SPEAKING SKILL

Digital India
Digital India is a campaign launched by India’s government to promote the technological advancements of the
nation. The campaign aims to ensure that every citizen of the nation has the basic availability of electronic devices
like a mobile phone and to provide high-speed internet access in all rural areas of the nation. The Digital India
Campaign was launched by the prime minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, on 1st July 2015, and the motto of
this campaign is “power to empower”.
The Digital India Campaign – as the name of this campaign suggests, one of the major motives of the campaign
is to digitise India. The Government of India launched this programme to help every citizen of the nation by letting
them easily access all government services with the utilisation of the internet. As an explicit definition, Digital
India can be defined as a flagship programme of the government of India with a strong vision to convert India into
a digitally empowered nation and knowledge economy.

Visions of Digital India Campaign

Under this vision, the government of India is trying to provide high-speed internet as a core utility to the citizen
in order to smoothen the online delivery of multiple services. By digitally connecting every rural area of our nation
through broadband and high-speed internet, the government can deliver electronic services to every citizen with
much ease. Digital Locker, which is like a shareable private space on a public cloud, where the official documents
and certificates issued by the government departments could be stored for easy online access, is proposed to be
provided under this vision. And one of the pivotal focuses of this vision is the assurance of security and safety of
cyberspace.
Providing governance and service on demand is the second vision. One of the ultimate focuses of this vision is
the accessibility of all government services online, even to a common man residing in any remote village of the
country. And for ensuring that the government has initiated common service delivery outlets, which will guarantee
efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services. One of the major steps taken by the government for
boosting the intention of this vision was the approval of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). The plan was
approved in 2006 by the government of India to take a holistic view of all e-governance initiatives across the
nation. In simpler terms, NeGP is the action taken to scrutinise the large number of initiatives taken by various
state governments and central ministries. Assuring the availability of governance and service on demand to all
citizens and other stakeholders in the country is not at all a cakewalk. It is a really big task, and the six crucial
elements for bettering the programme include:- the availability of government services in real-time from mobile
and other online platforms, availability of indefectible integrated services across departments or jurisdictions, all
citizen entitlements to be portable and available on the Cloud, availability of transformed digital services in every
corner of the nation, cashless and electronic money transactions, and leveraging Geospatial Information Systems
(GIS) for decision support systems and developments.
Third vision of Digital India Campaign is digital empowerment of citizens. It is definitely progressive to find that
most Indians connect and communicate with one another with the assistance of digital networks. As many people
already know about the usage of digital gadgets, the requirement of conducting nation-wide awareness
programmes for the people is not necessary. But still, there are many remote areas in India where the people
residing there do not know anything about these topics. That is the reason why there is a need for the promotion
of Universal Digital Literacy. Some of the vital areas where the government is focusing on digitally empowering
citizens are Universal Digital Literacy, Universal accessibility for digital resources, All documents/ certificates
required for an Indian citizen to be available on Cloud, Availability of digital resources/ government services to
the citizens in Indian languages, and Collaborative digital platforms for participative governance.
What are the nine pillars of Digital India?
Nine pillars of Digital India Campaign are:

1. Broadband Highways
2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
3. Public Internet Access Programme
4. e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology
5. e-Kranti – Electronic Delivery of Services
6. Information for All
7. Electronics Manufacturing
8. IT for Jobs
9. Early Harvest Programmes