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Design India Archives - Interaction Design


Interaction Design(IXD)

1891-1900
(1 items)


1991-2000
(3 items)


2000-2010
(3 items)


2001-2010
(5 items)


2011-2020
(18 items)


2021-2024
(3 items)



Interaction Design(IXD)

1891-1900
(1 items)

Microwave Communication
by Jagadis Chandra Bose

Jagadish Chandra Bose's demonstration of microwave communication at the Royal Institution in London in 1897 was a groundbreaking event in the history of wireless communication. Bose's experiments with electromagnetic waves laid the foundation for modern microwave technology and wireless communication systems. During his presentation, Bose used semiconductor diodes to generate and detect microwave signals. He used waveguides, horn antennas, dielectric lenses, various polarizers, and even semiconductors at frequencies as high as 60 GHz; much of his original equipment is still in existence, now at the Bose Institute in Calcutta. He demonstrated that these signals could be transmitted over short distances without the need for wires, showcasing the potential for wireless communication.

Bose's work was ahead of its time and contributed significantly to the development of wireless telegraphy and later radio communication. His experiments not only demonstrated the feasibility of microwave communication but also helped pave the way for the inventions of later scientists, including Guglielmo Marconi and Nikola Tesla, who further advanced wireless communication technology. Bose's contributions to science and technology are immense, and his experiments at the Royal Institution marked a significant milestone in the history of telecommunications.

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1991-2000
(3 items)

Electronic Voting Machine
by Prof. A.G. Rao & Prof. Ravi Poovaiah

The Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is a reliable system for conducting elections in which one person has to be elected out of many candidates. The EVM is designed for single posts and single votes. In the 1980s, the Election Commission of India initiated efforts to modernize the voting process and reduce electoral fraud. Professor A.G. Rao, along with his team at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata, and later Professor Ravi Poovaiah, played crucial roles in designing and developing EVMs for use in Indian elections. Their work led to the creation of a reliable and tamper-proof electronic voting system that has been widely adopted in India. The EVMs developed by Professors Rao and Poovaiah's team have several security features to prevent tampering and ensure the integrity of the voting process. These include encryption techniques, secure storage of votes, and built-in mechanisms to detect any attempts at manipulation.

The introduction of EVMs has revolutionized the electoral process in India, making voting faster, more efficient, and less prone to fraud. EVMs have been used in multiple general elections and state assembly elections in India since their introduction, and they have generally been well-received for their effectiveness in streamlining the voting process and improving the accuracy of vote counting.

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Snehi
by Snehi NGO
Snehi is a non-profit mental healthcare organisation established in 1994, dedicated to promoting psychosocial well-being and ensuring the right to positive mental health for all. Based in New Delhi, the NGO provides face-to-face counselling, free telephonic crisis intervention, and referral services, primarily focussing on children, adolescents, and individuals in emotional distress. Snehi also conducts mental health awareness programmes to reduce stigma and train professionals in mental health support. Over the years, it has helped thousands through its counselling services and workshops. Snehi's design approach emphasises confidentiality and accessibility, fostering trust through anonymous online chat and helplines. Its emotionally intuitive interaction ensures a non-judgemental and empathetic experience, making users feel heard and supported. Additionally, Snehi prioritises decentralised access, extending mental health support to rural and underprivileged communities through low-tech solutions like IVR, SMS, and WhatsApp counselling, ensuring help reaches those who need it most.
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Pratham’s Hybrid Learning Program
by Pratham Education Foundation
Pratham’s Hybrid Learning Program blends digital and offline learning methods to improve education outcomes for children in rural India. It uses mobile technology, storytelling, and community-based interventions to make education engaging and accessible. Pratham's design significance lies in its innovative and inclusive approach to education, particularly for underprivileged communities. Its blended learning model effectively combines online and offline activities, ensuring adaptability across different learning environments. A key strength of Pratham is its emphasis on community participation, actively engaging local volunteers and parents to enhance educational outcomes. Designed as a low-cost model, it addresses the challenges of resource-constrained settings, making quality education more accessible. With a strong focus on foundational learning, Pratham prioritizes basic literacy and numeracy skills, laying a solid educational groundwork for children across India.
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2000-2010
(3 items)

