PM interacts with beneficiaries of Digital India initiatives

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 15, 2018, interacted with the beneficiaries of various Digital India Mission schemes from across the country through video bridge. The video bridge connected over 50 lakh beneficiaries including those from Common Service Centres, NIC centres, National Knowledge Network, BPOs, Mobile Manufacturing Units and MyGov volunteers. This is the sixth interaction in the series by the Prime Minister through video bridge with  beneficiaries of Government schemes.

Interacting with the beneficiaries, the Prime Minister said that Digital India was launched to ensure that people from all walks of life, especially those from rural areas, are digitally empowered. He added that to make this possible, the Government has worked on a holistic policy connecting villages through fibre optic, digitally educating citizens, providing service delivery through mobiles and promoting electronic manufacturing.

Talking about technology, Prime Minister said that technology has brought about ease of living and Government’s efforts are to ensure that the advantages of technology was available to every  section of the society. Various provisions like online payment of bills including BHIM APP, online booking of railway tickets, and electronic delivery of scholarships and pensions to bank accounts have greatly reduced the burden on common people, PM Modi added, according to a PIB release.

Describing the importance of Common Service Centers (CSC), the Prime Minister said that CSC’s across India are providing digital services to rural India. CSCs have successfully developed Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE) in rural areas and created job opportunities for more than 10 lakh people. There are 2.92 Lakh CSCs in rural India providing opportunities to access various government and other services across 2.15 Lakh Gram Panchayats.

During the interaction, PM Modi said that the movement towards more digital payments is resulting in the elimination of intermediaries.

Talking about Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), the PM said that the scheme has already provided digital skill and training to 1.25 crore people of which 70% of candidates are from SC, ST and OBC communities. The scheme aims to provide digital skills and basic computer training to six crore people through 20 hours of basic computer training.

Digital India has also transformed the BPO sector immensely. Earlier, BPOs were only restricted to big cities, now it is spread to small towns and villages creating employment opportunities. The India BPO promotion scheme and the separate BPO promotion scheme for the Northeast, started under Digital India, will create new employment opportunities to over two lakh people in North East and in rural areas. Now the youth of nation is getting jobs near their homes due to BPOs units opening across India, the Prime Minister said.

Interacting with the employees of various Electronic Manufacturing Units, the Prime Minister said that India has gone a long way in Electronics Hardware Manufacturing in the last 4 years. To promote electronic manufacturing in India, the Government has started the Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) scheme through which 23 EMCs are being opened in 15 states. The PM also noted that India has 120 mobile phone manufacturing factories now compared to just two such units in 2014. These units have created directed and indirect employment to more than 4.5 lakh citizens.

The PM also talked about the importance of National Knowledge Network (NKN) in building a strong Digital India. NKN inter- connects about 1,700 major Research and Educational Institutes in India, thereby providing a powerful platform to close to five crore students, researchers, academicians and government officers.

Prime Minister also interacted with the volunteers of MyGov platform, the citizen engagement platform created within two months of the formation of the government. There are more than 60 lakh volunteers associated with the platform giving ideas, suggestions and doing various volunteer activities, playing a huge role in building of a New India, PM Modi said. He also added that through Digital India, ‘4E’s- Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Empowerment are being achieved.

Interacting with the Prime Minister, beneficiaries of various Digital India schemes explained how the schemes have played an important role in transforming their lives.