NDA Government Initiatives : Digital India

Samvardhit Bharat- Samparkit Bharat

Under Digital India NRDC has undertaken “Development of Technology Portal” for dissemination of information on technologies developed across the country from a single source and to bring the information of various technologies to the large number of small & medium scale entrepreneurs/industry with limited resource of information.

DIGITAL SAKSHARTA ABHIYAN (DISHA) OR NATIONAL DIGITAL LITERACY MISSION (NDLM) 

• Digital India Launched by PM on 1st July,2015
• To create a participative, transparent and responsive government
• A big step forward to transform the country into a digitally empowered knowledge economy.
• Includes various schemes worth over Rs 1 lakh crore – Digital Locker, e-education, e-health, e-sign and national scholarship portal etc.
• The program includes projects to ensure that government services are available to citizens electronically and people get benefit of the latest information and communication technology.
• 2 lakhs 50 thousand gram panchayats to be connected with WiFi, Hotspot enabled broadband connection.
• National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) to make at least one person in every family digitally literate with digital literacy skills by 2020.
• Target for NDLM was to train 10 lakh candidates which was achieved in June,2016.
• Target for Digital Sakhsarta Abhiyan DISHA was 42.5 lakh candidates which was achieved in December 2016.
• Under Pradhan Mantri Digital Saksharta Abhiyan, target is to make 6 crore adults digitally literate in two years.

AADHAR 

• Aadhaar enrolment has increased to 113.26 Crore (As on 31st March, 2017) from 63.22 cr (as on 31^st May, 2014)
• Nearly 100% of the adult (18+years) population has Aadhaar (as on 31st March, 2017) from 62% (as on 31^st May, 2014).
• Number of unique bank accounts linked with Aadhaar has increased to 43 cr (as on 31st March, 2017) from less than 7 cr (as on 31^st May, 2014).
• Since September, 2016 15.28 Crore mobile SIM cards have been issued using Aadhaar eKYC.
• 125 Banks have joined Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), leading to an increase in AEPS transactions from just 0.46 Crore on 31st May, 2014 to 42.7 Crore on 15th March, 2017.
• Aadhaar enrolment trend during March, 2014 to May, 2014 was about 3-4 lakh per day and about 5-6 lakh per day till October 2016. Since Demonetization, the Aadhaar enrolment/ Update requests are in the range of 7-8 lakh per day
• More than 1 cr Income Tax Payee have linked their Aadhaar with PAN
• Approximately 70% people are applying for passport using Aadhaar

COMMON SERVICE CENTRES:

• In order to take the benefits of Digital India to every corner of country, a vast network of more than 2.5 lakh Common Services Centers have been created.
• This has developed digital entrepreneurs among poor, marginalized, Dalits and women of India.
• More than 34,000 women are working in these Centres that provide digital services like ticket booking, tele medicines, Jan Aushadhi, Aadhaar service to people.
• In May, 2014 just 83,000 CSCs were there

BHARAT NET: From High ways to I-ways and village broadband

• Under Bharat Net program, around 7.5 lakh kms OFC would be laid to connect 2.5 lakh villages. The program implementation speed has been significantly ramped up by involving willing States to undertake its execution.
• 2,37,136 kms of Optical fibre cable has been laid reaching 1,10,132 Gram Panchayats as on 29^th October, up from 59 Gram Panchayats in May 2014.
• Expenditure on BharatNet-Rs 11,886 crores (2014 to October, 2017)
• In order to provide last mile internet access to rural citizens, Government is in the process of rolling out community Wi-Fi services in all 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, that would ride on the BhratNet infrastructure.

TELECOM SECTOR

1. FDI in Telecom Sector touches new height:

• FDI received during April-June,2017 was USD 88 million (rs565 crore). Cumulatively, FDI was USD 24.03 billion (rs1,30,729 crore) during April 2000-June,2017.
• From $1.3Billion in 2013-14, it went to $ 2.9 Billion in 2014-15 and to $1.3   Billion in 2015-16 and $ 5.6 billion in 2016-17.

2. Phone user base touches new high

India now has the second largest network in the world. India crossed the landmark of one billion telephone subscribers in the year 2015-16, and the total subscription now stands at 1209.96 million as on 31.08.2017. Out of this, 502.50 million connections are in rural areas and 707.46 million in the urban areas. The wireless telephony constitutes 98.04% (1186.21 million) of all subscriptions whereas share of the landline telephony now stands at only 1.96% (23.75 million) at the end of August, 2017.

The overall tele-density in India stands at 93.74% as on August 2017 as compared to 75.8% in June 2014, In rural areas, tele-density was 56.87% and in urban areas it was 173.72% at the end of August, 2017.

Total number of broadband subscribers has increased from 60.87 million at the end of March, 2014 to 300.84 million at the end of June,2017, registering a CAGR of 45.64 percent during the period March, 2014-June, 2017. Total narrow band subscribers have seen a decline from 190.71 million in 2013-14 to 130.37 million at the end of June, 2017 reflecting preference shift towards broadband connections.

Total Internet connection in India at the end of June, 2017 stood at 431.21 million, of which 293.82 million was in urban areas and 137.39 million was in rural areas.

3. Spectrum Auction

• A mega auction of spectrum in 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300 & 2500 MHz bands that was concluded successfully in October, 2016. The auction sold 965 MHz of spectrum in different bands, which is more than 929 MHz sold cumulatively in last four auctions from 2012 to 2015. The auction also fetched a total amount of Rs 66,000 crore, and highest ever upfront payment of Rs 33,000 crore since 2012.
• The auction of October, 2016 was the most complex and sophisticated auction of natural resources and was conducted smoothly & transparently.