India, as part of its Aatmanirbhar initiatives, plans on developing the country’s own web browser to compete with other widely used foreign browsers like Chrome and Firefox. MeiTY, or the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has announced the Indian Web Browser Development Challenge, inviting Indian startups and companies to be a part of it.

Here’s more about it.

Indian Web Browser to Take on Chrome and Firefox to be Developed

India has been progressing as a developing country and is on the path to becoming the third-largest economy in the world. Now, as an extension of its Aatmanirbhar Bharat development plans, the country is going to develop its own web browser.

Speaking about internet users of the country accounts for about 850 million users and among which 88.47% of users rely on Google’s Chrome Web browser, followed by Apple’s Safari with 5.22% of users. Microsoft Edge is used by 2% and 1.5% of users use the Samsung Internet Browser. The rest, 1.53% of users, are relying on other not-so-widely used browsers.

The goal of this initiative is to get more control over the digital sphere, and this is why the decision to develop the country’s own web browser has been put into plan. Depending on the foreign web browsers may also lead to security and privacy concerns and issues, as noted by an Indian official, and having an Indian web browser is the only solution there is.

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeiTY) has thus announced the Indian Web Browser Development Challenge with a cash prize of 3.4 crore rupees for the developer/developers who are able to bring out the best browser that will be compatible with all operating systems, and following the necessary standards and guidelines mentioned. Any Indian startups or companies registered under the Companies Act of 2013 can participate. It should also be noted that at least 51% of the shares should be owned by Indian citizens and no startups or companies which are a subsidiary of a foreign company can participate.

This initiative is also viewed as an opportunity for the government to convince US web browser companies to include and integrate India’s web security certification authority in their “trust stores”(or “root stores”). As of now, the country is not part of the trust stores of any major browsers.

The post India to Develop its Own Web Browser: MeiTY Launches the Indian Web Browser Development Challenge appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

The Covid-19 era has only intensified the need for cloud storage as it has now become a necessity in order to navigate through these challenging times. DigiBox is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform founded in 2020 and will be launched for Indian users on 15th August 2020 to address this growing need in the market.

Digibox makes life easier by providing an easy, secure way to store all your documents in one centralized location. With the help of this platform, businesses can secure their digital assets by controlling who can access them which also additionally,  enables them to provide data access to the right people when deemed fit.

Mr Ankoor Choudharri, Sr. Vice President, DigiBoxx said, “DigiBox is a digital file storage and sharing platform that allows you to easily share, store, track, and manage your assets – all on an Indian Digital Storage Cloud. A pocket-friendly Indian solution for individuals, small businesses & mammoth enterprises. To support small and medium-sized businesses in this pandemic situation, we’re giving a 50% discount for the first 6 months on pre-registration to ease the burden. For both professional and personal use, it is the most cost-effective way to share photos, videos and other work files with clients and peers”,

DigiBoxx highlights the vision of the Modi Government’s urge to vouch for ‘Vocal for Local” and “Aatmanirbhar Bharat. This innovation comes in lines when there exists a looming threat of data and security breach due to reliance on foreign products.

DigiBoxx aims to provide features that the market retains critical data within India’s borders withing Indian price points.

It is a brand built by new-age entrepreneurs encouraging Indians and Indian companies to not just ‘Make in India’ but also ‘Store in India’.

Happy to meet young entrepreneurs @aurnobmitro & Atanu Das, of this unique venture @thedigiboxx.

Elated to note that we have a #SwadeshiStorage solution under our PM @narendramodi Ji's #AtmaNirbharBharat initiative to boost digital storage in India.@rsprasad pic.twitter.com/NkQ7IQlZvN

— Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 20, 2021

CEO of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant on 23 December 2021 virtually launched India’s first digital asset management platform DigiBoxx

The post Digibox: Make In India And Store In India appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

The National Informatics Centre ( NIC) has successfully launched an instant messaging platform called Sandes similar to WhatsApp. This new platform can be used for all kinds of communications by anyone who has access to a mobile number or email id.

The NIC released the first version of the app in August 2020. Initially, the app was launched for Android devices and then was later made available for iOS devices. The app was first used only by the central and state government officials “for intra & inter-organisation communication.” Now it has been made available for the use of the public too.

Under the initiative of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, The launch of the app is also a part of the government strategy to push for use of India-made software to build an ecosystem of indigenously developed products.

However, unlike Telegram, there is no option to transfer the chat history between two platforms, the chats on government instant messaging systems or GIMS can be backed up to a users’ email id which was used to register.

GIMS ( government instant messaging system), like other instant messaging apps in the market, requires a valid mobile number or email id to register for an account. It offers features such as emojis, forwarding messages, group making, broadcast message.

A unique feature of this app includes an additional safety feature that allows a user to mark a message as confidential, which conveys to the recipient that the message should not be shared with others.

The post NIC launches Sandes App to Replace WhatsApp in India appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Since the Indian Government has removed restrictions and regulations on the use of geospatial data; Indians now have access to look at local maps with more detailed and realtime updates on what’s happening on the ground. MapMyIndia has already a tie-up with ISRO to create new mapping products.

The post ISRO AND MapMyIndia Jointly to end Google Maps’ Monopoly in India appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

On Monday Modi headed-Centre Government announced various radical changes to be made to the country’s mapping policy for benefit of the Indian companies keeping in mind the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.

This is considered to be the government’s massive step to make India Self-Reliant; PM Modi on his Twitter in a series of tweets announced the same and explained that the policy change.

The government is looking forward to see India emerge as a mapping power.

Our government has taken a decision that will provide a huge impetus to Digital India. Liberalising policies governing the acquisition and production of geospatial data is a massive step in our vision for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. #mapmakingsimplified https://t.co/ssbPhAeSp1

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 15, 2021

The reforms will unlock tremendous opportunities for our country’s start-ups, private sector, public sector and research institutions to drive innovations and build scalable solutions. This will also generate employment and accelerate economic growth. #Freedom2MapIndia pic.twitter.com/OoN1rDTwoW

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 15, 2021

India’s farmers will also be benefited by leveraging the potential of geo-spatial & remote sensing data. Democratizing data will enable the rise of new technologies & platforms that will drive efficiencies in agriculture and allied sectors. #mapmakingsimplified #Freedom2MapIndia

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 15, 2021

These reforms demonstrate our commitment to improving ease of doing business in India by deregulation.#mapmakingsimplified #Freedom2MapIndia

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 15, 2021

According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the changes announced by the government is that what’s readily available globally isn’t required to be restricted in India. Thereby geospatial data that used to be restricted will now be freely available in India. The changes also look forward to removing unnecessary red tape and obstacles in innovation.

In a release, the Ministry stated that “The existing regime imposed significant restrictions on the mapping industry – from creation to dissemination of maps, requiring Indian companies to seek licenses, follow a cumbersome system of pre-approvals and permissions. Compliance with these regulatory restrictions has subjected startups in India to unnecessary red tape, hindering Indian innovation in map technologies for decades. Our corporations and innovators are no longer subject to restrictions nor do they require prior approvals before they collect, generate, prepare, disseminate, store, publish, update digital Geospatial Data and Maps within the territory of India,”

The post PM Modi Tweets about Govt Announcing Radical Changes to Mapping Policy appeared first on The Tech Outlook.