Simputer
by Vijay Chandru, Swami Manohar, Ramesh Hariharan and V. Vinay

The Simputer, short for "Simple Inexpensive Multilingual People's Computer," was a pioneering initiative developed in India in the early 2000s by a team led by Vijay Chandru, Swami Manohar, Ramesh Hariharan, and V. Vinay. The concept behind the Simputer was to create an affordable computing device that could be used by people with limited access to technology, particularly in rural and remote areas. The goal was to bridge the digital divide by providing a simple, user-friendly device that could enable a wide range of applications, including education, healthcare, and commerce.

In terms of technological innovation, Simputer had an impressive list of firsts. It was the first Linux-operated handheld device with writing capabilities, the first handheld device to have a USB master port, and the first to have an accelerometer. Over 180 million students were in school, and only a lucky handful had just become familiar with computers. The digital divide was growing. In this backdrop, during the IT.Com event of October 1998, touted as the first large-scale IT expo in the country, the Bangalore Declaration on Information Technology for Developing Countries was released. One of the goals of this declaration was to make a Simple Inexpensive Mobile comPUTER (SIMPUTER) to provide access to information technology for every citizen, regardless of their social or economic status. This spurred four faculty members in the Department of Computer Science and Automation (CSA) at IISc – Vijay Chandru, Swami Manohar, Ramesh Hariharan, and V Vinay – to imagine and develop a low-cost handheld computer, one that could be accessible for everyone. Simputer was not the only innovation that came out of the partnership between the four. While Swami Manohar and V Vinay were setting up a company called PicoPeta to market the Simputer, Ramesh Hariharan and Vijay Chandru were also building a genomic company for personalised medicine called Strand Life Sciences.

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Jellow Communicator
by Prof. Ravi Poovaiah and Dr. Ajanta Sen

Jellow Communicator is an innovative communication tool designed to assist individuals with speech and language disabilities, particularly those with conditions such as cerebral palsy, autism, and developmental disabilities. The project was spearheaded by Professor Ravi Poovaiah and Dr. Ajanta Sen. The journey of Jellow started in 2004 as a tangible physical product. Following this, in 2008, it was made available on desktops. Then, after extensive user studies, it was conceived as a complete communication system available on a variety of platforms. Jellow has been supported by IIT Bombay, the e-kalpa project from the Ministry of Human Resources and Development, the Innovation Fund Award from Unicef, the National Trust, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Nair Hospital, and the University of Connecticut, USA, along with several NGO's working in the field of persons with disabilities.

Jellow Communicator utilises a symbol-based communication system, making it accessible to individuals with limited verbal communication abilities. It consists of a grid of symbols representing various words, phrases, and actions. Users can customise the communication grids based on their specific needs and preferences. Grids can be tailored to different contexts, such as home, school, or community settings, and can include symbols related to daily activities, emotions, requests, and more. The use of symbols provides visual support to aid comprehension and expression for individuals who may struggle with traditional text-based communication methods. Jellow Communicator features voice output functionality, allowing users to select symbols and have them spoken aloud using synthesised speech. This feature enables users to communicate effectively with others, even if they are unable to speak verbally. The design of Jellow Communicator emphasises accessibility and ease of use, with intuitive navigation and user-friendly interfaces suitable for individuals of all ages and abilities. Jellow Communicator is available as a mobile application, making it convenient for users to access the tool on smartphones and tablets. The mobile app version offers portability and flexibility for use in various environments. Overall, Jellow Communicator is a valuable resource for individuals with speech and language disabilities, empowering them to communicate effectively and interact with others more independently. The project reflects a commitment to inclusive design and leveraging technology to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.

