Digitisation will make for good, transparent and honest governance, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

Minister for Law and Justice and Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said "digital governance is good governance, digital governance is transparent governance and digital governance is honest governance".

He was addressing a special session at the FICCI's 89th Annual General Meeting.

Prasad said, "The government is not a routine government, this government is transformative government, designed to make India an economic power." With population more than 1.25 billion, India has 1.04 billion mobile phone users, of that 350 million are smart phone users with 500 billion internet users."

"Further, backed up by initiatives like Make in India, Digital India and Startup India, the nation is at the cusp of a big transformation. With government emphasizing on electronics manufacturing sector, India has established 40 new mobile phone manufacturing centres in the last one year and with conducive policy initiatives and framework India aims to become global manufacturing hub," he added.

He also gave examples of how citizens from remote parts of India are utilising the digital tools as epicentres of socio-economic development.

Prasad said "Demonetisation is a part of a transformative programme which is aimed for stronger and more movable digital economy."

India with the aim to become the leader of digital revolution, is making a major shift towards digital payments systems," he added.

Prasad said India is the biggest democracy of the world, is aiming to become international arbitration hub as well.

The minister said that India is transforming and will earn more respect in terms of investment and economic growth and in larger goal, like always, FICCI will contribute in this growth.

The interactive session was chaired by Dr Jyotsna Suri, Past President, FICCI, with Mr. Harshavardhan Neotia, President, FICCI. The discussions revolved around the importance of digital economy, growth of ESDM, Indian judiciary, and IT sector, demonetisation and how India is gaining respect in global economy space.