Empowering Healthcare, Education, and Geospatial Innovation: Transformative Potential of Cloud in India

During the recent AWS Summit in Mumbai, I had the opportunity to engage in a conversation with Pankaj Gupta, Leader – Public Sector Enterprises and Government, Healthcare, AWS India Private Limited, and Deepti Dutt, Head - Strategic Initiatives - Public Sector, AWS India Private Limited.

The transformative power of Cloud is reshaping healthcare, education, and geospatial innovation in India. Collaborating with start-ups and technology partners, India is harnessing advanced technologies and on-demand compute resources to create an inclusive, efficient, and innovative future for its citizens. A key theme that emerges in India is the pace with which the Government of India is understanding, embracing and leveraging advanced technologies to solve some of the most practical and diverse challenges with its leadership. 

Healthcare

Digital transformation has had a significant impact on various sectors, including healthcare and education. 

Just as UPI revolutionized financial inclusion in India, the Government of India has introduced the Unified Health Interface (UHI) to bring about a similar transformation in healthcare. Through UHI, every Indian citizen will be provided with a 14-digit health ID, known as the Ayushman Bharat Health ID Card. This initiative aims to build a comprehensive registry of patients, hospitals, labs, pharmacies, and doctors, transforming the way healthcare services are accessed and delivered in India.

Start-ups, such as Eka Care, are working with the Government of India to help citizens generate their Bharat Health ID Card, create personal health lockers to store and manage their health records, and take self-assessments to know their health risk factors. For healthcare providers, Eka Care offers an advanced technology platform that helps doctors manage their clinic practice and helps them know their patients better.

Education

In education, digital transformation is making a significant impact. With a young population where 50% are below the age of 25, the focus is on re-skilling and education. For instance, AWS is collaborating with the National Skill Development Corporation of India (NSDC) to accelerate the re-skilling efforts of 400Mn Indians. AWS is assisting NSDC in deploying various workloads, on the Skill India Portal (SIP). These initiatives leverage digital technologies to enhance the effectiveness and accessibility of skill development programs.

India is the first country globally where AWS has deployed the AWS Start-up Ramp program, that enables early stage public sector focused technology start-ups to build solutions on AWS. 

Skilling is a key priority for India. 

India's digital acceleration journey is rapidly gaining momentum. However, India is currently facing a growing shortage of digital skills. The widening skills gap in India’s digital workforce threatens India's growth potential.

To fully capitalize on the economic growth promised by digital transformation in the near future, India needs a workforce equipped with relevant skills. Urgent cloud skills programs are required, and all stakeholders in the ecosystem, including the Government, the private and public sector, need to contribute. Collaborative efforts from all stakeholders are essential to address this skills gap and ensure India can leverage the opportunities presented by its digital transformation journey.

Overall, these sectors are experiencing a digital acceleration that is enabling the government to deliver efficient and inclusive services to citizens while transforming the way healthcare is accessed and education is imparted.

Geospatial Data and Cloud Storage

Geospatial data holds immense potential for various industries and government initiatives. With the increasing complexity, diversity, and scope of geospatial data, the Cloud has emerged as a reliable and accessible platform to accommodate it. 

By harnessing advanced technologies, collaborating with partners, and utilizing on-demand compute and storage resources, India can realize its vision of a robust geospatial infrastructure that enables innovation and progress. 

After liberalizing the field of geospatial data in 2021, the Government of India implemented the 2022 National Geospatial Policy on December 28, 2022, with immediate effect. The policy outlined, amongst others, the operationalization of a Unified Geospatial Interface (UGI), an electronic data querying and processing service. The UGI is designed to provide consumer-oriented products, applications, services, and solutions utilizing the geospatial data and metadata contained in the National Geospatial Data Registry.

The Government of India envisions a comprehensive geospatial data infrastructure that promotes accessibility and innovation. By 2025, India aims to achieve a resolution of 5-10 cms for typography in all rural and urban areas, and a resolution of 200-500 cms for forested areas. India also plans to create 3D elevation models with resolutions of 10-15 cms for flat areas and literal mode for hilly terrain. This ambitious goal requires significant computational power and storage capacity.

To achieve these objectives, various partners, including drone start-ups like Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS), are collaborating with government agencies. Drones are employed to capture imagery, which is then processed to create maps for analytical purposes. Different methods, such as using LIDAR cameras on aircraft and moving vehicles, are employed to capture data for 3D city mapping.

The captured images are brought to the Cloud, where photogrammetry tools stitch them together to create orthorectified images that can be viewed on a computer screen. The process involves heavy computation, requiring GPU-based instances. Since data capture occurs intermittently, on-demand compute resources and spot pricing models are employed to optimize costs.

Once the orthorectified images are generated, the next step is feature extraction, identifying buildings, trees, and other elements. Currently, this process is manual, but efforts are underway to automate it using AI and ML tools. By leveraging these technologies, the time required for feature extraction can be significantly reduced, enabling India to scale its geospatial activities efficiently.

Validation and subsequent publishing of the maps and 3D images follow the feature extraction stage, making the data accessible for analytics and usage. Throughout the entire data lifecycle, from data capture to data publication, different compute and storage requirements arise, necessitating purpose-built databases, archival solutions, and geo-servers for low-latency access.

The next phase of geospatial development involves utilizing the published data to create applications, and the concept of geo AI is emerging. Agri-tech companies, for instance, leverage remote sensing data to predict crop yields, aiding in agricultural planning and insurance assessments. Urban planning, property tax management, forestry protection, and mining infrastructure monitoring are other areas where geospatial data proves valuable.

In Conclusion

The rapid adoption of Cloud is driving a remarkable shift in healthcare, education, and geospatial innovation in India. Availability, accessibility, and affordability of healthcare and education will accelerate further with the power of Cloud. Moreover, the integration of advanced technologies and cloud storage is revolutionizing geospatial data management, allowing India to achieve ambitious goals and foster innovation. By embracing the potential of the cloud, India unlocks new opportunities for growth, development, and improved quality of life for its citizens.

The article has been written by Prabhu Ram, Head – Industry Intelligence Group at CMR