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Aadhar Card
by Nandan Nilekani
Aadhaar, which translates to "foundation" in Hindi, is a 12-digit unique identity number issued to Indian residents by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). It is the world's largest biometric ID system. The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority established in January 2009 by the Government of India. Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys and former Chairman of the UIDAI, played a pivotal role in the conceptualization and implementation of the Aadhaar project. Aadhaar has had a transformative impact on India's identity infrastructure and governance systems, facilitating inclusive growth, transparency, and efficiency in service delivery. Nandan Nilekani's vision and leadership were instrumental in driving the Aadhaar project forward and realising its potential as a foundational platform for development and empowerment. It is considered a proof of residence and not a proof of citizenship; Aadhaar does not itself grant any rights to domicile in India.
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2001-2010
(5 items)

India Stack
by Government of India
India Stack is a comprehensive digital public infrastructure developed by the Government of India to facilitate digital transformation and enhance service delivery. It is a set of open APIs and digital infrastructure that aims to enable identity verification, digital payments, paperless governance, and secure data sharing. The stack includes key components such as Aadhaar (identity verification), UPI (payments), eSign (digital signatures), DigiLocker (document storage), and e-KYC (know your customer), which collectively enable businesses and government services to operate efficiently in the digital space. It has been used for everything from financial inclusion (like subsidies) to online banking and digital signatures for contracts.
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Khabar Lahariya
by Khabar Lahariya Team
Khabar Lahariya is an independent rural digital news platform run entirely by women journalists from marginalised communities in India. It began as a print newspaper in 2002 and transitioned into a digital platform, covering issues often ignored by mainstream media, such as caste discrimination, gender violence, and rural governance. Journalists receive training in mobile journalism and investigative reporting, allowing them to report from remote districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. Their content is available in multiple regional languages, ensuring accessibility. Khabar Lahariya holds significant design value as a pioneering hyperlocal journalism platform that covers grassroots-level stories often overlooked by mainstream media. As a women-led initiative, it trains and employs rural women journalists, empowering them with a voice in media. Embracing digital transformation, the platform leverages mobile journalism to expand its reach and impact. Additionally, its multilingual reporting, publishing content in Hindi and local dialects, ensures accessibility and engagement with diverse communities, making it a powerful model of inclusive and independent journalism.
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Project Saksham
by Saksham Trust
Project Saksham is an initiative by TCS that leverages interaction design (IxD) to enhance digital accessibility for persons with disabilities. The project focuses on developing inclusive technologies, particularly in education and employment sectors, enabling visually impaired individuals and those with motor disabilities to navigate digital platforms efficiently. It incorporates AI-powered speech recognition, screen readers, and haptic feedback to make digital interfaces more user-friendly. One of its key components includes making corporate workspaces digitally inclusive by ensuring that enterprise applications are WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliant. Project Saksham prioritizes inclusive design by creating interfaces that cater to diverse disabilities, ensuring accessibility for all users. It incorporates voice- and gesture-based interactions to minimize reliance on traditional touch and text inputs, making digital experiences more intuitive. Multilingual support further enhances accessibility for non-English speakers, breaking language barriers. Rooted in human-centred research, the project actively involves individuals with disabilities in the design process, ensuring that solutions are tailored to their real-world needs.
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Teach for India
by Shaheen Mistri, Teach For India Fellowship
Teach For India (TFI) is a prestigious two-year fellowship program that recruits and trains young professionals and graduates to serve as full-time teachers in under-resourced schools across India. Fellows work in low-income communities, providing quality education while developing leadership skills to drive systemic change in the education sector. The program offers rigorous training, mentorship, and a network of education leaders, empowering fellows to address educational inequity. Teach For India's design approach emphasizes experiential learning, encouraging activity-based and peer-to-peer interactions to enhance student engagement. It incorporates gamification through storytelling, quizzes, and project-based tasks, making learning more interactive and enjoyable. Additionally, TFI integrates technology into its pedagogy, leveraging EdTech tools like Google Classroom and Khan Academy to create a blended learning experience that improves accessibility and effectiveness in under-resourced classrooms.
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Avaz AAC
by Invention Labs
Avaz AAC is an advanced Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app designed to support children and adults with speech disabilities. It empowers non-verbal users by providing customisable picture-based communication tools, enabling them to express their thoughts, needs, and emotions effectively. The app features a user-friendly interface, preloaded vocabulary sets, and the ability to personalise symbols and text-to-speech options to suit individual communication preferences. Avaz AAC is widely used by individuals with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other speech impairments, helping them develop language skills and social interactions. With multilingual support and adaptive learning capabilities, Avaz AAC has become a vital tool for carers, educators, and therapists in fostering communication independence.
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2011-2020
(18 items)

