Digital India Week Observed all over the Country

To Inform, Educate & Engage citizens across the country, Digital India Week, from 1^st July to 7^th July, 2015 has been observed all over India. In this week, multiple and varied events and activities took place at all the levels. Starting from the National level event, launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister, events were conducted at State and District levels, villages and Panchayats, Industry, Schools, Colleges and Universities, Common Service Centres, NIELIT centres, STPI centres, Post Offices, BSNL/MTNL Centers and CDAC centres. Many events, after the national launch, were also undertaken by Central Ministries and agencies under it. 

During the Digital India Week, a number of services relating to Health, Education, Public Distribution System, Police, Agriculture, Trade and Employment etc. have been launched by various State Governments. Activities such as workshops, competitions, digital literacy activities, display of Digital India Films and Videos, rallies etc. have been organized by various stakeholders.  

A gist of activities and events undertaken during the Digital India Week are as follows: 

1.     National Level Event – Digital India Week, launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on 1^st of July, 2015, was attended by more than 15,000 persons including Ministers of Union Council, State Ministers, Ambassadors, young CEO’s & IT professionals and other dignitaries. The evet witnessed launch of 15 initiatives by Hon’ble Prime Minister. Some of the key highlights of this event are:

·        Leading industry captains shared their ideas and vision of Digital India and committed investments of about Rs 4.5 lakh Crore, for the programme.

·         Millions of viewers watched the live telecast of the event on Doordarshan, Webcast ( webcast.gov.in) and Youtube.

·        Simultaneous  telecast of the event was organised in Post Offices, CSCs, STPI Centres, NIELIT Centres, BSNL Centres, State Headquarters and Missions abroad.

·        The event witnessed more than 1 billion impressions on officials social media handles (Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Instagram). 

2.     Week Long Event – To maintain the momentum and enthusiasm of the National Programme, Week-long events were organised from State to the Gram Panchayat level. All State Governments, Industry and a number of Central Government Departments and Organizations have conducted the events. Some of the key highlights are as follows: 

a.     State Level Events – Have been conducted at all State headquarters.     ~ 150 such events have been organized with a participation more than 98,000 people.  About 25 such events were graced by Chief Ministers, LGs and Administrators. The events were also attended by State Ministers, Industry representatives and other dignitaries.

The key activities undertaken at the State level events are launch of new services by States, discussions on technology and e-Governance and awareness through publications and social media.

More than 250 services were launched in areas of Health information, utility services, smart PDS card, land record services, mobile app for civic amenities, services for farmers, social welfare and pension services, electoral services, online court services, police services, and employment exchange services  

b.    District Level Events –Events and activities have been organized at most of the District headquarters in the country. Reports have been received from 438 districts wherein in 1238 events, more than 1.36 lakh government officials and citizens have been informed on Digital India Programme and its services. A large number of events have been attended by Member of Parliaments, District Collectors, Members of the Legislative Assembly and other dignitaries. Some of the key activities undertaken are workshops and seminars, digital literacy activities, registration for Digital Locker and other e-Services, promotion through rallies and publications and contests and competitions. 

c.      Common Service Centres (CSCs) Events – Events were organised at more than 57,000 CSCs, wherein more than 34.2 lakh people (rural citizens, youth, e-Service users) participated.

During these events citizens have been informed on Digital India, Financial Literacy, Digital Literacy, e-Health, e-Commerce etc. Activities like educating villagers about pension account opening, Bank account opening, Registration of youth for national skill development agency, career counselling and registration for jobs were also undertaken.   

d.    Post Office Events – Events have been organized at more than 1,500 post offices across the country and more than 1.75 lakh citizens have been informed about Digital India and e-Services.

Some of the key activities conducted during the week are, Jan Chetna Divas, Financial Inclusion Day, Education Day, e-Duniya Day, e Commerce Day and Public Grievance Day. 

e.      Digital Wellness Online Challenge – NeGD in partnership with Intel has organized the Digital Wellness Challenge in a large number of schools. This initiative has empowered the students for providing them with information and sensible application of the principles of cyber safety, cyber security and cyber ethics.

More than 6.23 lakh students, from class 6^th to 12^th participated in the event. 

f.      School, Colleges/ Universities Events - These events have been organized in association with State Education Departments. More than 1.35 lakh students in 1,500 School, Colleges/ Universities have been made aware about Digital India Programme and its services.

Activities like competitions for students and teachers, webinar on Digital India, showcasing on Digital India Film and Education Portals etc. have been organized, during the week. 

g.     STPI Events - Events and activities have been organized at more than 70 STPI Centres and associated IT units across the country and more than 17,000 IT professionals have been informed about Digital India and e-Services.

Activities like awareness through audio visuals and discussions, re-cycling the e-Waste by placing e-waste bins at various locations and campaign on Swacch Digital Bharat, Cyber Security and hygiene and IT Industry and Trade were undertaken. 

h.    NIELIT Events - Events and activities have been organized at more than 120 NIELIT Centres across the country and more than 1.25 lakh citizens have been informed about Digital India and e-Services.

