Digital India Scheme Benefits, Major Objectives and Components

Table of Content:

What is Digital India Scheme?
What are the main components of Digital India Project?
When and who started the Digital India campaign?
What are the main objectives of Digital India program?
What are the benefits of Digital India Scheme?
What are the main challenges of Digital India Project?

What is Digital India Scheme?

Digital India is a very ambitious program started by the Government of India, whose main objective is to digitally connect all the government departments of the country with the people of the country. The intention of the Government of India through this project is to ensure that government services can reach the public electronically without the use of paper.

There are three main components of Digital India campaign-

Creating digital infrastructure.
To bring services to the public electronically.
Digital literacy.

When and who started the Digital India campaign?

The Digital India Project was launched on 1 July 2015 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, to improve the digital infrastructure in the country. All the big industrialists of the country, including former Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry, Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Wipro Chairman Azim Premji were present at the inauguration of this campaign. To further strengthen the digital infrastructure in the country, Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore in Digital India, while industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla announced an investment of over Rs 12,000 crore in five years.

Main Objectives of Digital India Program?

The main objective of the Digital India Project, launched by the Government of India in July 2015, is to electronically connect every department of the country. The Government of India has earmarked Rs 1,13,000 crore for this program. Under this program, the target is to connect 6 lakh villages including 2.5 lakh panchayats with broadband and the government plans to achieve this target by 2017. So far 55 thousand panchayats have been added under this scheme. The government claims that in Digital India everything will be online, everything transparent. All government services will be easy and the distance between the public and the government will be reduced.

The nine major objectives of the Digital India program are as follows?

Broadband Highways: Under the Broadband Highways scheme, all the villages of the country will be connected to the Internet, for which fiber optics cable is being laid. With its construction, within the next three years, 2.5 lakh panchayats across the country will be connected to it and public services will be provided to the people. It has been targeted to provide broadband connectivity to every gram panchayat at a speed of 100 Mbps.
Mobile connectivity for all: Under this scheme, mobile phone facility is to be made available in rural areas of the country. Every citizen has the facility of mobile in almost all the urban areas across the country, but in most of the villages till now most of the citizens do not have the facility of mobile. As of June 2014, the number of mobile phone connections in India was around 800 million for a population of about 1.25 billion. Through this scheme, a Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) of 20,000 crores has been formed to ensure mobile connectivity in 55,000 villages of the country within the next 5 years. This will make it easier for rural consumers to use internet and mobile banking.
Public Internet Access Program: Under this scheme, all government departments will be connected to the Internet in future so that its access can be increased to the common man. Under this program, the post office will be made as a multi-service centre. Various activities will be carried out here to provide services to the citizens.
E-Governance: Under this scheme, there is a need to further improve the restructuring of business process through information technology. That is to say, every kind of application like facility has to be done online. In this, all types of database information will be given electronic form, so that school certificates, voter ID cards, UIDAI (Aadhaar), payment gateway (payment of bills) and driving license etc. will be able to be used online anywhere and anytime.
E-Kranti: Several points have been focused in the e-Kranti plan. Broadband connectivity will be provided to all schools and colleges through e-education, they will be given free Wi-Fi facility. All courses will be done online. Along with this, through e-healthcare facility in the field of health, facilities like online medical, online medicine supply, online information of patients will be available. In the field of justice, citizens will get many facilities like e-courts, e-police, cyber security, e-jail, e-prosecution facility and many facilities like market price, loan, mobile banking, micro-ATM program for farmers under financial arrangement.
Information for all: Under this program, the government will give all its information to every citizen through website and social media, for this an open data platform will be provided, through which citizens will be able to access information easily. Two-way communication facility will also be provided to every citizen.
Self-reliance in Electronics Sector: Under the 'Net Zero Imports' target, all devices related to the electronics sector like: mobiles, TVs, etc. ACs, Fridges, Coolers, Fans, Bulbs, Fab-less Designs, Set Top Boxes, VSATs, Consumer and Medical Electronics, Smart Energy Meters, Smart Cards, Micro-ATMs etc. will be manufactured in the country so that by 2020 the case of Electronics to achieve self-reliance.
Employable Information Technology: As per the existing programs of skill development, the companies providing communication services in the country will train the rural and urban workforce according to their needs. People in villages and small towns will be trained for IT-related jobs. The Department of Telecommunications has been made the nodal agency for this.
Early Harvest Program: Under this, the government has made some rules to take forward the Digital India program, which will be implemented in the whole country. First of all, IT platform will be created for information. Biometrics attendance facility will be implemented in all departments. All universities will have Wi-Fi facility. Official email facility will be provided. Public Wi-Fi hotspot facility will be provided. A team will be formed by the Meteorological Department to warn of disaster from mobile. An e-book of books will be made for all the students. A portal will be made for the lost and found children, so that if any child is lost, it will be helpful for him to reach his home.

Benefits of Digital India Scheme:

Following are the main benefits of Digital India Project:-

Under the Digital India project, all the paper and forms details (data) of every citizen of the country are to be kept in electronic mode, so that the chances of theft of the country's property will be greatly reduced.
Under the Digital India project, various types of work like: electricity bill, water bill, mobile bill, set top box recharge etc. can be paid by sitting at home, which will save a lot of time.
Various types of schemes are being run by the government in the country. Under these schemes, various help is provided to the poor and needy people, but due to not getting enough information, they are deprived of taking advantage of these schemes and in the middle, according to the scheme, ineligible people used to take advantage of it. Under the Digital India Project, the Government of India will give information about all its schemes to every citizen through website and social media, so that they can get the right information and take advantage of the schemes.
Due to the Digital India project, transparency will increase in all the works. Due to all types of information being online, work like bribery will be reduced. Therefore, corruption can be stopped by this.
The agricultural sector of the country will get many benefits through the Digital India project. When all farmers will be able to get accurate and adequate information about agricultural production, currency related details and sale prices through internet, then farmers will be able to get the right price for their grain products, which will end black marketing between the government and middlemen.
Under the Digital India project, everything will be made online, which will provide new employment opportunities for young people and increase employment in the country.
Due to the Digital India project, most of the people will do all their transactions through card payment or net banking, which will reduce negative thinking towards the people and their use will increase and black marketing will be less, which will improve the economy of the country.

Key challenges of Digital India Project:

There are many big and difficult challenges in front of the Digital India Project, the ambitious program of the Government of India, the main ones being:

Internet speed is a big problem in many parts of the country, which has become a major obstacle for Digital India.
Lack of technology in the country.
The threat to children's freedom of use of the Internet is forcing them to think about Digital India.
The problem of electricity in the country is also a major obstacle in the success of Digital India.