Digital India programme that aims to connect all gram panchayats by broadband internet, promote e-governance and transform India into a connected knowledge economy.
The Programme, which would be implemented in a phased manner by 2019, is estimated to cost about Rs 113,000 crore, including ongoing schemes being run by the telecom department and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), as well as on new schemes “Digital India is a program to prepare India for a knowledge future,”
The vision of the programme is centred on three key areas: digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen – digital identity, mobile phone and bank account, safe & secure cyber space; governance & services on demand – services available in real time on online and mobile platform, making financial transactions electronic and cashless, & digital empowerment of citizens – all documents, certificates available on cloud.
Digital India envisages connecting 2.5 lakh villages by broadband and phones, reduce import of telecom imports to zero, wi-fi in 2.5 lakh schools, all universities, public wi-fi hotspots for citizens and creating 1.7 crore direct and 8.5 crore indirect jobs. Other impact points include training 1.7 crore citizens for IT, telecom and electronics jobs, and delivering e-governance and e-services.
