<div>The second BW|Businessworld Digital India summit on Wednesday (26 August) saw industry people, bureaucrats and politicians sharing their expertise on how to make India a digital democracy.</div><div> </div><div>Speaking at the event, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communication and Information Technology, said, “Digital India, Make in India and Skill India are inter-linked and inter-dependent on each other. For the success of each, all of it has to be equally looked after and worked upon.”</div><div> </div><div>He said that there are programmes which have been transformational like Golden Quadrilateral project and introduction of computers in India. But, initially they had to face opposition and Digital India is also a transformational initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which is going to change the way we live and perform and also project India’s image of being a leader in digital world.</div><div> </div><div>He said, Digital India has three basic components; erecting of infrastructure, digital delivery and digital empowerment.</div><div> </div><div>He informed that nearly 250 villages will be covered under Bharat-Net laying of fibre optic cable to provide internet connectivity to the rural areas. He also spoke about Digital Locker facility under which anyone can store, save and access the e-documents from anywhere in this world. He said there has been 44 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in India due to the extension of e-Visa facility.</div><div> </div><div>There are 90 million Aadhaar number generated in India, which has been a revelation in providing door-step solutions like MGNREGA, healthcare, education and scholarship, pension etc at the click of a button. He also said that nearly 70,000 crore of transactions have been made under Jan Dhan Yojana and it will be 100,000 crore soon.</div><div> </div><div>He also talked about the opening of Rural BPOs in second and third tier towns of India to generate more employment which will help controlling of migration to the urban areas. 48,000 seats have been earmarked under this project.</div><div> </div><div>Digital India is not possible without Make in India and Skill India. We consume almost $100 billion of electronic goods, which will be around $400 billion by 2020. And the irony is, we are largely dependent on imports of electronic goods. 21 electronic plasters have been approved by NDA government and proposals of around Rs 1,07,000 crore have been received by the government of India out of which 42 proposals have been approved.</div><div> </div><div>Skill India is the need of the hour. "We have IITs but, we have to impart the skill and knowledge in the marginalised section of society. Start-up India is PM’s ambition where every youth in this country, who has an idea, can start and succeed," said the minister.</div>
