Govt ready to unveil Digital India on July 1

After the launch of two major flagship initiatives--Make in India and Smart Cities--the NDA government at the centre is all set to roll out red carpet for investors and this time the Centre is banking upon Digital India campaign for the same. The programme christened as Digital India Week will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 1 in the presence of business leaders. The government is aiming to get billions of dollars investments in Digital India week.

In contrary to other two pet projects of Modi, the third project --- Digital India --- will be launched in the presence of over 10,000 guests at Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium. According to sources, to make the programme a big hit, different arms of the ministry such as Postal Department, BSNL, MTNL, etc have directed their officials of all level to be present at the venue. Others who would be present at the inaugural event include people from the field of technology, people working for common service centres, students and IT ministers from across the country among others.

Though, global IT leaders such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and its CEO Satya Nadella, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google chief would not be present on the occasion, 12 bigwigs of sector would share the dais with Modi. The business leaders who would share their business modules for Digital India on the launch day include Airbus India CEO Peter Gutsmiedl, Ambani bothers, Tata Group chief Cyrus Mistry, Bharti Enterprises head Sunil Bharti Mittal, Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Sterlite Technologies chairman Anil Agarwal, Adiya Birla Group chairman Kumaramangalam Birla, Hero’s Pawan Munjal, LAVA’s head Hari Om Rai, Taiwan-based Delta Electronics chief Ping Cheng, Nidec Corporation head Mikio Katayama.

“As per estimates are concerned, we expect billions of dollars investment (in Digital India week),” Prasad told reporters while announcing details of the event. According to sources in the ministry, Delta Electronics would announce Rs 500 crore investment plan under the Digital India drive.

On the occasion, the Prime Minister will also unveil various government schemes under the Digital India programme like digital locker, e-eduction and e-health during the event. It’s worth mentioning that last year; the government had approved the programme comprising various projects worth over Rs 1 lakh crore to transform the country into a digitally empowered knowledge economy.

Prasad added that the ministry has also reached out to Microsoft’s Bill Gates and CEO Satya Nadella along with Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy, but they will not be able to attend due to other engagements.