Tag: Digital India

  • Get Free Wi-Fi While Travelling In India; Check This Government Scheme, Benefits, Steps To Avail Facility |

    New Delhi: The Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme, initiated by the government, aims to provide free Wi-Fi facilities at public places across the country. The objective of this scheme is to ensure internet access to every citizen of the country while travelling, thereby advancing the Digital India mission.

    The PM-WANI scheme has helped people all over the country get internet access, which is helping India’s Digital India plan a lot.

    Benefits of the PM-WANI scheme:

    High Speed:

    The PM-WANI scheme provides high-speed internet, which enables you to enjoy uninterrupted web browsing, video streaming, and online gaming.

    Free Internet:

    Under this scheme, you can use free Wi-Fi at various public places such as railway stations, bus stands, metro stations, hospitals, educational institutions, parks, and government offices.

    Security:

    The PM-WANI scheme provides a secure Wi-Fi network, which helps to keep your data safe.

    Convenience:

    Using the PM-WANI scheme is very easy. You just need to select the “PM-WANI” Wi-Fi network on your smartphone or laptop and then enter an OTP for authentication.

    How To Use Free Wi-Fi Under PM-WANI scheme:

    Step 1: Open Wi-Fi settings on your smartphone or laptop.

    Step 2: Select the “PM-WANI” Wi-Fi network.

    Step 3: You will receive an OTP, which you need to enter for authentication.

    Step 4: Once you give consent, you can start using free Wi-Fi.

    If you want to access more information about the PM-WANI scheme then you can visit the official website of the PM-WANI scheme at https://pmwani.gov.in/. Moreover, you can also call 1800-266-6666  to grab the required information about the PM-WANI scheme. (Also Read: What Is ‘iPhone Finger’? Is Your Smartphone Changing Your Body? Here’s Everything You Need To Know)
     
    The PM-WANI scheme is playing a crucial role in promoting digital inclusion in India. This scheme provides citizens with affordable and easy access to the Internet, helping them connect with education, employment, and other socio-economic opportunities. (Note: The story is articulated by Vineet Singh)

  • Giu village in Himachal Pradesh gets mobile network for first time, PM Modi speaks to residents. Watch video

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke to residents of Giu village in Himachal Pradesh’s Spiti after the area was connected to the mobile network for the first time. In a more than 13-minute telephonic conversation with them, Modi spoke about his visit to the border region during Diwali and asserted that connecting the village with the mobile network will quicken the ‘Digital India’ campaign.

    The government is now prioritising linking all places with the communication technology after meeting success with the electrification exercise, the prime minister said, noting that when he came to power more than 18,000 villages lacked electricity.

    A villager told him that they could not believe it for a moment when they were told that the area will be connected to the mobile network and their happiness knew know no bounds when it finally happened. They had to earlier travel for around eight kilometres to use their mobile-phones, he said.

    Modi highlighted his government’s efforts to boost development in border areas under the ‘Vibrant Village Programme (VVP)’, saying the earlier dispensations left these regions to their fate.

    In his third term, he will focus on people’s quality of life after prioritising their ease of living so far and this will immensely benefit remote regions, the poor and the middle class, Modi said.

    The region will also benefit a lot from the ‘One District One Product’ programme, he added.

  • 78% of India’s total jabs administered through onsite/walk-in vaccinations despite digital push

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Despite all its ‘Digital India’ push, the Modi government has been unable to make India take the digital route for getting inoculated against Covid-19. More than three-fourth of the total vaccine doses have been administered through onsite/walk-in vaccinations, the Centre has accepted in an affidavit to Supreme Court.

    “As on 23.06.2021, out of the 32.22 crore beneficiaries registered on CoWIN, 19.12 crore (nearly 59%) beneficiaries have been registered in the on-site mode,” stated the affidavit submitted last week. “As per the data available on CoWIN as on 23.06.2021, out of the total 29.68 crore vaccine doses recorded on CoWIN, 23.12 crore doses (nearly 78%) have been administered through on-site/walk-in vaccination,” it added.

    The figures validate the Supreme Court’s concerns over the Centre’s vaccination policy that was “exclusively relying on a digital portal” until severe criticism and a plethora of complaints forced a course correction on May 23, when on-site or walk-in registration and vaccination was opened for beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group.

