PM Modi on 10 years of Digital India: ‘It has become a people's movement'

Indian Express

15 hours ago

With the government's flagship 'Digital India' programme completing ten years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it has not remained a mere governance scheme, but has become a 'people's movement'.
'While decades were spent doubting the ability of Indians to use technology, we changed this approach and trusted the ability of Indians to use technology,' the Prime Minister wrote in a blog post on LinkedIn Tuesday.
'In 2014, internet penetration was limited, digital literacy was low, and online access to government services was scarce. Many doubted whether a country as vast and diverse as India could truly go digital. Today, that question has been answered not just in data and dashboards, but in the lives of 140 crore Indians. From how we govern, to how we learn, transact, and build, Digital India is everywhere,' Modi added.
He said that in 2014, India had around 25 crore internet connections, which has today grown to over 97 crore. 'Over 42 lakh kilometres of Optical Fibre Cable equivalent to 11 times the distance between Earth and the Moon now connects even the most remote villages,' he said.
The PM said that India's 5G rollout is among the fastest in the world, with 4.81 lakh base stations installed in just two years, with high-speed Internet reaching urban hubs and forward military posts alike including Galwan, Siachen, and Ladakh.
'India Stack, which is our digital backbone, has enabled platforms like UPI, which now handles 100+ billion transactions a year. Around half of all real time digital transactions happen in India. Through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), over Rs 44 lakh crore has been transferred directly to citizens, cutting out middlemen and saving Rs 3.48 lakh crore in leakages,' Modi said.
The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a government-backed initiative to create a national e-commerce network, has recently crossed 200 million transactions, with the last 100 million in just six months, Modi said.
'From Banarasi weavers to bamboo artisans in Nagaland, sellers are now reaching customers nationwide, without middlemen or digital monopolies,' he added.
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has also crossed Rs 1 lakh crore GMV in 50 days, with 22 lakh sellers including over 1.8 lakh women-led MSMEs, who have fulfilled orders worth Rs 46,000 crore, Modi said
Through the $1.2 billion India AI Mission, India has enabled access to 34,000 GPUs at globally unmatched prices at less than $1/GPU hour making India not just the most affordable internet economy, but also the most affordable compute destination, the PM said.
Soumyarendra Barik is Special Correspondent with The Indian Express and reports on the intersection of technology, policy and society. With over five years of newsroom experience, he has reported on issues of gig workers' rights, privacy, India's prevalent digital divide and a range of other policy interventions that impact big tech companies. He once also tailed a food delivery worker for over 12 hours to quantify the amount of money they make, and the pain they go through while doing so. In his free time, he likes to nerd about watches, Formula 1 and football. ... Read More