India can't afford digital divide: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stressed on the need to bridge the digital divide in the country and said India can't afford it.

Prime Minister Modi said, "The country cannot afford to have a digital divide in this day and age."

While addressing a public meeting at IIT, Gandhinagar; he said, "Work is underway to spread digital literacy to every part of India, among all age groups and sections of the society."

The Prime Minister further added, "An optical fibre network has helped us in enabling digital literacy and the more it develops, the more progress there would be. In the coming days, six crore people would be given digital literacy training which would lead to more employment generation."

In order to promote digital literacy, the Prime Minister stressed on the need to adopt user friendly technology.

He further said that digital literacy will guarantee "good governance and transparency and will also help to create a less-cash society".

Prime Minister Modi also stressed upon the need of global competency in the Indian educational institutions.

"Ten private universities and ten government universities would be put on a challenge route. We will invest 1000 crore on each of them. We will relax the rules and give them the liberty and independence to make their own decisions. We will do whatever it takes to turn them into the 20 top universities of the world," he said.

Praising the institutions in Gujarat, he said, "Gujarat has given global level institutions to the world. There is no place in the world with a premier university like the Forensic Science University. Gujarat is also the first state to get Indian Institute of Teacher Education (IITE) that trains people to be the best teachers."

Prime Minister Modi also advised the students not to get trapped in the exam-oriented knowledge system and urged them to adopt innovation methods.

He also emphasised on the need of practical knowledge than academic knowledge and importance of need-based innovation.

Speaking on the same lines, the Prime Minister concluded by saying, "Let us change the world by choosing the road of innovation."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day visit to his poll-bound home state of Gujarat, where he dedicated the newly-constructed building of IIT, Gandhinagar, to the nation and launched the Gramin Digital Saksharta Scheme.