Activities like live broadcast of PM’s event at NIELIT centres, classroom sessions on Digital India Pillars and services, top shows, launch of smart classrooms, cycle rally etc. have been undertaken. 

i.       Industry Events – Industry and industry associations organized more than 75 events on Digital India in which ~ 25,000 IT professional and employees and school students participated.

Awareness activities through workshops and seminars have been conducted in areas like Future classrooms, Digital Literacy Programmes, e- Waste Management, Telemedicine and Tele-consulting, Internet safety, Putting Indian heritage Online and enabling educators to support education system of future. 

j.       Gram Panchayat Events – These events have been organized in partnership with Ministry of panchayati raj, Government of India. Till date, reports have been received of events at more than 1,600 gram panchayats and participation of ~ 58,000 people. The actual number would be much larger as the states, during the Video Conference held on 9^th July informed activities in almost all the GPs were carried out.Some of the key activities undertaken are Awareness creation on Digital India & e-Panchayat services, Updation of details on Panchayat websites and other information portals of Panchayats, Mobile based mapping of Panchayat assets (mAsset), Digital Literacy Enrolment drive, Competitions among public with incentives and prizes. 

k.    CDAC Events - Events and activities have been organized at 16 CDACCentres and more than 10,000 students and IT professionals have been informed about Digital India and e-Services.  

3.     Initiatives/Launches  by Central Ministries/ Departments

a.     Department of Telecom  - Pan India Full Mobile Number Portability (MNP) implemented from July 3rd onwards- helping in Mobile Identity and realising the goal of JAM Trinity ( Jandhan - Aadhar - Mobile ).  

b.    CEO Roundtable by FICCI with the theme ‘Investment in NexGen Digital Infrastructure’ was held on 3rd July 2015 which was graced by Hon’ble Minister of Communications and IT, Government of India as chief guest. Hon’ble Minister said that the government is working towards Digital Inclusion and that the private sector has a pivotal role to play in driving the Digital India programme. 

c. Bharatnet (NOFN) events– During Digital India Week, Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) organised events around Bharatnet (NOFN) at various locations in 13 states. The activities relating to e-Governance, e-Education, e-Health, e-Commerce and e-Agriculture were organised where large number of students and citizens  participated.  

d.    Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited – launched a number of initiatives such as BSNL Buzz and Speed Pay under Digital India program during the week. These initiatives have been launched by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and IT. Events and activities were  also  organized at BSNL Centres across the country and where BSNL officers, stakeholders and citizens were informed about Digital India and e-Services. 

e. Centre for Development of Telematics ( CDOT) – Hon’ble Minister of Communications and IT, launched the following products as part of Digital India programme.

·        Solar powered Wi Fi hot spots

·        Long Distance Wi Fi System

·        Next Generation Network in MTNL network

·        100 Gbps Optical Fibre Link System 

f.      Ministry of Rural Development – Under the Digital India Initiatives Ministry of Rural Development has launched a number of IT services, namely

·        Launch of mobile monitoring system (MMS) and distribution of 35,000 tablets in identifying gram panchayats (2,500 blocks)

·        Launch of online learning portal (OLP) for MNREGA

·        Launch of MNREGA village view 

g.     Ministry of Agriculture –NDDB has developed an application called “Pashu Poshan” under Digital India.  This application is to enable dairy farmers balance the ration for their animals taking into account nutritional requirements and locally available feed material to optimize the cost of feeding.

·        Newly developed application of INAPH will be available on web as well as android platform

·        Framer can access application by registration on INAPH Portal (http://inaph.nddb.coop)

·        INAPH currently covered over 40.87 lakh animals of over 20.23 lakh farmers across more than 21690 villages  

h.    Ministry of Labour and Employment –EPFO has launched following initiatives under Digital India programme.

·          Universal Account Number (UAN) : 4.64 Crores UAN allocated

·          Online Inoperative Accounts Helpdesk

·          Online Transfer Claim Portal

·          Electronic Challan cum Return

·          Helpdesk for UAN to assist employers and employees with toll free     number 18001 18005

·          Short code SMS service for members who have activated their UAN   number whereby members can send an SMS from their registered mobile number to 7738299899 to receive PF information in 10 different Indian languages  

i.       Ministry of Commerce & Industries –  Ministry has launched the following initiatives under Digital India program

·          Information on prices of Jhinga  by using missed call/sms services

·          M-agriculture – launch of mobile app  for water resource    management for Jhinga cultivation

·           Portal for online MPED registration for exporters  

j.  Ministry of Panchayati Raj – Many panchayat departments,   across States/UTs initiated their Social Media pages.  

4.     Social Media – An extensive Digital and Social Media campaign was conducted during the Digital India Week so that netizens, in India and abroad can be made aware of these programme. Hon’ble Prime Minister also initiated the Digital Dialogue (#DigitalDialogue) on Twitter, which received very encouraging response from technocrats and IT professionals. Some of the key highlights are

·         #DigitalDialogue received 391 million impressions during period of 3 days (4^th – 6^th July, 2015)

·        1 Billion impressions on the day of National Event

·        On Facebook, 1 person joined every second with a total reach of 2.6 Million during the week.

·        On Twitter 1 follower added every 4 seconds with 3.6 Million impressions during the week.

Source : PIB