PM to head monitoring committee of 'Digital India': Ravi Shankar Prasad

Post the cabinet meeting held earlier today, Union Law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad confirmed that the monitoring committee of 'digital India' will be headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The Monitoring committee of 'Digital India' will be headed by the Prime Minister," said Prasad in the cabinet briefing.

On Independence Day, Prime Minister Modi had said that India is no longer known as the land of black magic and snake charmers and had added that that it was time for a 'digital India' and the idea will be used to revolutionize health and education in India by assuring the use of broadband for education for rural areas, and telemedicine for the poor.

This pan-India programme was proposed by the Centre on July 10 to bridge the divide between digital 'haves' and 'have-nots'.

Further, throwing light on the various other approvals made by the cabinet in today's meeting, Prasad confirmed of the Nagpur metro project being approved by the cabinet.

The approval came just a day before Prime Minister Modi's visit to the city to lay the foundation stone for the 39 kilometer corridor.

Prasad also informed that cabinet has approved building of 1836 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) towers in left-wing extremist areas.

Along with Prasad, the cabinet meeting held earlier today was attended by leaders like External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani.