We all have heard about the ambitious vision of ‘Digital India’ shared by the Modi Government. The recent announcement by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) of the nation’s first Internet of Things (IoT) policy document clarifies its seriousness. Internet of Things, or IoT, can be loosely described as a network of inter-connected devices that can be accessed through the Internet.
This draft will act as a framework for the Government to fully implement and execute policies and campaigns via the multi-pillar approach pertaining to Internet of Things in India. This policy document related with IoT framework is part of the broader ‘Digital India’ vision shared by the Modi government immediately after it came to power, for which a budget of Rs 1 lakh crore was sanctioned.
As per this policy document, the government envisions to create a market worth $15 billion (Rs 90,000 crore) by 2020. It added that the number of internet-connected devices will increase from about 200 million to over 2.7 billion over the six-year period.
Some of the unique highlights mentioned in the draft policy were:
1. To increase the number of internet-connected devices in India from 200 million currently to 2.7 billion by 2020. It is estimated that by 2020, there would 26 billion to 50 billion Internet connected devices. According to an EMC report, Data Universe will expand to 44 Trillion GigaBytes by 2020!
2. The proposed policy also focusses on government’s plan to develop 100 smart cities in the country, for which Rs 7,060 crore has been earmarked in the current year’s Budget. The development of Smart Cities & the Digital India Program will help boost the IoT industry. Some of the key aspects of a smart city will be:
• Smart parking
• Intelligent transport system
• Smart grids
• Smart urban lighting
3. Proposal to establish ‘International IoT Research Collaboration scheme’ (IIRC); which will collaborate with foreign IoT providers, and develop joint ventures for Indian cities.
4. The government will set up incubation centres titled — National Centre of Excellence in association with Nasscom and other associations. A budget of Rs 100 crore has been benchmarked for these centres, wherein latest gadgets, instruments and technological help would be provided for researchers to come up with ideas pertaining to IOT implementation.
5. IoT infrastructure development will also target human resource development for the campaign. The policy has suggested introduction of IoT based curriculum in B.Tech and M.Tech courses, along with introduction of research programs in this field.
6. Short terms courses will also be launched by the government to teach and train more people about concepts and ideas of IoT.
You can see the policy document for Internet of Things.
