Modi government’s ambitious Digital India mission is now going to get new strength. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the allocation of Rs 14,903 crore for the expansion of this flagship scheme of the Modi government. The government informed that the initiative is aimed at promoting digital initiatives in skilling, cyber security, high capacity computing and making technology accessible to people. Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said, “The budget has been allocated from time to time as per the requirement. We have made some changes in the plan for which approval was to be taken.”
Digital India will get strength
Ashwini Vaishnav said, “The expansion of the Digital India program was approved in the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rs 14,903 crore will be spent on this. The minister said that the work done earlier under Digital India expansion will be carried forward. The budget outlay has been approved for five years from the financial year 2021-22 to 2025-26.
IT professionals will get training
The minister said that under the project, 6.25 lakh IT professionals would be up-skilled with new technology and their skills would be enhanced. Also, 2.65 lakh people will be trained in information security under the Information Security and Education Awareness Phase (ISEA) programme. Nine more supercomputers will be added to the National Supercomputing Mission (NCM) under the expanded Digital India project. 18 supercomputers have already been installed under NCM. In March 2015, the government had approved a proposal to set up 70 supercomputers by the year 2022 with an outlay of Rs 4,500 crore under NCM.
MSME will also get the benefit of DigiLocker
Vaishnav said that the DigiLocker app would be extended to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). This will help them to get loans and other facilities by attesting the documents on the app. He said that cyber awareness courses would be conducted for 12 crore college students under the Digital India programme. The Union Minister said, “The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) for cyber forensics, emergency response and cyber issues will be expanded.”
Center of Excellence will be made in universities
Vaishnav said the National Knowledge Network, a network of 1,787 universities and research and development (R&D) institutes, will be developed in line with Digital India Infoways. He said that a center of excellence will also be set up in this area for the use of artificial intelligence in initiatives related to agriculture, health and environment. Under the expanded Digital India programme, new programs will be launched in the field of cyber security. The expanded program also has a provision for funding 1,200 startups from tier II and III cities.
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