Digital India – Speech
Welcome to the teachers and students gathered here today. I shall be speaking about the Digital India programme of the Government of India. Today, we live in a world of internet connectivity where everything is possible with just a few clicks on the computer.
Everything has become easier and less time-consuming. From paying bills to booking tickets to examinations, the internet and the computer have made it easy to perform these actions electronically. Keeping these advances in mind, the digital India programme was introduced in 2014.
The digital India programme aims to provide government services electronically by improving the online infrastructure and increasing the access and connectivity to the internet. It aims to connect rural areas with high-speed internet so that the government services are electronically available to all citizens. This campaign launched by the ministry of electronics and information technology has three components. The first component is the building of stable digital infrastructure to provide a basis for the provision of governmental services. The second component is to make government services available online electronically so that it can be easily accessed anywhere and at any time. The final component is to achieve universal digital literacy. It is insufficient if we have just the necessary infrastructure and people do not know how to use them. Universal digital literacy in the Indian context becomes very important to get returns from investing in developing digital infrastructure.
Digital India program has the potential to drive India towards its future development. Providing essential governmental services online makes it easier for people to avail them without having to spend large amounts of money and time. It provides a single window portal, increasing the user base for tax compliance and other such matters and also increases the number of beneficiaries like availing passport as well as for investors in India. It would bring about the expansion of the formal and organised sector in this large and unorganised economy. However, the basis for this lies in developing secure and stable infrastructure along with digital literacy.
As a conclusion to this speech, I would like to state that Digital India scheme is very important for India to make advancement in development, moving closer to the welfare state that it aims to be. We as citizens have an obligation to strengthen these services by making use of them and cooperating with the government in their initiatives.