Data, demographic dividend present huge opportunity; this decade to be ‘India's techade’: PM

PM Modi was speaking at a virtual event to mark the completion of six years of Digital India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India’s data and demographic dividend, along with its proven technical proficiency, will make this decade the country's “Techade."

India is fully conscious of its responsibilities as a "data powerhouse", he said at a virtual event to mark the completion of six years of Digital India, and added that work was under way on all aspects of data protection.

The PM spoke via video conference to beneficiaries of various schemes of Digital India programme, including Diksha, eNAM, eSanjeevani solution for telemedicine, DigiBunai and PM SVANidhi scheme.

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Estimates suggest that dozens of tech companies in India will enter the unicorn club (with $1 billion valuation) in coming years, he said and asserted that data and demographic dividend collectively offers huge potential.

The digital India mission had enabled implementation of the One Nation, One Ration Card scheme and helped ease access to services for millions of people during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

"The digital solutions that India has prepared during this period are a topic of discussion and interest all over the world today. One of the world''s largest digital contact tracing app, Aarogya Setu has played a key role in containing the spread of Covid," he said.

Many nations have shown interest in the CoWIN app, and tools like these are proof of India's technical prowess.

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In the last 6-7 years, leveraging Digital India, around Rs 17 lakh crore has been transferred in the bank accounts of beneficiaries under various schemes, Modi said.

During interaction with the Prime Minister, Suhani Sahu (a class 5 student from Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh) shared her experiences about the DIKSHA app and explained how it had helped her in continuing her studies.

Launched on July 1, 2015, Digital India builds on the concept of minimum government, maximum governance and faster delivery of government services to people's doorstep.