The minister said the post offices were already involved in e-commerce activity which had fetched them business to the tune of Rs 800 crore in the last four to five months.
- By: ENS Economic Bureau | Bengaluru | Updated: December 5, 2015 8:39 am
Winners of the third Express IT Awards in Bengaluru on Friday. (Source: Express Photo by Ravi Kanojia)
Union communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday that Digital India had been designed to bridge the divide between the haves and the have-nots. Prasad asserted his ministry would go all out to promote the programme.
Speaking at the third Express IT Awards in Bengaluru, Prasad said 18 states had come forward to help digitise 2,50,000 gram panchayats. He added that 1,56,000 post offices across the country too would soon be digitised. Of these, some 1,26,000 are in rural India.
The minister said the post offices were already involved in e-commerce activity which had fetched them business to the tune of Rs 800 crore in the last four to five months.
Speaking of the success of Aadhaar, the minister said with 930 million Aadhaar cards having been distributed, financial inclusion would get a leg up.
The government proposes to set up 48,000 call centre seats across the country, in collaboration with the corporate sector, for which expressions of interest had been received for 1,26,000 seats. Prasad also spoke of setting up 1,40,000 common service centres. “India is waiting for an explosion in IT,” the minister said.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was won by Nandan Nilekani and Newsmaker of the Year Award was won by Vishal Sikka. PwC was the knowledge partner for the awards, which were given away across 11 categories.
The competition received more than 360 entries.