The budget presented by Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2022, gives a clear account of the Government's economic plans.

The Union Budget in India is generally considered the manifesto of the economic policies and schemes of the Government for the upcoming financial year. On the same lines, the budget presented by Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2022, gives a clear account of the Government's economic plans. Obviously, technology is being used for almost everything from increasing income to solving problems. At the same time, technology-based cryptocurrency trading is expected to generate good tax collection; technology-based virtual skill e-labs are planned to the national problem of unemployment. Moreover, apart from essential services like education, health, banking, etc., the Government has a clear plan to digitize most facilities, including fintech, drone service, and land records management. 

On the Education front, A world-class digital university will be set up, which will make higher education accessible to every nook and corner of the country. The closure of schools during the Corona pandemic has hampered children's education from rural and economically backward families. According to the United Nations body UNICEF, the closure of 1.5 million schools has affected the education of 24.7 million children enrolled in primary and secondary schools. The 'One Class-One TV Channel' program, proposed under the PM e-Vidya Yojana in the budget, will provide supplementary education in local languages for students from classes 1 to 12. As a result, children's education belonging to backward sections of society will continue smoothly. High-quality e-content and courses will be developed and transmitted in all spoken languages through the internet, mobile phones, TV, and radio. Moreover, 750 virtual laboratories in science and mathematics and 75 e-labs for skill development will be set up in 2022-23. The promotion of digital education at every level will promote innovation in teaching and training.

The 'Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission' will develop an open platform for the national digital health ecosystem on the healthcare front. Under the scheme, health facilities will be readily available by providing unique health identities to citizens besides digitally registering health facilities and providers. In addition, a national tele-mental health program will be initiated to diagnose the aggravated mental health problems during the pandemic. Furthermore, using technology, the old Anganwadis will be promoted to a new generation of capable Anganwadis, with better infrastructure and audio-visual aids. Again, capable Anganwadis will provide a better environment for early child development powered by clean energy.

"Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood, " known as the "DESH Stack e-Portal," will empower entrepreneurs and workers by improving training, up-gradation, and skills. DESH will also provide reliable API-based credentials payment and disclosure layers to generate new business and employment opportunities in the country. Moreover, portals like Udyam, e-Shram, NCS, etc., will be added to widen their scope so that various services can be rendered by providing live and latest databases. As per the budget 2022 announcement, startups working for drone-as-a-service will get support from the Government. There is a plan to introduce drone-related courses in selected ITIs and NSD institutes. Drone power and farmer drones will promote drone technology at the grassroots level, opening up new avenues of industry. The Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force will be set up to analyze the global opportunities available in the sector and develop new employment opportunities. 

Buoyed by the successful use of technology in the development of infrastructure sectors in the last few financial years, the Government has plans to make better use of technology in the 2022 Budget as well. Digitization and technology increase transparency and ensure the benefits of government facilities and schemes reach more citizens. A concept of IT Bridge is introduced to encourage a single point for all citizen-centric services by digitizing and integrating the manual processes of central and state-level systems. Furthermore, there are plans to introduce unique land parcel identification numbers from states to facilitate IT-based land records management to utilize land resources better. In addition, the finance minister proposed to introduce a completely paperless, online e-bill system for procurement in all central ministries. The system will enable suppliers and contractors to submit their digitally signed bills online and track the situation.

(The article has been solely curated for BW People publication by Prabhat Sinha, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Global IT MNC Intelligenz IT. The views expressed are of author's and has nothing to do with the views of the publication.)