Communication and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad informed that Rs.18,000 crore worth of investment proposals have been received till now for the ‘Digital India Programme’.
Prasad said that while there are issues of spectrum to provide high speed connectivity and regulatory control, India will become an exciting place as far as Digital India is concerned. E-commerce, he said, was worth billions of dollars and will help increase India’s GDP in a big way.
Prasad said that the huge postal network can be used for various services like banking, insurance etc. The postal services earn Rs. 280 crore from e-commerce, he said, and urged the private sector to take the initiative to develop India digitally.
Stating that digital connectivity is needed for good governance, Mr. Prasad said India had more than USD 100 billion turnover in IT industry. All fortune companies connect with India’s IT. India has the potential of becoming no. 2 after China and surpass the United States.
Spelling out the initiatives that have already been taken under the Digital India Programme, the Minister said mygov.in portal has been launched to allow India to interact on various government programmes. Suggestions received on various programmes like Clean Ganga, Swachh Bharat through the portal and designing, logo, slogan etc have been prepared. Under the Jan Dhan Yojna – name for the programme was coined with the help of suggestions received through the portal, 8 crore bank accounts have been opened till now with a total deposit amount of Rs. 8000 crore. This is an ideal example of financial inclusion through digital technology.
Additionally, programmes such as Jeevan Pramaan, a biometric-enabled digital service for pensioners has been launched. Besides, through IT, 2 lakh schools were connected (2 crore children) on the eve of Teacher’s Day.
Prasad said the digital divide between those who have and those who don’t needs to be plugged. For this the government has initiated the programme – National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) – which proposes to connect 7 lakh kilometers optical fibre to be laid to connect 250 Gram Panchayats in 3 years. Wi-fi spots will be provided around the clusters after that and all villages to be provided with internet connectivity.
He said that to promote Digital India it is proposed to set up a broadband duct which is a pre-requisite for getting sewer, water and electricity connections.