Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
LOS ALTOS, CA: India’s Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad addressed community leaders and media on August 26 at Amber Restaurant, Los Altos. The community interaction was organized by the Consulate General of India, San Francisco. Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok welcomed the minister.
He arrived here after attending the G20 conference in Argentina.
Addressing the gathering, Minister spoke at length on the achievements of the Late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He left a profound imprint on the politics, public speaking and, above all, the democratic awakening of India. He showed the courage to conduct nuclear tests which gave an extraordinary strategic respect and depth to India. He was a visionary leader who powerfully connected India by national highways and unleashed mobile revolution in the country.
Listing the achievements of the current government, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had wished to create an India of 3 ITs – India’s Talents plus Information Technology can be India Tomorrow.“Digital India means empowering ordinary people with the power of technology to reform, transform and develop India. It will bridge the digital divide between the haves and have-nots and bring digital inclusion based on technology which is low cost and development oriented,” he said.
Having completed four years in power, digital delivery of services and employment generation through the common service centre scheme are the biggest achievements of the NDA, he said. Prasad said that digital health and literacy are areas where work needs to be accelerated.
“India which has a population of 130 crore is home to 121.5 crore mobile phones, including nearly 45 crore smartphones. In the last four years of Narendra Modi Government, the number of mobile phones added in the country is equal to the population of France and Italy. We have 122 crore Aadhaar and nearly 55 crore internet connections,” he informed.
With an aim to create huge digital infrastructure, Prasad said, about 150,000 panchayats are being linked with optical fiber, of which already one lakh panchayats have been linked. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme is a huge success as nearly `four lakh crore subsidy has been disbursed among the poor people of the country and about `90,000 crore has been saved which was being pocketed by middlemen and fictitious claimers, he observed.
Rural digital entrepreneurs are providing livelihood opportunities to nearly 12 lakh rural people.
“Three lakh common service centers have created rural digital entrepreneurs, who are not only providing digital services to poor people but also creating livelihood opportunity for nearly 12 lakh rural people,” he said.
Prasad claimed that in three years, 89 BPOs have started operating in 27 states, with thousands of jobs created for girls and boys from rural areas, some of who even serve clients from abroad.
Flaunting his Aadhaar card Prasad said, “I want to dispense some myths around Aadhar. It contains my photograph, Patna address. It doesn’t contain my caste, my religion, medical records, income records. He asserted that core biometrics under Aadhaar were safe and secure. “There has been no case of misuse of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) database till date”.
In recognition of the efforts of influencers and visionaries from across the world in digital governance, UK-based NGO apolitical has released its list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People In Digital Government. The list recognizes Ravi Shankar Prasad among the top 20 most influential people in digital government.
A Morgan Stanley report last year – India’s Digital Leap – had forecast that India would grow to a $6 trillion economy by 2027, mainly on the back of digitization.
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