    The central government had launched phase-wise Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16 this year through Co-WIN digital platform with prior registration being required for getting the jabs. In a bid to make the online registration on the Co-WIN platform easy, the government has made various changes, such as making the portal available in Hindi and 14 regional languages including Marathi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Odiya, Gurumukhi, Bengali, Assamese, Tamil and Gujarati and removing the Captcha code. But even after those changes, a majority of people have opted for non-digital mode of registration, as the data from the CoWIN platform till June 23, cited in the affidavit, reveals.

    Before the government allowed walk-in vaccination facility, the mandatory online registration was seen to haveaccentuated India’s digital divide, with rich and urban Indians having much more access to the jabs than poor and rural folks. This divide was also seen to be a leading factor — apart from vaccine hesitancy behind slow pace of immunisation before the second wave of the pandemic started wreaking havoc. Lack of internet facility and smartphones in rural areas, apart from the complexities of navigating the CoWIN portal, were said to be preventing people in smaller towns and rural areas from accessing the vaccination facility. 

    The Supreme Court had also censured the mandatory online registration in a judgment on May 31. Pointing out the gaping digital divide that exists in the country, the court said the target of universal immunisation cannot be achieved by relying on a portal. The marginalised sections of society “would bear the brunt of this accessibility barrier” and this could have “serious implications on the fundamental right to equality and the right to health”, the SC said.

     In its affidavit, the Centre submitted that it was aware that lack of access to digital devices or internet may pose barriers to the citizens and hence it had allowed both on-site and digital registration for all age groups. The CoWIN system is inclusive and “there is no question of any person being left out due to any digital divide”, it asserted. 

    The government further said that on-site registration was not made available only to the beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group between May 1 and May 23 to prevent overcrowding at vaccination centres in view of the need for maintaining social distancing due to a massive surge in cases during the period.

  • Digital India drawing world’s attention, says PM Narendra Modi

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said digital solutions India prepared in the Corona period have attracted attention worldwide. He said that the world’s largest digital contact tracing app, Aarogya Setu, has helped a lot in preventing corona infection.

    “Many countries have shown interest in India’s COWIN app for vaccination. Having such a monitoring tool for the process of vaccination is a proof of our technical proficiency,” said the Prime Minister, while speaking to beneficiaries of the “Digital India” scheme, which completed six years since launch.

    Modi said the campaign helped the country during the pandemic. 

    “At a time developed countries were unable to send aid money to their citizens due to the lockdown, India was sending thousands of crores of rupees directly to the bank accounts of the people. Digital transactions have brought an unprecedented change in the lives of farmers,” said the Prime Minister.

    He added that India has shown passion for innovation and ability to adapt rapidly. “Digital India is the instrument for Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Digital India is a manifestation of a strong Indian that is emerging in the 21st Century.” 

    The Prime Minister, adding “Digital India” is empowering the common citizen by reducing the gap between government and people, system and facilities, problems and solutions. He noted that Digital India has changed the lives of the beneficiaries. 

    ​“Digital India means opportunity, facility, and participation of all, including everyone’s access to the government system.”

  • Centre announces changes in mapping policy, PM Modi says reforms will unlock tremendous opportunities

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Science and Technology on Monday announced the “sweeping changes” to the country’s mapping policy, specifically for Indian companies, to enable them to create substantial advances in mapping and ultimately empowering small businesses.

    “What is readily available globally does not need to be restricted in India and therefore geospatial data that used to be restricted will now be freely available in India,” the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a release.

    Furthermore, the country’s corporations and innovators are no longer subject to restrictions nor do they require prior approvals before they collect, generate, prepare, disseminate, store, publish, update digital Geospatial Data and Maps within the territory of India, the release said.

    India’s farmers will also be benefited by leveraging the potential of geo-spatial & remote sensing data. Democratizing data will enable the rise of new technologies & platforms that will drive efficiencies in agriculture and allied sectors. #mapmakingsimplified #Freedom2MapIndia
    — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 15, 2021

    “Our government has taken a decision that will provide a huge impetus to Digital India. Liberalising policies governing the acquisition and production of geospatial data is a massive step in our vision for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” the release said.

    “Our startups and mapping innovators will be trusted to self-certify, apply good judgement and be relied upon to demonstrate adherence to guidelines. In addition, measures to promote the development of Indian geospatial innovations that take advantage of the latest map-making technologies are proposed,” the release further said.

