eBasta App-A New Digital India Initiative

Digital India programme was launched by the government with a focus on digital empowerment of citizens and creation of digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen for governance and services on demand. Under this initiative, the NDA government is trying to transform every possible sector.

eBasta

The Government of India has now extended a helping hand to the students of India in the form of the eBasta platform. This is a collaborative platform where students, teachers and book retailers can come together and help each other.

According to the eBasta website, “it is a framework to make school books accessible in digital form as e-books to be read and used on tablets and laptops. The main idea is to bring various publishers (free as well as commercial) and schools together on one platform. In addition to the portal, a back-end framework to facilitate the organization and easy management of such resources has also been made, along with the web based applications that can be installed on tablets for navigating the framework.”

How it Works?

The stakeholders of eBasta are the students, teachers, eBasta app, and the publishers. The eBasta app has to be installed to get access to the portal. The school/teachers customise the contents of the eBasta for the students. The publishers upload the content as per the requirement of the eBastas. The students, with the help of the app, can access the portal and download content of interest.

Features of eBasta:

The eBasta app has to be installed to get access to the portal
The school/teachers customise the contents of the eBasta for the students
The publishers upload the content as per the requirement of the eBastas
The students, with the help of the app, can access the portal and download content of interest
This programme will make all school books available in the digital format and can be accessed on laptops and tablets
Resources available in the digital form include text, simulation, animations, audio books, and videos among many other features
Web based applications will be available to access and navigate the framework of eBasta
The android app is like an eBook reader. Once the student has access he/she will have the content as required by the teachers

What Can School / Teachers do with eBasta?

The android app is like a eBook reader. Once the student has access he/she will have the content as required by the teachers
Teacher can logically organize it by creating eBasta for their own students. It’s exactly like you create a bag full of schools books that are related to each standard or course
School teachers can choose and bundle content according to their teaching methods. Access to variety of resources – text, simulation, animations, audio books, videos, etc – to choose from

What Can Students do with eBasta?

eBasta provides an Android Application download, which students can install on their mobile phones or tablets
The students can then go to eBasta and download the eBasta that has been created by their school or teachers. This way, the students will have all the content as required by their teachers
eBasta content is in digital format, it can be stored on any device and shared or copied making the entire content very accessible and portable for students to use

What Can Publishers do with eBasta?

For school book publishers, eBasta becomes a marketplace where they can read out to thousands of schools across the country
Publishers can register on the portal and then list, sell and distribute all their content in digital format
Apart from listing and showcasing their content, the publishers can get direct feedback from teachers and students regarding the digital content they offer
The platform also supports DRM, so they do not have to worry about piracy of books too

The eBasta App:

The course material through eBasta can only be download through eBasta app. Student would be required to log in to eBasta portal and download the app as per their system configuration. The content and configuration of the app would be pre-set as decided by the schools and teachers of the school. Through, this app student can download texts, lectures, video and audio file etc.

Lastly, eBasta is a genuinely positive initiative by government of India considering the modem times and technology. It would keep our students abreast with other countries in many form. Moreover, it is also beneficial for the publisher because this way they could entering directly with the students and would be getting instant feedback for their content.

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