Click to Expand & Play

New Delhi:

Since 2014, digital India has made the lives of more than 100 crore Indians easier. Today, if you are able to do all the important work from transferring money with one click, then the digital revolution has an important contribution behind it. It started even before 2014, but PM Modi in his 9-year tenure brought digital revolution in the country and inspired people to work digitally. However, at that time it seemed that everything would not be possible so soon. But in the last 9 years, with the help of PM Modi's vision, the speed with which the digital revolution has benefited the countrymen is no less than a miracle. Millions and crores of countrymen have benefited due to PM Modi's dream of Digital India.

On the completion of nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in power (#9YearsOfPMModi), today we are going to tell you how his vision of Digital India gave the whole country a different identity on the world map. And how the digital revolution has made the lives of the countrymen easier and easier.

Be it banks, proof of identity, travel facilities or health issues, all these things are done with a single click in Digital India of 2023. The digital revolution that Prime Minister Modi talked about eight years ago has now started reaping the benefits. (Watch the full video of the seventh episode of the documentary series here)

I dream of a Digital India where the government actively engages with people through social media. I see the dream of a Digital India where quality education reaches the most inaccessible corners powered by digital education. I dream of a Digital India where the netizen is an empowered citizen.

Narendra Modi

prime minister


Pm Modi had said during that time that digital India was also one of the first big goals of Prime Minister Modi after coming to power in 2014. On the ninth anniversary of the Modi government, the impact of Digital India is now visible on the ground. In 2015, digital document store DigiLocker was launched. After this, UPI was launched for digital payments in 2016. The one-stop Covid-2021 vaccine platform was launched in 19. While in 2022, Digi Yatra was launched to reduce congestion at the airport. All this initiative of the Modi government is now touching millions of lives.

India has changed that way. Which includes governance for every citizen, including a remote Indian citizen.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.


Bibek Debroy, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said this is perhaps the only instance where government-run initiatives have been so successful. Pankaj Mishra, co-founder of FactorDaily, said, "We no longer talk about tech and digital as if they are different from our lives. These things have changed rapidly in the last decade. Rs Sharma, CEO of the National Health Authority, says that Digital India has truly been a program of our government, which has brought a lot of change in the way people work. This has brought about a big revolution in government services and facilities. Former Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said digital India is not limited to just apps. It has now spread on a large scale.

To understand Digital India, we have to look at the data.

Today, 99 percent of the country's adult population has a unique identity number. Till May 2023, more than 137 crore Aadhaar cards have been issued. Pankaj Mishra, co-founder of FactorDaily, said that this is unexpected. Nowhere in the world did 1.34 billion people get their identity cards using a system or platform like Aadhaar. Around 111 crore Indians registered on CoWIN to avail covid vaccines.

"There is no precedent in any country where a database has been accessed by more than a billion people in less than eight or nine months.

UPI monthly transactions cross Rs 14 lakh crore mark

Pankaj Mishra says that UPI's ability to work on various platforms is world-class. Many countries that thought that they were not included in the global financial system are now looking at UPI and saying that we too can overcome these obstacles. The Unified Payment Interface of the Digital India stack has proved to be a game changer. From street vendors and rickshaw pullers to glittering showrooms and hotels, all small and big businesses have come under the umbrella of QR codes.

"Today 100 rupees of 100 reach the citizens"

Apart from ease of doing business, the biggest achievement of this platform is financial inclusion. Former Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said that when there have been challenges in the country such as demonetisation and lockdown, all the projects of Digital India have come in handy. And India is the only country in the world to deliver the benefits of going digital at that level in the country with a population of more than 100 crore. At the same time, Union Minister of State Rajiv Chandrasekhar said that today if 100 rupees are withdrawn from the country's capital or the state capital, then those 100 rupees reach the citizen's account. And what makes this possible is the digital platform of UPI.

Fasttrack stickers also make it easier

Road travel has become easier with a seamless payment gateway. There are no long queues at toll booths from Fasttrack. Fasttrack stickers automatically deduct toll tax from UPI accounts, due to which vehicles no longer have to stop at toll plazas. While UPI gave Indians the freedom to exit without cash, Aadhaar gave them a new identity. Which paved the way for e-governance. Under the leadership of Nandan Nilekani, today every Indian has a unique identification number.

"Today, 130 crore Indians have Aadhaar.

As the first chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, Nandan Nilekani laid the foundation on which governance plans are based. "Today, 130 crore people have Aadhaar. That means almost every person has an Aadhaar. So today India is the only country that has an online signature service, a digital locker in which 550 crore documents have been kept. In the same way, we have digital KYC, through which you can now open a bank account sitting at home. What has happened is called the digital revolution that has happened in India.

This unique identity is completely digital. You don't even need to carry a card. Because it is available on DigiLocker. An app that provides all the important documents on the phone. Then this digital ID gives facilities by connecting to other apps. For example, Digi Yatra makes air travel easier. Or with the help of Aarogya Setu, the situation of Kovid is monitored.

Digital India has also changed the way the government functions.

Digital India has not only changed the lives of ordinary Indians but has also changed the way the government works. Shish Shekhar Vempati says that one of the major achievements I consider to be the use of technology within the government is the government e-marketplace, GeM portal. In this, all the purchases of the government are being done online. In this, small shopkeepers or service providers can register on this GeM portal. And whatever products and services you have, you can offer them to the government ministry.

However, digital access is still a challenge. And there's still a lot to do to reach the last person. At present, the internet reaches only half of the country. According to the Internet and Mobile Association, in 2022, 52 percent of the country's population will have access to the Internet. According to the World Bank data, internet penetration, which was only 2014 percent in 14, has now increased, but more work needs to be done in this area.


Farmers in rural areas on the outskirts of Delhi say there is no internet connectivity. And the lives of some people are exactly the same as they were before the Digital India mission. Murshahid, who is a farmer, says that what the government had said that we will convey the message to the farmers through the Internet, it does not reach us. The government is helping us but it does not come to us.

Tabassum, a homemaker, says that before the lockdown, children used to pass with good marks, but due to lack of studies in the lockdown, the numbers came down. Because like other children, our children could not study from the Internet. We just don't want to take a big phone. We just have to talk using the phone.


Digital India is spreading in villages too

But even in rural India, digital is spreading its feet. Shashi Shekhar Vempati says that Bharat Net, which is a project of fiber optic axis in every village and every panchayat, is also moving forward. Recently, the government has given a big package of BSNL, which is also going to expand the 4G network. I think it is only a matter of time that the reach of the Internet in the country is going to increase further.

Cyber security is also a big challenge.

Cyber security is a big challenge. There are risks associated with data on the Internet. Digital India is also not untouched by this. Rs Sharma says that the online digital world is a world where the risk of data breach is always there. Any system should ensure that there is no breach of data. It is also important to ensure safety. Despite these challenges, Digital India is coming on many new platforms. A big step is the government-backed e-commerce platform ONDC. Which is transforming online retail by empowering more than 35,<> small businesses and restaurant owners across the country. The future of Digital India is bright with such campaigns.