Welcoming the Union Cabinet’s approval on Wednesday to the Digital India Programme, the IT industry has once again called for being involved in the project. Digital India aims to connect all gram panchayats by broadband Internet, promote e-governance, and transform India into a connected knowledge economy.
The IT industry had sought a stake in the concept soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made the announcement during his Independence Day speech.
“Nasscom looks forward to the opportunity to partner the government in achieving this lofty vision. Nasscom has also been working with the government to create a facilitative investment climate, and improve ease of doing business in India by way of requisite policy changes and relevant policy implementation measures for enhanced competitiveness of our country,” National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) President R. Chandrashekhar had said.
Nasscom has now written to the government requesting for an interaction to understand how the Indian IT industry can be involved in realising the aims of Digital India, said Mr. Chandrashekhar. “There are 30 lakh IT professionals in the private sector while the number is just 10,000 for the government. Therefore, the private sector must work with the government in making the vision a reality,’’ he reasoned.
The Digital India Programme, to be completed in four years, will make government services electronically available to the people by creating a country-wide ICT infrastructure for high-speed Internet up to gram panchayats, which will provide services such as health and education and ensure digital empowerment of the people through digital literacy.
Digital India had the potential to transform the existing public service delivery system, improve productivity, create jobs and induce economic activity in areas which were not digitally connected, said PwC India Executive Director Rakesh Kaul.
The programme has been launched at a time when the Indian online market is about to explode, according to a joint study by Google and AT Kearney.
