Digital India[1][2] is an initiative of Government of India to integrate the government departments

and the people of India and to ensure effective governance. It also aims at ensuring the
government services made available to citizens electronically by reducing paperwork. The
initiative also includes plan to connect rural areas under high-speed internet networks. Digital
India has three core components. These include creation of digital infrastructure, delivering
services digitally and digital literacy. [3]
The project is stated to be completed by 2019. There is a two-way platform where
both the service offerers and the consumers stands to benefit through. The scheme
will be monitored and controlled by the Digital India Advisory group which will be
chaired by the Ministry of Communications and IT. It will be an inter-ministerial
initiative where all ministries and departments shall offer their own services to the
public Healthcare, Education, Judicial services etc. The Public-private-partnership
model shall be adopted selectively. The scheme have plans also to restructure the
National Informatics Centre. The scheme is one among the top priority of the Modi
Administration.

Smart cities
One of the ideas of bjp govt is to build smart cities. In its frst budgt in july the govt allotted
rs 7060 crs fore smrt cities though the initial estimate was rs 35000crs pa.
Every state is preparing a list of cities that it has to submit to the central government. There is a
mad rush to get as many cities as possible under the 100 smart cities that the Modi government is
planning to build.
My earlier piece dealt with the issue of whether, a city should be smart or livable (Read about it
here). The government has come out with a detailed white paper on smart cities that talks about
everything under the sun without being specific about anything. For instance, it still does not
clarify what a smart city is and how will it be developed. The best way to approach a city is from
the perspective of city development plan (CDP), a mandatory requirement under the erstwhile
JNNURM program. But not every city takes this CDP seriously nor does every state
administration have the expertise to develop a CDP.