The Indian Air Force embraces digital transformation through the integration of DigiLocker.
Author: BI Bureau
New Delhi: Indian Air Force (IAF) embarked on a transformative digital journey by integrating with the DigiLocker platform, a flagship initiative under the Digital India programme, on April 26, 2024 in New Delhi. In a ceremonial event held at Air Headquarters, Vayu Bhawan, the IAF and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) signed the momentous Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to leverage DigiLocker’s secure and accessible document repository services.
This pioneering integration will revolutionize the way critical service documents of IAF personnel, both serving and retired, are issued, accessed, and verified digitally. By harnessing the power of cutting-edge technology, the IAF reaffirms its commitment to data security, operational efficiency, and seamless access to information.
Key Highlights:
- Authorized IAF departments and divisions will now be able to seamlessly upload digital records, certificates, and vital documents to the national DigiLocker repository, ensuring secure storage and easy accessibility.
- IAF officers will have direct access to their crucial documents, such as the Certificate of Service (COS) and Service Book Officers (SBO), through their personal DigiLocker wallets, enabling convenient retrieval and verification.
- The integration with DigiLocker will streamline various processes within the IAF, including the Agniveer Vayu recruitment, where candidate’s academic document verification will be conducted digitally, enhancing transparency and credibility.
- The MoU was signed between Air vice Marshal Philip Thomas, ACAS (PO), Indian Air Force, and Akash Tripathi, President & CEO, NeGD, MeitY, marking a collaborative effort towards digital empowerment.
Speaking on the occasion, S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, lauded this initiative as “a watershed moment in India’s digital transformation journey, catalyzing governance through technological empowerment of citizens and the armed forces alike”.
With over 269 million registered users and a staggering 6.73 billion issued documents, DigiLocker is rapidly emerging as a national standard for digital document exchange platform.
The IAF’s integration with DigiLocker signifies a significant stride towards comprehensive digital transformation, aligning with the nation’s technological prowess and the armed forces’ modernization efforts.
Source: PIB
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The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
