Digital India Awards conferred for Excellence in Web Space

“Digital India Awards 2018”, instituted under the ambit of National Portal of India in order to promote innovative e-governance initiatives by National Informatics Centre, MeitY (Ministry of Electronics & IT), were conferred by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Electronics & IT, Law & Justice in an exclusive ceremony on 22 February 2019, to promote exemplary initiatives in e-governance using the medium of World Wide Web.

Government of India has been bracing for innovation and transformation in delivery of information/services with adoption of the best of ICT practices. Almost every Government department is trying to make services accessible and integrated to citizens.

With the ever increasing reach of internet, innovative uses of various emerging digital technologies and availability of a plethora of affordable ways to access the World Wide Web, the government web space can now be accessed by citizens of India, of all ages & abilities across the nation, Rural and Urban alike.

Citizens can today explore diverse services with a few clicks of mouse. A number of e-Governance initiatives have been undertaken by the State Governments and Central Ministries on a continuous basis to improve the delivery and accessibility of public services.

This naturally raises the expectation from Government websites and portals for solutions to existential challenges, including enhanced accessibility and citizen centricity to facilitate inclusive access to government information & services.

A number of initiatives have been taken to meet citizen expectations at various levels in the government including formulating policies and executing plans to use technology for benefiting citizens. Digital India Awards would further strengthen these initiatives.

National Portal of India provides an ideal front-end for these initiatives as it is a single window access to information and services being provided by the various Indian Government entities.

Digital India Awards aim to spread awareness about such initiatives and at encouraging Government entities, which have made significant contributions towards the implementation of e-Governance and shown an exemplary & innovative approach to achieve administrative efficiency and transparency.

• Awards shall go a long way in creating a healthy competition for high quality, innovative, universally Accessible & Inclusive Presence of Indian Government in Cyber Space.
• Awards have seen four editions since its inception, beginning from 2010, and biennially being conferred in 2012, 2014, & 2016.
• In the 5^th edition of the awards 2018, various Government entities have been evaluated in following categories by a high level jury consisting of senior government officials, academia and industry experts.
• A new addition to the awards this year is the introduction of a new category known as ‘Emerging Technologies’, which seeks to identify and reward those digital initiatives that have made exemplary use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Virtual Reality, BlockChain, Internet of Things (IoT), Voice User Interface, Big Data and Analytics.

Thirty-five awards were conferred to teams and individuals in the following categories as Platinum, Gold and Silver awards and the recipient of Platinum awards in each of the category is mentioned against them:

• Web Ratna – Ministry/Department: Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
• Exemplary Online Service: Government e-Marketplace
• Best Mobile App: eCourts Services
• Emerging Technology: Rajkot Eyeway Project
• Open Data Champion: Marketing Research & Information Network (AGMARKNET)
• Web Ratna – State/UT: Tripura
• Web Ratna – District: Kurukshetra
• Outstanding Digital initiative by Local body: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation

Jury Choice Awards:

• MCA21 Application: Ministry of Corporate Affairs
• UMANG: Mobile App

Special Mention Awards:

• E-District Project: Meghalaya
• Andhra Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority
• Arunachal Pradesh in Web Ratna – State / UT (North East)
• South Tripura District Web Ratna – District (North East)