’t corrupted the data already stored on his mobile device, Daivik quickly types the key sequence for his daughter’s location. The name of the school flashes up on the screen, with duration at the location, and request for confirmation of contact. He clicks the cancel button. In the past, he has not been able to resist the temptation to confirm the request and tell his son or daughter exactly where they are. The embarrassment it has caused for them, having “daddy check up on his babies” has made him aware that he should use the full functionality of his mobile phone application only when it is necessary. The fact is, he reminds himself, the child locator application was provided by the State Police to ensure general safety of children, not for parents to play nanny every minute of the day, and not as a replacement for childcare. If the child hits the emergency key, or the locator is forcibly removed, or the child is not in the appropriate location, that will be the time for action.
As he leaves for his home from the post office, Daivik is stopped by Delhi Police. It’s a routine check. Daivik hands his driver’s license to the police officer, who scans it into his handheld crime-check device. While the details are being verified by a database in Police Headquarter of Delhi Police as well as with the national crime database hosted at a secret location, the officer keys in the car’s registration number. Instantly the screen displays the offences history of the car and driver, and current status. Daivik is clean. The officer hands back his license and waves him on. Daivik drives into the community parking garage of his colony, and the boom automatically swings open as a remote sensor detects the RFID-tag in his car.
Next day morning, at the South Delhi Municipal Corporation Office, where Daivik works, the front door slides open instantly as it scans the new arrival for an identity e-tag, and picks up and verifies the passive signal in Daivik’s mobile device. But there’s a problem: the lifts aren’t working this morning – again! Thank goodness for government hotspots along with a facility of docking stations for the mobile devices, Daivik thinks as he sits down in the reception lounge and takes out his laptop. He switches it on, and it instantly detects the Wi-Fi access point. Daivik logs on, and he is connected to the network as if he is in his own office. He smiles at a colleague who has hooked his mobile phone to the docking station and connected to the same office network.
The list of possible use cases for leveraging digital technologies for transformation is limited only by the imagination of users and government agencies. At DT4T ( Digital Tech for Transformation), we are actively engaging with government agencies, multilateral agencies, academia and civil society organizations to make create lighthouse applications for next generation public services in collaboration with most prominent experts in the domain of governance, social sciences and digital technologies from across the world. We will collectively identify the scenarios that can be turned into reality by connecting industry players and governments.
Welcome to the ear of demand driven public services. Together we can make a difference by industry 4.0 technologies for cyber-physical-biological integration and provide and provide an ambient intelligent environment to our next generation of which they can be proud!!