Aakash Tablet
by DataWind
The Aakash tablet, also known as the Ubislate series, is a low-cost Android tablet computer developed by DataWind, a Canadian company with Indian roots. The Aakash tablet project was launched in India with the aim of providing affordable computing devices to students and educators, particularly in rural and remote areas. On October 5, 2011, the tablet was formally introduced as the Aakash in New Delhi. In April 2012, the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development unveiled the Akash 2, an improved second-generation variant. The primary goal of the Aakash tablet was to make computing devices accessible to a wider population by offering them at very low prices. The government of India subsidised the cost of the tablets to make them affordable for students and educational institutions. The Aakash tablets were entry-level devices with basic specifications suitable for educational purposes. They typically featured a touchscreen display, Wi-Fi connectivity, USB ports, and support for multimedia playback. The hardware specifications were modest compared to high-end tablets but sufficient for educational use and basic computing tasks. It came preloaded with educational content, including e-books, videos, interactive tutorials, and educational apps. The intention was to provide students with access to digital learning resources that could enhance their educational experience and improve learning outcomes. The Aakash tablet project was supported by the Government of India as part of its efforts to promote digital literacy and technology-enabled education. The government procured large quantities of Aakash tablets for distribution to educational institutions across the country, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
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Ek Mukta
by Prof. Girish Dalvi and Yashodeep Gholap

"Ek Mukta" is a free and open-source Devanagari font designed by Professor Girish Dalvi and Yashodeep Gholap with extensive support from Noopur Datye, Sarang Kulkarni, and Maithili Shingre. It is a Unicode-compliant, versatile, contemporary, humanist, mono-linear typeface available in seven weights, supporting Devanagari and Latin scripts. This type family is a libre-licensed version of the Ek multi-script family, an ongoing project to develop a unified type family for each Indian script. The goal is to build one harmonious family across all Indian scripts without letting the visual features of one script dominate over others. This ensures that the fonts can be used successfully for both single and multi-script purposes.

Ek Mukta was designed with the aim of providing a contemporary and versatile Devanagari font that could be used for various purposes, including print and digital media. The font features a clean and elegant design, with balanced proportions and legible characters. It is released under the SIL Open Font License, which allows anyone to use, modify, and distribute the font freely. This open-source approach encourages collaboration and ensures that the font remains accessible to a wide range of users.

Professor Girish Dalvi, a renowned type designer and educator from IIT Bombay, collaborated with Yashodeep Gholap, a graphic designer and typographer, to create the Ek Mukta font. Their combined expertise in typography and design helped shape the development of the font and ensure its quality and usability. Ek Mukta supports not only Hindi and Marathi but also other languages that use the Devanagari script, such as Nepali and Sanskrit. This multi-language support makes the font versatile and suitable for a diverse range of applications. It has received recognition and praise for its design and contribution to the Devanagari typography community. It has been adopted by various organizations and projects for use in print publications, websites, and digital platforms. Overall, Ek Mukta represents a valuable addition to the collection of Devanagari fonts available to designers, publishers, and users worldwide. Its open-source nature and high-quality design make it a popular choice for projects that require a modern and accessible Devanagari typeface.

