Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the “Digital India Week” as part of the larger initiative to empower the people and extend services better with the use of information technology and its tools. Industry seems to be excited about the project, here is what they have to say about Prime Minister Modi’s pet project – Digital India.
Jaijit Bhattacharya, Partner, Infrastructure and Government Services, KPMG in India
“The Digital India vision is a game changer for India. The entirety of the vision also dovetails aspects of other policies of the current government such as Smart Cities and Make in India. Clearly, the vision is not a short term vision and would require considerable investments in terms of manpower, technological upgradation, skilling, digital literacy and, most importantly, a plethora of standards to be laid out and adhered to, if we want to the vision to be executed in a manner where the systems and processes emanating out of the execution of the vision, would be able to “talk” to each other, and that the cost of the execution of this vision, is lower than the benefit derived from it. Some of the components of Digital India, such as Digital Locker, is a first of its kind on the world and would have a deep impact on the society and the processes. We hope it would lead to an much easier interaction between the citizens and the government and would lead to a Digital Locker industry. Similarly, other components of the vision would lead to deep changes in the way we live, study and do business.”
Anil Valluri, President, NetApp India & SAARC
“Digital India is one of the most significant transformations the country will witness by eventually connecting over a hundred crore people of India, with technology as its focal point. A digitally enabled nation means that citizens will have instantaneous access to government services over the internet, like the Digital locker, e-governance services on demand, access to common service centers among others. The initiative is set digitally empower citizens to use the digital infrastructure as a utility. A digitally enabled nation also means influx of data or influx of terabytes. Digital India would create a huge influx of terabytes and this would mean that the integrity , storage, archival, retrieval and portability of data would be of paramount importance. The Government will need to deploy scale out architectures which can scale as the data volumes grow. Digital India’s success would also be a function of the underlying technology infrastructure with data becoming the nucleus of this thrust.”
Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President – Sales, Asia, Pacific and Japan, Symantec
“The ‘Digital India’ program can indeed empower inclusive and sustainable growth by harnessing the power of talent and technology to create the India of tomorrow. With initiatives such as countrywide broadband access and digital locker linked with Aadhaar and mobile, the possibilities are endless. However, people, their information and country’s critical information infrastructure needs to be properly and adequately secured. As the largest cybersecurity organization globally, Symantec is committed to the Digital India initiative. Recognizing the goals of the “Digital India” agenda and inspired by the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Modi and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Mr. Prasad, Symantec recently announced a partnership with NASSCOM that intends to train 50,000 cyber security professionals.”
Sunil Gupta, Executive Director & President, Netmagic Solutions
“With Internet of Things (IoT) finding a prominent space within the Digital India initiative, it is welcome to see the Government’s firm commitment in ensuring India is a nation that is Digitally Connected, as it sets the stage for greater collaboration and delivery capabilities, that will boost the data center and cloud computing, and pave way for a socio-economic shift courtesy better governance and delivery mechanisms.”
Vineet Kshirsagar, Senior Director & Head – Government Business, Oracle India
“Today is a landmark day in the history of India. As the Prime Minister launches the Digital India Week, the dream of being an empowered technology-driven economy is one step closer to reality. Our conviction that India will be one of the foremost countries in the world became stronger last year when the initiative was announced and now our excitement has reached a crescendo. We feel Digital India is no longer an initiative by the government, it has evolved into a revolution, a movement. Oracle has been working tirelessly in the Indian public sector over the last two decades and on this momentous day, we are inspired and overwhelmed to see the exhilaration not just from the government but from the citizens of this nation as well. We congratulate the government on this milestone and want to assure the Prime Minister that Oracle is prepared to support his team to make India a force to reckon with.”
