DIGITAL INDIA

Digital India initiative is one of the most ambitious projects of the Government of India; it is part of PM Narendra Modi’s vision of making India a ‘digitally empowered knowledge economy’

WHAT IS DIGITAL INDIA INITIATIVE

Digital India initiative is an extended and transformed version of e-Governance project which is in place since mid-1990s. Various e-Governance projects all over the country encompassing all the government departments have not been able to bring about desired results. Thus there was a need felt by the current government to overhaul the present infrastructure of e-governance plan and also include additional objectives in the new initiative.

Through the implementation of this scheme, the gap between government departments and people in general would be minimized. Services and benefits provided by the government would reach to the citizens in quick time and without much hassle. It will also ensure local electronic manufacturing and job creations for Indians.

Therefore, to realise the objective of making India a ‘Digital Society’ and a ‘Knowledge Economy’, PM Narendra Modi envisioned the scheme of “Digital India” so as to transform the entire concept of Governance by making it more transparent and accessible to the citizen.

The Digital India initiative is being envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) but other ministries are also involved such as Ministry of Communications & IT, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Health and others also.

DIGITAL INDIA INITIATIVE LAUNCHED

PM Narendra Modi launched the ambitious Digital India initiative on 1 July 2015 at a ceremony held in New Delhi to celebrate first Digital India Week, in the presence of top CEOs from India and abroad. The industry lauded this new initiative as an important milestone in transforming India’s digital infrastructure for the next generation and also as a catalyst for investment in technology sector and in employment generation. These CEOs have committed to invest Rs. 4.5 lakh crore for the initiative to make it a success.

VISION AREAS OF DIGITAL INDIA

The main vision of Digital India initiative is to ‘transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy’.

To achieve this vision, the government has marked three Vision Areas, viz.:

1. Making digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen.
2. Making Governance and public services on demand.
3. Making citizens digitally empowered.

Important objectives under these vision areas are:

1. High-speed internet connectivity for fast delivery of public services.
2. Creation of unique digital identity for every citizen.

• Providing private space on public cloud.

1. Making cyber-space safe and secure.
2. To make government services available in real time through online medium.
3. To improve ease of doing business through transformed digital services.

• Financial transactions are to be made cashless and electronic.
• Universalization of digital literacy.

1. Making digital resource and services available in Indian languages.
2. Making governance citizen participative through collaborative digital platform.