ICT in Governance, Economy and Society; Cybersecurity

What the official syllabus says

General Studies-III (Main Examination, Paper VI), (A) Science and Technology:

• Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Role of ICT in governance, economy and society. Cybersecurity: data privacy and emerging threats.

Topics in detail

ICT in governance

• E-governance: meaning, stages (information, interaction, transaction, transformation), G2C, G2B, G2G
• National e-Governance Plan (2006) and Digital India (2015): its three vision areas
• Digital public infrastructure: Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface, DigiLocker, the India Stack
• Direct Benefit Transfer and the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile)
• Government e-Marketplace (GeM), e-procurement, online land records and registration
• Gujarat examples: SWAGAT online grievance redressal (2003), e-Dhara computerised land records, the Gujarat State Wide Area Network, online services through Digital Gujarat
• Problems: digital divide, connectivity, digital literacy, exclusion errors in authentication

ICT in the economy

• IT and IT-enabled services: exports, employment, global capability centres
• Digital payments and fintech; GIFT City (Gandhinagar) and the International Financial Services Centre
• E-commerce and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)
• Platform and gig work; digital skills
• Telecom and broadband: BharatNet, 5G roll-out, spectrum

ICT in society

• E-learning: SWAYAM, DIKSHA; telemedicine
• Social media: participation, misinformation and fake news, online harassment
• Digital literacy campaigns (PMGDISHA)
• Netiquette and responsible use

New technologies in governance

• Artificial intelligence in public services: grievance analysis, crop and weather advisories, language translation (Bhashini)
• Internet of Things and sensors in smart cities, water supply and traffic management
• Geospatial technology: GIS-based planning, drone surveys of village land (SVAMITVA)
• Open government data and dashboards for monitoring schemes
• Risks: algorithmic bias, accountability for automated decisions, vendor lock-in

Cybersecurity: threats

• Malware, ransomware, phishing, identity theft, denial-of-service attacks
• Financial frauds: online banking and UPI frauds, impersonation and 'digital arrest' scams
• Attacks on critical information infrastructure (power grids, banking, ports, health)
• Deepfakes and AI-enabled fraud; cyber terrorism and state-sponsored attacks
• Data breaches and leaks of personal data

Cybersecurity: law and institutions

• Information Technology Act, 2000: cyber offences, intermediary liability (Section 79), blocking (Section 69A)
• CERT-In; National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre; National Cyber Security Policy (2013)
• Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, the national cybercrime reporting portal and the 1930 helpline
• Cyber crime police stations and cyber forensic laboratories in States

Data privacy

• Right to privacy as a fundamental right: Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017)
• Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023: data principals, data fiduciaries, consent, the Data Protection Board
• Issues: surveillance, data localisation, children's data, use of data by governments

Overlaps

• General Studies-II: good governance and e-governance, challenges and opportunities of e-governance.
• Prelims General Studies: Information and Communication Technology, cyber security and government schemes promoting ICT.