PM Modi shares success stories of digital India

Ahmedabad, July 4 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched 'Digital India Week 2022' on the theme 'Catalyzing New India's Techade' nationwide at Mahatma Mandir here.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Rajiv Chandrasekhar were present on the occasion.

During the event, a number of innovative digital initiatives were unveiled by the Prime Minister to make the benefits of public welfare easily available to the citizens through technology.

The Prime Minister inaugurated 'IndiaStack Global', 'My Scheme', 'Meri Pahechan', 'Digital India Bhashini', 'Digital India Genesis', 'Chips to Startup Program' and 'Catalyzing New India's Techade E-Book' at the event.

PM Modi shared many success stories of digital India during the inauguration. He said, India has set an example of how revolutionary the correct use of technology is for the whole of humanity as the Digital India Campaign.

"I am glad that this campaign, which started eight years ago, has been expanding itself with the changing times. The country which does not adopt modern technology with time, is left behind. India has been a victim of this during the Third Industrial Revolution. But today we can proudly say that India is leading the world in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Industry 4.0," he said.

He said, "Just remember the situation 8-10 years ago, there was a line to take birth certificate, to submit bills, for rations, for admission, for result and certificates. India removed so many lines by becoming online. Now even a street vendor uses the same digital payment system which a mall's showroom uses. I saw a video where a beggar was using digital payment QR code."

Counting the benefits of digital India during pandemic, Modi said, "More than Rs 23 lakh crore has been sent directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries in the last 8 years through DBT. Due to this technology, Rs 2.23 lakh crore has been saved from falling into the wrong hands. The system got rapid and transparent due to digitisation. We reduced the corruption of middle man by introducing digital platforms. There was a day when during my tenure as CM in Gujarat, we discussed opening post office accounts for widows, and it created so much chaos."

"We transferred thousands of crores of rupees to the bank accounts of crores of women, farmers, labourers at a single click. With the help of One Nation-One Ration Card, we have ensured free rations to over 80 crore people. We run the world's largest and most efficient Covid vaccination program. When whole world struggled for Covid certificates, Indians get it on their phones within minutes of getting the vaccine and some people are asking questions like why Modi's photo was there on the vaccine certificate?"

Talking about fintech, PM said, "FinTech's endeavour is truly a solution by the people, of the people, for the people. The technology is India's own, i.e. by the people. This facilitated the transactions of the countrymen. Around 2,200 transactions get successfully done per second through UPI. Our GIFT city of Gandhinagar is going to be a leading FinTech hub in upcoming days, that's my promise."

Today, India is working towards the goal of taking electronics manufacturing to over 300 billion in the next three to four years, PM Modi said, adding India wants to become chip maker from chip taker. Investment in India to increase production of semiconductors is increasing rapidly.