Govt targets connecting all Indians through internet by 2025: MoS IT

The government has a target of connecting all Indians through the Internet by 2025 mostly through broadband of Bharat Net, simplifying cyber-law for ease of doing business, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said

The government has a target of connecting all Indians through the Internet by 2025 mostly through broadband of Bharat Net, simplifying cyber-law for ease of doing business and focusing on high technology like Quantum Computing and Artificial intelligence, said Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Thursday.

Addressing the Plenary on "Digital- A boost to Indian Economy" on the second day of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Annual Meeting 2021, Chandrashekhar stated that digital will play a large role in the Indian economy in the next 25 years.

"Prime Minister is deeply invested in the power of technology to transform governance by bridging the gap between the Government and the citizens and various departments and panchayats to overcome the limitation of conventional modes of working in silos," he said.

The minister elaborated on the role of technology which has disintermediated the financial sector in the last several years by completely transforming them and the huge impact of Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Districts who have never had any contact with the Government in months could get direct financial transfer in the accounts during the pandemic, he said.

Chandrasekhar envisaged 500-600 companies having more than Rs 5000 crore turnover in the next three to five years from only 25 such companies as of today. He urged the private sector to drive innovation. "Unlike many countries, data privacy is a fundamental right in India. The Government is bringing Data Protection Bill, which is with the Parliamentary Standing Committee now," informed the Minister.

Speaking on the massive outreach of digitization, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Past President, CII and Co-Founder, Infosys Limited and Chairperson, Axilor Ventures Private Limited stated that every nook and corner of industry has been transformed with digitization at its core. According to him, "Digital infrastructure, governance and services on demand and digital empowerment of citizens are the cornerstones of Digital India initiative as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Kiran Karnik Chairman, CII National Committee on e-commerce and former President, NASSCOM remarked, "We are well on the path of using newer technologies be it on the Internet of Things (IoT), or Artificial Intelligence or be it in manufacturing or preventive maintenance or for increasing the efficiency of services in host areas.