Empowerment, governance and infrastructure: Three focus areas of PM Modi's Digital India campaign

NEW DELHI: Laying out the NDA government's road map for the Digital India campaign, Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said, "Indians are very tech savvy. What we need to give is an enabling platform."

Speaking to the media, Prasad emphasised on three key areas that the government would focus on to empower its Digital India campaign. The first area that the government would focus on will be Digital Empowerment of its citizens. He also said that he has written to all CMs stating that the Centre and states have to work together in the IT sector for development.

The Union Minister defined the second key area as providing the Governance and Services on demand. Speaking about inclusion of all states, he voiced Prime Minister Narendra Modi's MyGov initiative and said a conference of IT Ministers of States/UTs will be organized to sensitize states about Vision of Digital India and involve them.

"The third key area for the government will be Digital Infrastructure as a utility to every citizen," said Prasad. Prasad said a draft framework to promote fabless chip design, embedded software and board design industry in India has already been prepared.

Answering concerns on whether bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh will have any impact on its development as an IT city, he said, "Bangalore and Hyderabad are prime cities in the new knowledge economy and the extraordinary pre-eminence of Hyderabad is to be maintained for development."

He also assured that there was enough money with the government for ensuring the success of Digital India.

Speaking of the booming e-commerce business, Prasad said that it has enormous potential in India and should be allowed to grow. "Since online shopping is increasing, directions have been given to resolve problems, if any, related to online shopping," he added.

The controversial section 66A of the Information Technology Act that was amended by the UPA government also found mention in the Minister's address and he said that there should be a healthy balance between freedom of expression and national security concerns. He asserted that he was an ardent supporter of free media and freedom of speech.