New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the country would soon move from e-governance to m-governance, as he launched the ambitious Digital India mission.
Addressing the gathering, which included the who’s who of India Inc, the Prime Minister said that the government initiative will ensure an investment of Rs 4.5 lakh crore and jobs for at least 18 lakh people.
Pointing at the need of an initiative like Digital India, PM Modi said, “Nowadays, even children don’t go for you spectacles or pen when you meet them. What attracts them the most is you mobile phone, even children understand the prowess of digital power."
The Prime Minister further said that the world was staring at a “blood-less war", adding that India has the capacity to protect the world from the same. “By blood less war, I refer to the issue of cyber security, Innovations by Indians can help the world tackle this menace," he said.
Asserting that merely bragging about rich history and young population was not enough, the Prime Minister said that the need of the hour was to connect and empower the same with digital power.
“We need to understand this change otherwise we’ll remain here while the world will move forward," said PM Modi.
PM Modi also had a word of caution in the manner technology was developed in the country. “We cannot afford a digital divide in the country, can’t let one section progress and other lag behind. The benefits need to reach the poor and the farmers," he said.
Pointing that India could not benefit when the world was undergoing industrial revolution as it was not independent then, the Prime Minister said that “we could not afford the same in this era of IT revolution".
The Prime Minister also encouraged the youth to make use of this initiative of the government, assuring all help for startups.
Digital India programme aims at transforming the country into a digitally-empowered knowledge economy, and bringing as many as 2.5 lakh villages under broadband connectivity. The highlights of the Digital India programme, worth Rs 1 lakh crore, are digital locker, E-education, E-health and National Scholarship Portal.
Earlier, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani addressed the gathering, calling it a "momentous occasion in the history of modern India". He added that digitisation was changing the way Indians live and work.
The RIL chairman also announced an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore as part of the initiative, adding that his company would roll out broadband networks across all states.
"Normally industry moves faster than government but with Digital India, the government has moved faster," said Ambani.
Kumar Mangalam Birla of the Aditya Birla Group also declared that he would invest $7 billion over the next five years in electronics manufacturing and development of smart cities among other initiatives of the government.
Other corporate leaders to address the launch event of Digital India included Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, Bharti Airtel's Sunil Bharti Mittal and Anil Ambani of Reliance Group.
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