Prasad for encore of White Revolution in IT space

The Minister said the govt's flagship 'Digital India' initiative is directed 'more at the poor rather than at the elite'

Asserting that the Digital India initiative is focused more on the poor than the elite, Union IT minister Ravi shankar Prasad today said the 'White Revolution' should be replicated in the information technology arena as well to help transform the lives of the rural folks.

"Can we involve the rural people in the same manner as the milk revolution came to happen through the cooperative movement? There's a lot of scope for that," Prasad told the annual Nasscom summit here.

The late Verghese Kurien-led White Revolution focused on increasing milk production which had a strong positive impact on the farmers, giving them an alternative source of livelihood.

Following the milk revolution or the Operation Flood of the 1970s, many Gujarat villages, especially those around Anand in the state have become examples of how farmers' cooperatives can positively impact their lives.

"My understanding of digital equality is when in a Mahadalit village, the lowest of Scheduled Castes, a Mahadailt sister of mine, digitally literate, is operating a common service centre and providing services. That's the vision we must have and that's what we're working for," he said.

The Minister said the government's flagship 'Digital India' initiative is directed "more at the poor rather than at the elite" who can afford technology and also spelt out the work being done by the government.

"We are in the process of finalising a plan under which BPOs or call centres will be opened at mofussil towns," Prasad said, adding that the government will incentivise private parties to open centres at smaller towns.

He said various ministries carrying out programmes like the Indira Awas Yojana and rural jobs scheme MGNREGA have evinced interest to be the customers of such call centres and hire the services of such centres.