Currently, the government has gone for digitisation by storing scanned copies of official documents
A laptop or a smartphone is all you need to earn some extra bucks a month by working for a few hours a day on the government’s digitisation project.
All you have to do is visit www.digitalindia.gov.in and register as a user.
Once the registration is done, login with your user name and password and start digitising government database.
Currently, the government has gone for digitisation by storing scanned copies of official documents.
All of them have been stored as images.
Since individual entries in images cannot be searched or classified, the real benefit of digitisation is yet to be fully realised.
Such scanned data are not amenable to be linked to similar other data while designing government programmes.
The approach is set to change now with the launch of new digitisation initiative launched earlier this month.
The idea is to store information through crowdsourcing in such a way that they become authentic digital records.
According to the new plan, any government organisation can submit its records for digitisation to Common Service Centre Special Purpose Vehicle in the form of scanned images.
These images will then be converted into the template of pages being digitised.
The template will be sent to the organisation concerned for approval. Thereafter, the process of digitisation begins.
Each page will be broken into words or phrases.
The programme developed for the purpose requires that every word or phrase be sent to two randomly selected registered users.
Each one of them will be required to digitise the word. If the two entries match, it will be assumed that what has been keyed in is correct.
In case of mismatch, it will be sent to the third person.
“Through this process, we will end up accurately digitising the content without compromising on the confidentially aspect.
Since, just one word will be sent to a randomly selected person there is no way she or he can guess what the whole document is all about.
And the crowdsourcing will expedite the entire process,” says R S Sharma, secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology.
Each word successfully digitised will help registered users accumulate reward points, which can be converted into cash directly credited to their accounts.
All registered users are, therefore, required to have Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Users can also donate their reward points earned to others and the government will duly recognise their contribution by issuing certificates.
For every character digitised, registered users will get two paise.
If a person with decent typing speed is able to digitise 100 to 150 characters in a minute, he can earn, on an average, Rs 240 to Rs 360 for two hours of work.
That works out to a decent amount in a month.
Within a few days of the launch of the programme, nearly 2,000 users have signed up for the initiative and the number is expected to grow manifold in the coming days, government officials say.
The government is set to advertise the programme through mass media to raise awareness.
A mobile app, too, has been developed to help people take part in Digital India programmes.
The mobile app is currently available in the Android version.
Experts say the success of e-governance plans depends a great deal on how quickly government documents are digitised and integrated.
A recent McKinsey report says: “Digitised land records, for example, can be integrated with data gathered on weather, soil conditions, crop yields and rainfall to enable precision farming and raise agriculture productivity.
Digital land records used in combination with geological data can help developers of shale gas projects speed up the process of locating drilling sites, securing rights, and obtaining permits.
” It, therefore, concludes that “with all these potential benefits, having an effective e-governance road map is no longer an option for an aspiring economy -- it is a necessity”, as 'the correlation between a country’s overall economic competitiveness and its e-government capabilities is extremely strong'.
Sharma says other than the new digitisation project, the launch of e-Kranti as part of Digital India is a big step forward.
“It will ensure that e-governance projects deliver outcome-based services to citizens, businesses and also to the government,” he says.
The areas to be covered under the project will include, among others, education, healthcare, agriculture, financial inclusion, delivery of justice, cyber security, workflow automation, and public grievance redressal, he adds.
The image is used for representational purpose only