    Reacting to the latest reforms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the latest reforms will unlock “tremendous opportunities” for our country’s start-ups, adding that farmers will also be benefited by leveraging the potential of geo-spatial and remote sensing data.

    “The reforms will unlock tremendous opportunities for our country’s start-ups, private sector, public sector and research institutions to drive innovations and build scalable solutions. This will also generate employment and accelerate economic growth,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

    “India’s farmers will also be benefited by leveraging the potential of geo-spatial and remote sensing data. Democratizing data will enable the rise of new technologies & platforms that will drive efficiencies in agriculture and allied sectors,” he said in a subsequent tweet.

    These reforms demonstrate our commitment to improving ease of doing business in India by deregulation, PM Modi added. 

  • School students owning smartphone in rural India rises from 36 to 61 per cent in two years: Eco Survey

    The survey also stated that the new National Education Policy aims to pave the way for transformational reforms in school and higher education systems in the country.

  • PM’s address during his interaction with the beneficiaries of Digital India

    Over the last few days, I have been the beneficiaries of various schemes of the government across the country. They had the opportunity to be the most revered, to listen to him and I can say that there is a wonderful experience for me. And I always insist on this courage. There is also life beyond the files. And the change in life has changed. When she heard from straightforward people Knowing their experiences, the mind gets a lot of satisfaction. And I’ve got a new energy to work from you. Today, some plans of Digital India have got the opportunity to interact with the beneficiaries.

    I have been told that in today’s program, I got the opportunity to join the poor 3 lakh Common Service Centers across the country. The VLEs operating these CSC Common Service Centers and the citizens who are taking different types of services are taking this service. They are all here today Apart from this, the beneficiaries of Digital India are also gathered through NIC centers across the country. Over 1600 institutions which are connected to NKN National Knowledge Network Their students, researchers, Scientist, Professors are all with us. BPOs that have been set up with the government’s plans across the country. Their youth is also with us in this program from their own BPO center. Not only this, youth working in Mobile, Manufacturing Units will also show us their units. And they will do something to us.

    Mygov volunteers have also joined millions of people across the country. I believe this is a unique dialogue where at least 50 lakh people are going to talk about the same subject today. There is only one wonderful opportunity to listen to everyone’s experiences, and when Digital India was launched, there was a resolution that the common man of the country, the poor, the farmers, the youth, the villages connect with the world of digital Used to be. Empower them. In the last four years, this work has worked on every aspect of Digital Empowerment, whether it is to connect villages with Fibre Optics. Digitally literate millions of people, delivering government services to every one through mobile, developing Electronic Manufacturing in the country, promoting Strat up or Innovation, campaign to open BPO in far-flung areas Be run Our elders, who have received such a number of projects today, have not had to give evidence of their lives by themselves, but they can easily work in their village by reaching the Common Service Centers CSC Center. The farmers of the country need to know the weather conditions, seek information regarding crop, soil information etc. He gets very comfortable nowadays. But simultaneously, through a digital market ENAM, they can sell their products in markets across the country. By going through your mobile phone or at CSC’s center.

    Today the student studying in the village is not limited to the books available only in his school and college. Using the Internet, he is accessing millions of books through the digital library. He is no longer dependent on the school-college planning system for scholarship funds. His scholarship now comes directly into his bank account. All this is possible through the Communication Revolution through technology. Until a few years ago, for the people living in small towns, towns and villages far away from the metros, it was difficult to imagine that the railway tickets can go to the station without having booked railway tickets in line. Or the LPG can reach the house directly without spending hours in the line. Taxes, electricity and water bills can be deposited without any Government office. But today it is possible that all the necessary work related to your life is now just a distance away from the finger. And it is not that only a few people are available, each one is available. Every citizen of the country can get maximum facilities near his home. For this, Common Service Centers CSC network across the country is being strengthened.

    So far, nearly 3 lakh Common Service Centers have been opened in the country. Today, this huge network of Digital Service Deliver Centers is spread over 1 lakh 83 thousand village panchayats of India. Today millions of young people are working as Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE). And it is heartening to note that 52 thousand women entrepreneurs are working.

    More than 1 million people got employment through these centers. As a whole, this center has not only become a medium of empowerment, but also encouraged education, entrepreneurship or employment.

    The changes that are coming in my country, the changes you are bringing and bringing with the power of your finger, these progress, these beliefs, these developments, Reform Perform Transform is going to come true. Then once again give you all very well. Thank you very much.