Context

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a telling observation about his idea of India: “… every Indian must have a smartphone in his hand and every field must be covered by a drone”.

Digital India program and its impact

• Digital India solved some of the most difficult problems the country had been facing for decades.
• The Jan-Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity has ensured that the poorest receive every penny of their entitled benefits.
• Financial benefits worth nearly Rs 23 lakh crore have been transferred using DBT technology in the last eight years.
• This has led to savings of Rs 2.22 lakh crore of public money.
• Leveraging the power of drones and GIS technologies, SVAMITVA Yojana is providing digital land records to the rightful owners
• Digital inclusion: The inclusive character of Digital India not only makes it a unique initiative but also reflects our core philosophy of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas”.

Digital transformation in India

• India today is home to more than 75 crore smartphones, 133 crore Aadhaar cards, more than 80 crore internet users, has 4G and is now accelerating towards 5G.
• It has among the lowest data tariffs in the world.
• Digital technology must be low-cost, developmental, inclusive, and substantially home-grown and it should bridge the digital divide and usher in digital inclusion.
• The digital ecosystem was also useful in tackling the challenge of the pandemic.
• To provide high-speed broadband to all the villages, optical fibre has been laid in 1.83 lakh gram panchayats under Bharat Net.
• CSCs: There were only 80,000 Common Service Centers (CSCs) in 2014, which is an entity under the Ministry of Electronics and IT headed by Secretary IT, for providing assisted delivery of digital services to common citizens offering only a few services. Today, there are nearly four lakh CSCs.
• Fintech innovation ecosystem: India has emerged as the fastest-growing ecosystem for fintech innovations. 
• This was made possible due to innovative digital payment products like UPI and Aadhaar-Enabled Payment Systems (AEPS).
• Startup ecosystem: India has more than 61,400 startups as of March 2022, making it the third-largest startup ecosystem after the US and China.
• With nearly 14,000 startups getting recognized during 2021-22, 555 districts of India had at least one new startup as per the Economic Survey 2022.

Atmanirbharta in electronic manufacturing

• With initiatives like Modified Special Incentive Scheme (MSIPS), Electronics Manufacturing Cluster, National Policy on Electronics 2019, Electronics Development Fund, Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Scheme for Promotion of Electronics Components and Semiconductors (SPECS), India is moving towards self-reliance in the field of electronics manufacturing.
• The value of electronics manufacturing in India has touched $75 billion in 2020-21 from $29 billion in 2014.
• Indian companies have developed their own 4G and 5G technologies.

Conclusion

Digital India’s motto – “Power to Empower” — is truly living up to its goals and expectations. The success of Digital India only confirms that it has a robust future in India’s development.

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