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Devanagari Search Tool
by Prof. Girish Dalvi
The Devanagari search tool is an interactive visual-feature-based font search system for Devanagari typefaces. The tool provides an intuitive and user-friendly method to search and browse through a large number of fonts and is primarily meant as an educational and search aid for students and type designers. The Devanagari Font Search tool is based on the conceptual model for Devanagari typefaces developed by Girish Dalvi during his PhD at IIT Bombay. Prof. Girish Dalvi is known for his work in type design, typography, and creating digital tools for Indian scripts, including Devanagari. It is equipped with filtering capabilities (facets), which can be used for quickly identifying unknown typefaces. It also allows exploratory tasks, which can be useful, as it makes browsing through similar typefaces (typefaces with similar visual properties) simpler. The database for the fonts is curated by faculty and staff from IDC IIT Bombay and contains fonts and notes collected over the years.
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Swarachakra
by Prof. Anirudha Joshi and Team Swarachakra
Swarachakra is a free text input application developed by the IDID group at the Industrial Design Centre (IDC) under Prof. Anirudha Joshi and his team, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, for Indic scripts. It is designed to facilitate easy and intuitive typing in various Indian languages using the Devanagari script and other scripts. It is available for Android devices, and currently, keyboards for 12 languages are available. Swarachakra's alphabetical keyboard layout performs better than the Inscript layout. It is designed specifically to handle the complexities of Indian scripts, such as conjuncts and ligatures. By providing a user-friendly interface and innovative layout, Swarachakra helps users overcome the challenges of typing in complex scripts, thereby promoting the use and preservation of Indian languages in the digital age.
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UPI
by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), represents a transformative milestone in the Indian financial landscape. Launched in April 2016, UPI has dramatically altered the way people conduct financial transactions, paving the way for a cashless economy. Its innovative design and widespread adoption have positioned India as a global leader in digital payments. UPI is a real-time payment system that facilitates inter-bank transactions through a mobile platform. UPI allows users to transfer money instantly, 24/7, including weekends and holidays. This real-time capability ensures that transactions are processed immediately, providing instant confirmation to both the sender and the receiver. UPI consolidates multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, streamlining the fund routing and merchant payments process. Users can link several bank accounts to one app, simplifying their financial management. The system uses a single-click two-factor authentication process, relying on a secure virtual payment address (VPA) instead of sensitive bank account details. This enhances security while maintaining user convenience. UPI supports a wide range of transactions, including person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) payments. It can be used for bill payments, online shopping, and in-store purchases, making it highly versatile.
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Fino Payments Bank
by Manish Khera & Rishi Gupta
Fino Payments Bank is a payments bank in India. It is driven by the pioneering efforts of Manish Khera and the strategic leadership of Rishi Gupta, stands as a remarkable success story in the realm of financial inclusion in India. It was grated payments bank licenced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) I 216 and commenced operations in 2017. Payments banks in India are a new type of financial institution that are allowed to accept deposits and issue debit cards but are not allowed to lend money or issue credit cards. Fino Payments Bank is focused on providing banking and financial services to underbanked and unbanked customers, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas. The bank offers a range of services, including opening accounts, depositing and withdrawing money, and making digital payments. It also offers insurance products and loans to its customers.
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Aarogya Setu
by National Informatics Centre under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
Aarogya Setu is an Indian COVID-19 "contact tracing, syndromic mapping and self-assessment" digital service, primarily a mobile app, developed by the National Informatics Centre under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It is largely a smartphone app. Launched in April 2020, the app was a crucial tool in the country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, serving multiple roles from contact tracing to providing updated health information, self-assessment, hotspot alerts, and integration with health services, the app has significantly contributed to managing and mitigating the impact of the virus. This app's declared goals are to connect Indians with vital Covid-19-related health services and to raise awareness of the virus.This app promotes best practices and advice in addition to supporting the Department of Health's efforts to contain COVID-19. This tracking app tracks COVID-19 cases by utilising the GPS and Bluetooth capabilities of the smartphone. The app is available for Android and iOS mobile operating systems. Aarogya Setu stands as a testament to the power of technology in addressing public health challenges and provides a robust framework for future health initiatives.
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SmartCane
by AssisTech, IIT Delhi
SmartCane is a revolutionary mobility aid designed to assist visually impaired individuals in navigating their surroundings more safely and independently. Developed by AssisTech, IIT Delhi in collaboration with Phoenix Medical Systems, SmartCane was launched in 2014. The device is an enhancement of the traditional white cane, equipped with ultrasonic sensors to detect obstacles up to 3 meters away, including objects at head height, which regular canes often miss. The interaction design of SmartCane is highly intuitive. It uses vibrations to alert the user of obstacles, with different vibration patterns indicating varying distances. This simple yet effective feedback mechanism allows users to make decisions in real time, avoiding hazards that may pose danger to them. The device is lightweight, affordable, and designed for ease of use in everyday life, catering specifically to the needs of users in developing countries. SmartCane has transformed the experience of mobility for its users by providing them with more confidence and independence. Its cost-effective design makes it accessible to a broader demographic, contributing to improved quality of life for many visually impaired individuals across India and other regions.
