Apart from highlighting the impact of the digital public infrastructure, the Economic Survey also enumerated the use cases of efficient use of technology in areas such as taxation, bringing digital services to villages and rural areas, digitization of various central and state government projects, agriculture and mining among others.
The “economy is beginning to benefit from the efficiency gains resulting from greater formalization, greater financial inclusion and economic opportunities created by digital technology-enabled economic reforms,” the study said. The use of technology, especially digital technology, is supporting the reforms, it added.
Technology has been a key factor in simplifying tax reform, improving compliance and improving fraud detection systems, which in turn has led to increased revenues, the survey found.
Because the digitally integrated system allows for multiple consistency checks, there are fewer instances of tax evasion, leading to better income reporting and therefore higher tax collections, the survey said.
The use of technology also enabled the government to efficiently implement social sector schemes and ensure the benefit reached its intended beneficiary on time, even during the pandemic, the survey said.
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These transformations took place through technology-assisted government schemes such as the Aspirational Districts program, which made extensive use of Aadhaar, direct transfer of benefits and several other education and health initiatives, it said. For example, children’s education could continue uninterrupted during the pandemic with government-sponsored technology-enabled initiatives such as the creation of smart classrooms, information and communication labs in schools, support for hardware, educational software and e-content for teaching, the government said. survey.
Similarly, the introduction of web-based inspection to ensure transparency and accountability in enforcement has sparked a new wave of labor reform, the survey said.
“Bringing digitalisation and technology to the rural economy has also been an important aspect of the rural development agenda, be it in agricultural activities or governance,” the survey said. A primary focus was also on the health parameters of the rural population, it added.
It has also outlined the use of technology in areas such as greater solar adoption, driving the clean energy transition and increasing mining production.
“History suggests that when various aspects of human development, such as education, skills, employment, health and rural development, are combined with technology, an all-round revolutionary innovation ensues resulting in technology-led growth and prosperity,” it said.
