'Digital India programme will unite nation'

The government's Digital India programme would not only change the country but also unite it, union Minister for Communication and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday.

Prasad spoke here after launching a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited scheme, whereby landline broadband users would now be able to avail of a minimum of 2 mbps internet speed.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants all facilities provided by the government to be available to the masses through smart phones.

"Today, about 98 crore people in India are mobile users and if we add landline users, the total comes to 102 crore."

India has about 35 crore internet connections, second only to China, Prasad said.

He said Modi has come up with the formula IT+IT=IT, India's Talent + Information Technology India of Tomorrow.

The minister said that as of now, the use of IT is limited to some big cities. For its expansion, a rural Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) scheme will be implemented.

Under this scheme, about 480 call centres will be opened, out of which 10 will be in Haryana.