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UrbanClap (now Urban Company)
by Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan & Raghav Chandra
UrbanClap (rebranded as Urban Company in 2020) is a leading on-demand home services platform. The platform was designed to address the growing need for reliable, professional home services in urban areas. UrbanClap connects users with verified service professionals, offering a wide range of services including beauty treatments, home cleaning, appliance repairs, and plumbing. The platform’s interaction design focuses on simplicity and user convenience. With just a few taps, users can book services from trained and vetted professionals. UrbanClap’s app offers a seamless experience, including service listings, price transparency, and appointment scheduling. Additionally, the platform provides real-time tracking, customer reviews, and secure online payments, all aimed at creating a trustworthy and user-friendly ecosystem for both customers and service providers. UrbanClap’s design stands out for making complex home services easily accessible through an intuitive interface. Its user-centric approach simplifies booking and managing services, fostering a level of reliability that has transformed the home services industry in India.
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DigiLocker
by Government of India
DigiLocker is a digital document storage platform launched by the Government of India in 2015 as part of the Digital India initiative. Its primary goal is to provide Indian citizens with a secure cloud-based platform to store, share, and verify official documents digitally. With DigiLocker, users can store a wide range of documents like Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, educational certificates, driving licenses, and vehicle registration papers, eliminating the need to carry physical copies. The platform’s interaction design focuses on simplifying document management for users. DigiLocker provides a seamless user experience with features like easy document upload, verification from official issuers, and integration with various government and private agencies for automatic retrieval of e-documents. Users can access their documents anytime through the web or mobile app, share them with authorised agencies, and avoid the hassle of carrying paper versions. The integration with Aadhaar and UPI adds to the security and ease of use. DigiLocker has been widely adopted for various applications, including verification of identity, submission of documents for job applications, and accessing government services. Its innovation lies in streamlining digital governance and contributing to a paperless ecosystem, further promoting efficiency and transparency in administrative processes. DigiLocker stands out in the interaction design domain for creating a user-friendly, secure, and reliable platform for document storage and verification. It empowers users by giving them control over their important documents and supports the broader mission of digital governance in India.
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Pothole Raja
by Prathap Bhimasena Rao
Pothole Raja is a social initiative launched in 2016 by Prathap Bhimasena Rao to address the widespread issue of potholes on Indian roads. The platform empowers citizens to report potholes and actively participate in fixing them. The primary aim is to reduce accidents, improve road safety, and create better road infrastructure through community involvement. The interaction design of Pothole Raja leverages a mobile app and web interface where users can report potholes by submitting their location and a photo. These reports are then verified, and Pothole Raja either collaborates with local authorities to repair them or organises volunteer-driven pothole-fixing events. By streamlining the process of identifying and fixing road issues, the platform creates an efficient communication loop between citizens, government bodies, and volunteers. Pothole Raja’s focus on simplicity, user participation, and quick action has made it a standout in civic engagement. The initiative has repaired thousands of potholes across cities in India, improving not only road conditions but also raising public awareness about the importance of safe driving conditions. Pothole Raja’s interaction design is crucial for fostering community-driven change. It simplifies reporting and encourages proactive civic participation, making it easier for citizens to take responsibility for their environment. The initiative demonstrates how thoughtful design can address real-world problems through collective action.
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AI4Bharat
by IIT Madras
AI4Bharat is an open-source initiative aimed at developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools for Indian languages. By creating AI models, datasets, and applications in multiple local languages, AI4Bharat seeks to make AI accessible to the broader population. This is crucial for ensuring that technology reaches non-English speakers and supports language diversity in the digital age. The initiative is crucial for bridging the digital divide in India, ensuring that AI innovations cater to the needs of its diverse linguistic landscape.
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Tactopus
by Tactopus Team
Tactopus is an assistive technology initiative aimed at making learning accessible and inclusive for visually impaired individuals. It provides interactive educational materials that combine tactile graphics with audio guidance, enabling children with visual impairments to engage with subjects like science, mathematics, and geography in a more immersive way. Using a smartphone or tablet, the system recognises tactile elements on printed learning materials and provides real-time audio feedback. This multisensory approach enhances comprehension and retention, bridging the gap between traditional education and accessible learning tools. Tactopus has been recognised for its innovative contribution to inclusive education and is widely used in schools and special education programmes.
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Diksha
by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
Diksha is a national digital learning platform designed to support students, teachers, and educators with digital educational resources. It offers interactive textbooks, teacher training modules, and e-learning courses across multiple Indian languages. The platform is accessible via mobile apps, websites, and QR codes embedded in physical textbooks. Diksha gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as a critical tool for remote learning in government schools. It plays a crucial role in India's digital education strategy by providing a comprehensive platform for learning and teaching. It integrates multimedia resources, including text, video, and interactive exercises, to enhance the learning experience. Designed with a strong focus on educators, it offers professional development modules that help teachers improve their skills and methodologies. Additionally, Diksha supports multiple Indian languages, ensuring accessibility for students and teachers across diverse linguistic and regional backgrounds, making it a vital tool for inclusive and scalable education.
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Vision Empower
by IIIT Bangalore
Inclusive STEM is an initiative aimed at making science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education accessible to visually impaired students. Vision Empower collaborates with schools and research institutions to develop Braille-based learning materials, audio-enabled textbooks, and tactile models to support STEM education for blind and low-vision students. The project also trains teachers to adopt inclusive pedagogies and integrates AI-driven accessibility tools such as speech-to-text and object recognition applications. Inclusive STEM education emphasizes the importance of accessibility by integrating tactile learning materials such as Braille and embossed diagrams to enhance science education for visually impaired students. Assistive technology, including custom apps and AI-based tools, further supports accessibility, enabling a more inclusive learning environment. Additionally, teacher training programs play a crucial role in helping educators adapt their teaching methodologies to better cater to diverse learning needs. A strong focus on computational thinking fosters logical problem-solving skills, empowering visually impaired students to engage with STEM subjects effectively.
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eSanjeevani
by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India
eSanjeevani is India's flagship telemedicine platform under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), designed to provide remote healthcare services, especially to rural and underserved areas. Offering free online doctor consultations via video calls, it connects patients with medical professionals from government hospitals and health centres. The platform operates in two modes: eSanjeevani OPD (Doctor-to-Patient Mode), which allows individuals to book virtual consultations via a web portal or mobile app, and eSanjeevani AB-HWC (Doctor-to-Doctor Mode), which enables teleconsultations between Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs) and specialists at tertiary hospitals, empowering frontline healthcare workers like ANMs and ASHAs. Since its launch, eSanjeevani has facilitated over 100 million consultations, making it one of the world’s largest telemedicine platforms. It played a crucial role during COVID-19 by ensuring the continuity of healthcare services when physical hospital visits were restricted.
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CGNet Swara
by Shubhranshu Choudhary
CGNet Swara is an audio-based citizen journalism platform that empowers tribal and rural communities in Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states to report on hyperlocal issues. Users call a dedicated phone number, record their grievances or news, and listen to community updates. Once submitted, volunteer journalists and moderators verify the reports before publishing them online and relaying them to government officials for action. The platform has been instrumental in highlighting local corruption, land rights issues, and social injustices that mainstream media often overlook. One of its most impactful interventions was in 2015, when villagers reported on CGNet Swara that they hadn’t been paid wages under the MGNREGA scheme. After the report went viral, the government responded, and the wages were credited. CGNet Swara is an IVR-based news platform designed to work on basic mobile phones, enabling people in remote, low-connectivity areas to engage in journalism. It supports multilingual and regionally adapted content, including tribal languages like Gondi and Santhali, overcoming language barriers for indigenous communities. Unlike traditional news, CGNet Swara promotes actionable journalism by allowing real-time grievance redressal, making it interactive and empowering users. The platform also incorporates a trust and credibility model through a human verification process, ensuring authenticity while maintaining a decentralized approach.
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Project Unnati
by Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India
Project Unnati is a skill development and placement program under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It aims to upskill unemployed rural youth from poor households to help them transition to sustainable employment. Beneficiaries receive 100 days of training in various trades, including digital literacy, entrepreneurship development, and technical and vocational skills. Upon completion, trainees are linked to wage employment or self-employment through financial support. The programme adopts a human-centred approach by offering customised training tailored to local employment needs, ensuring relevance and impact. It incorporates tech-enabled learning through e-learning modules and AI-driven career counselling to enhance engagement and support trainees effectively. Additionally, direct bank transfer integration ensures transparent and efficient financial support for participants, streamlining the process and fostering trust.
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2021-2024
(3 items)

