India stands at a transformative juncture in its development journey. With its vast population, cultural diversity, and geographic scale, the country’s challenges are as complex as its opportunities. Piramal Foundationhas a clear vision – to be a catalyst in Building Bharat – a future-focused approach to creating a more inclusive, equitable, and resilient India.
Building Bharat is not just about envisioning a better India; it’s about actively enabling reforms in the public systems for improved governance and service delivery to the most marginalized. At the core of public systems transformation lies an often overlooked but critical concept: flow of information. As systems thinkerDonella Meadowshighlights:
Improving how information is shared, accessed, and utilized is one of the most powerful leverage points for driving systems change.
For public systems to function effectively, timely and accurate information must reach the right stakeholders – citizens, frontline workers, administrators, and policymakers.
Examples of information needed by the main stakeholders in Public Health ecosystem
Yet, in most state departments, fragmented data systems, outdated processes, and lack of real-time feedback loops have long hindered efficient information flow.
Digitization can Unlock the Agency of People
AtDigital Bharat Collaborative(a part of Piramal Foundation), we want to address this challenge head-on. Our approach to digital transformation is not just about adopting technology for efficiencies or improved citizen experience with public services – it is about improved information flow. Our core focus is on reimagination of how to empower every actor in the public services ecosystem with accurate, timely, and actionable information. Ultimately, it’s people who can lead and drive change- the right data at the right time helps them take informed and timely actions.
Digital transformation, when done right, provides a unique opportunity to overhaul information flow across the system, that the traditional paper systems cannot do.
It can connect disparate systems to create a single source-of-truth and a comprehensive view into data.
It can enable access for administrators and front-line workers to up-to-date information through dashboards and mobile applications.
Public dashboards and open data policies can be created to ensure that information is democratized, reducing corruption and inefficiency, and fostering inclusion.
Citizen feedback mechanisms, supported by automated insights, can be created to allow programs to adapt based on real-world outcomes.
Sustainable Digital Transformation
The question now is how do we make this happen? Several digitization efforts like web portals, mobile apps, and chatbots failed to sustain or to cause any significant change in improving public services to the marginalized. Such efforts add yet another siloed system and cause more problems for both front-line service providers and citizens.
We operate with a different belief – that for any digital transformation to sustain, the deeper and fundamental problem of state capacity must be addressed. Our approach is to focus on building state capacity, including, but not limited to:
Envision a long-term and sustainable transformation, with citizen at the center
Drive the mindset shift, redesigned roles, and skills needed for digital initiatives
Partner more effectively with private entities – commercial and non-commercial
Establish right processes to ensure right infrastructure is procured and maintained
Have governance discipline to use data and information effectively for making decisions
Our Approach to Supporting States
We engage with the states as consultants and partners, not as suppliers. When we are asked to support on a new initiative – whether it’s improving ASHA payments, Essential Drug List (EDL) availability, or monitoring operational quality of District Hospitals – we ask deeper questions about the objectives and help state think about the scalability, sustainability, and the impact on staff, front-line, and citizens.
We facilitate design-thinking sessions, conduct field studies, bring best practices from other states, and co-create pilots to test new ideas. States then secure funds and setup processes to scale beyond these pilots.
Rather than adding another web portal or app, we work with states to optimize and scale existing platforms (e.g. ANMOL and eSanjeevini). We encourage open-source and Digital Public Goods (e.g. DIGITPGR), to avoid vendor lock-ins and unpredictable costs. When we do engage in new software development, we build them as interoperable and scalable DPG’s (e.g. AMRIT) in a manner that other states and entire ecosystem can benefit from.
We encourage states to consider Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) when appropriate to solve complex digital problems. We help with the right processes to work with the private sector – from comprehensive RFP’s, transparent bidding processes, to timely monitoring and payments.
We have participated in digital capacity building of personnel at all levels – from frontline workers to senior administrators. Our approach is to support the master trainers and strengthen internal departments that own this charter.
We help states establish robust governance systems at state and district levels- either by improving current review mechanisms or by setting up new Project Management Units (PMU’s) – to use real-time data to monitor performance and drive accountability.
Conclusion
Improving information flow is a critical piece of the puzzle in public systems transformation. We believe that empowering every actor in the ecosystem with timely and actionable data is only possible with digitization.
Digitization in public systems cannot be sustained without the state capacity. Resistance to change, capacity gaps, and maintaining systems over the long term remain challenges. Addressing these head-on is what sets DBC apart. We are making progress and have multiple success stories: most notable are Swasthya Samiksha Kendra’s (SSK’s) we built and transitioned, the improved Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and supply chain processes, and re-engineered staff/HR processes.
We like to think big! We are upbeat about this audacious vision and our scalable and sustainable approach to public systems transformation. We welcome you to join hands – please follow us on LinkedIn and check out our new web site.
