UPSC Prelims 2022 Q31: Open-Source Digital Platforms — Explained
Consider the following:
1. Aarogya Setu
2. CoWIN
3. DigiLocker
4. DIKSHA
Which of the above are built on top of open-source digital platforms?
- 1 and 2 only
- 2, 3 and 4 only
- 1, 3 and 4 only
- 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer: (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Statement-wise explanation
- 1: correct — Aarogya Setu is the COVID-19 contact-tracing app. On 26 May 2020 the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) put its Android source code on GitHub for public review. In November 2020 the backend code followed on Open Forge, the government's platform for sharing e-governance code. NIC now maintains the app.
- 2: correct — CoWIN is the platform that ran India's COVID-19 vaccination drive. At the CoWIN Global Conclave on 5 July 2021, India offered it to the world as a digital public good, and the Prime Minister announced it would be made open source. Delegates from 142 countries attended, and any country could adapt the software to its own needs.
- 3: correct — DigiLocker is MeitY's cloud document wallet, launched in 2015 under Digital India. It was built with open-source technologies and links to issuing departments through open APIs. That is why it is counted among India's open, interoperable digital public platforms.
- 4: correct — DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) is the Ministry of Education's national school-learning platform and part of PM e-Vidya. It runs on Sunbird, a set of open-source building blocks released under the MIT licence. PIB itself calls DIKSHA an open-source platform.
How to eliminate
Elimination helps only a little here. Each of options (a), (b) and (c) leaves out one item, so you have to know all four. Two clues help. First, Aarogya Setu going open source in May 2020 was big national news, because the government released the code to answer privacy concerns. That rules out option (b). Second, CoWIN being offered to the world as an open digital public good in July 2021 was just as widely reported. That rules out option (c). You are then left with options (a) and (d). India's stated policy is to build its digital public infrastructure on open-source, interoperable building blocks, as with DIKSHA on Sunbird and DigiLocker on open APIs. Knowing that points to all four. The fact to remember: India's flagship citizen platforms of 2015–2021 were all built on open-source technology.
Know more
Open source, DPI and DPG: three related ideas
- Open-source software (OSS): the source code is public. Anyone can read it, reuse it and improve it under a licence such as Apache 2.0 or MIT. India's Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India (2015) asks government bodies to prefer OSS. The aim is to avoid vendor lock-in and cut costs.
- Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): shared digital systems for identity, payments and data exchange, built as public goods. India Stack (Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker) is the usual example.
- Digital Public Good (DPG): open-source software, data or standards that other countries can adopt. India offered CoWIN to the world on these terms.
| Platform | Ministry / owner | Launched | Open-source basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aarogya Setu | MeitY (now run by NIC) | April 2020 | Android code on GitHub (May 2020); backend on Open Forge (Nov 2020) |
| CoWIN | MoHFW | January 2021 | Offered as a digital public good (July 2021) |
| DigiLocker | MeitY | 2015 | Built on open-source technology; open APIs for issuers |
| DIKSHA | Ministry of Education / NCERT | 2017 | Built on Sunbird (MIT-licensed open-source blocks) |
Why it matters: open code can be audited, which builds trust (the main reason Aarogya Setu's code was released). It can be reused abroad, which supports India's DPI diplomacy at forums like the G20. It also lets states and private firms build services on top of it. Related open platforms worth knowing: Open Forge (government code repository), Sunbird, and BHASHINI (language AI).
In the news
COVID-era platforms were in the news in 2020–21. Aarogya Setu's code was released in May and November 2020, and India offered CoWIN to the world as a digital public good at the CoWIN Global Conclave in July 2021. India's push to export its open digital public infrastructure ran up to its 2023 G20 presidency.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Digital public infrastructure: The question tests whether these platforms are shared public digital systems built on open, reusable code.
- DigiLocker: DigiLocker is one of the four platforms listed; knowing who runs it and why helps judge its technology base.