Bhashini
by Government of India
Bhashini is a project aimed at enabling easy access to the internet and digital services in Indian languages. It seeks to enhance the availability of content in multiple Indian languages, making digital inclusion more accessible to non-English speakers. The initiative focuses on improving internet connectivity and promoting local-language content to ensure no one is left behind in the digital revolution. Bhashini promotes linguistic diversity online and helps to bridge the digital divide by supporting vernacular language users.
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Unified Health Interface (UHI)
by Government of India
UHI is a digital health ecosystem that seeks to replicate the success of UPI in the healthcare sector. It facilitates seamless interoperability between healthcare service providers and patients, enabling users to access teleconsultations, book appointments, and pay for services through a common interface. The goal of UHI is to integrate various healthcare systems and providers into one network, offering easier access to healthcare services for citizens. UHI simplifies healthcare delivery by integrating it with digital payments, identity verification, and records management, empowering patients with more control over their health data.
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Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)
by Government of India
ONDC is an open network designed to democratise e-commerce by enabling smaller retailers and businesses to participate in the digital economy. It seeks to break the monopoly of major e-commerce platforms by creating an interoperable network where any seller can list their products. Through the platform, businesses of all sizes can offer products and services to consumers, encouraging competition and innovation. ONDC also promotes collaboration through hackathons, fostering new digital solutions in commerce. ONDC stands out for its open ecosystem approach, ensuring that small retailers and local businesses can compete on equal footing with e-commerce giants.
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