Digital India project gets Cabinet nod for extension with Rs 14,903 crore outlay

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

The Union Cabinet on August 16 approved the extension of the Digital India project with an outlay of Rs 14,903 crore for a period of five years starting from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026, Meity Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the cabinet meeting, has approved the Digital India programme with an outlay of Rs 14,903 crore,” Vaishnaw said.

"A lot of work has already happened in this regard. Since we were working on molding these schemes, modifying the existing schemes to make them better and relevant for today's requirements, that's why the scheme has been extended today," he said.

This comes at a time when the Digital India Programme received a reduced budget estimate in Budget 2023-2024, when compared to the 2022-23 revised estimate. While in 2022-23, the revised estimate for Digital India stood at Rs 7,603 crore for Budget 2023-24, the estimate was lowered to Rs 4,795 crore in the last Budget.

The Union minister added that the extended Digital India project will add to the work done under the previous version of the scheme. Under the project, 5.25 lakh IT professionals will be reskilled and upskilled and 2.65 lakh persons will be trained in information technology.

Further, under the extended Digital India project, nine more supercomputers will be added under the National Supercomputing Mission (NCM). So far, 18 supercomputers have already been deployed under the mission.

Also read: Generative AI has huge potential to bridge digital divide in India, says MeitY official

Cyber security

Information security programmes will also get a push, with 2.65 lac people being trained, so that corporate offices, govt organisations, or any set-up where cyber security professionals are required, can tap into their services.

He also said that 12 crore citizens will be given training in cyber security, and will be given certificates after the completion of such awareness programmes. Apart from that in the area of cybersecurity, Vaishnaw said that new tools will be depoyed.

"CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) which takes up cyber forensics, emergency response and cyber diagnosis will be massively expanded," Vaishnaw said.

Digilocker and startups

Vaishnaw also announced Digilocker for MSMEs, so that such businesses can keep their confidential documents in safe and private manner. "You can undertake digital verification, and other features such as, there  is a lot of work being taken up in the digital credit area. And for digital credit, document verficiation is mandatory. One can take up document verification through Digilocker.

He also announced that Cabinet has taken decision to fund 1,200 startups in Tier -2 and Tier-3 cities.

Bhashini and Umang

Under the programme that was launched in 2015 by PM Modi, Bhashini, an artificial intelligence language tool launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will also get a massive rollout, Vaishnaw said.

Additionally, three centres of excellence will be developed for advancing artificial intelligence (AI) in the sectors of health and agriculture.

Further, the unified Umang platform, which provides 1,700 services and has a commendable rural outreach, will start providing 540 additional services.