Lok Sabha Question No. 2828 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-03
Subject: Digital India Week
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shrirang Appa Barne, Ravindra Kushawaha, Ravi Kishan Shukla, Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Subrata Pathak, Sambhajirao Mane Dhairyasheel, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik, Prataprao  Jadhav, Bidyut Baran Mahato, Sudheer Gupta

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2828

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.08.2022

## DIGITAL INDIA WEEK

2828.     SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA:

SHRI RAVI KISHAN:

SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

SHRI SUBRAT PATHAK:

SHRI DHAIRYASHEEL SAMBHAJIRAO MANE:

SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government had recently celebrated the Digital India Week, 2022 and if so, the details thereof along with the theme of this Digital India Week;
- (b) whether the Government has also lanched 'Digital India Bhashini' if so, the details thereof and the manner in which it will be helpful in providing easy access to the internet and digital services across the country;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  expand  digital  technology  in  many  sectors including space, mapping, drones, gaming and animation etc;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken in this regard;
- (e) whether the Government has set any target regarding electronics manufacturing in the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the details of investment made by the Government in this sector?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a): Yes Sir, to celebrate the unprecedented digital transformation of India, the Government of  India  organized Digital  India Week 2022 from July 4-10, 2022 at Gandhinagar Gujarat. The aim of Digital India Week was to showcase India's technological prowess to the world, explore collaboration and business opportunities for Tech Startups and inspire the NextGen citizens by presenting a techade of opportunities for them. The overarching theme for Digital India Week was 'Digital India: Catalyzing New India's Techade' .

Details of Digital India Week 2022 are given in Annexure 1

(b): Yes Sir, Under Digital India, Government of India has launched Digital India Bhashini which is aimed at ensuring access to internet for crores of Indians who donot know English. Technologies, datasets  and  applications  for  the  same  are  expected  to  be  created  as  part  of Digital India Bhashini programme.

Under this, a repository of open-source AI models in Indian languages and English for textto-text  translation,  speech-to-text  conversion,  text-to-speech  conversion,  transliteration  and optical  character  recognition  has  been  made  available  through  a  public  digital  platform (bhashini.gov.in). This enables all stakeholders in the ecosystem, including startups, industry and government agencies, to develop and deploy innovative products and services to offer user interfaces in Indian languages, for easy access to the Internet and digital services across the country.

(c) and (d): Yes Sir, the Government India has set up goal of trillion-dollardigital economy and  is  relentlessly  opening  and  creating  new  opportunities  for  startups  and  the  youth  to become  active  participants  in  the  goal  of  trillion-dollar  digital  economy.  Digitization  of Government activities and public services is one of the focus areas. Digital technologies are being  used  in  many  sectors;  Assets  are  being  mapped  using  GIS  technology  by  various ministries under different projects, including under the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan.

Drone  technology  is  being  promoted  in  various  sectors  of  the  economy  like  agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geospatial mapping, defence and law enforcement.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has constituted an Animation,  Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force to guide the policies of growth for  this  sector,  establish  standards  for  AVGC  education  in  India,  actively  collaborate  with industry and international AVGC institutes, and enhance the global positioning of the Indian AVGC industry.

(e):  Yes  Sir,  the  Government  of  India's  goal  is  to  make  India  a  significant  design  and manufacturing  hub  in  the  Global  Value  Chain  for  Electronics  as  part  of  its  AatmaNirbhar Bharat Economic policies. As part of this, we are broadening and deepening our Electronics Ecosystem.

Government  is  focused  on  its  important  objective  of  catalysing  the  Indian  semiconductor ecosystem  and  ensuring  that,  it  in-turn  catalyses  India's  rapidly  expanding  electronics manufacturing  and  innovation  ecosystem.  This  vision  of  AatmaNirbharta  in  electronics  & semiconductors  was  given  further  momentum  with  the  approval  of  theSemicon  India programme at a total outlay of INR 76,000 crore for the development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in our country. The programme aims to provide financial support  to  companies  investing  in  semiconductors,  display  manufacturing  and  design ecosystem.  This  will  serve  to  pave  the  way  for  India's  growing  presence  in  the  global electronics value chain.

(f): Government of India's goal is to make India a significant Electronics System Design and Manufacturing hub as part of its AatmaNirbhar Bharat economic policies. In this regard, Government has taken several strategic steps  and  initiatives  for  broadening  and  deepening our  electronic  manufacturing  ecosystem.  These  initiatives  resulted  in  investment  of  INR 47,998 Crore by various investors in Electronics Industry.

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## Digital India Week 2022

The Digital India Week was inaugurated by Hon'ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Ji in  the  presence  of  Chief  Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel Ji, Hon'ble Minister of Electronics & IT, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw Ji, Hon'ble Minister of State for Electronics & IT, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar Ji and several other dignitaries. The event was attended by many participants  from  Central  Government,  State  Governments,  Industry,  Startups  etc.  The following launches were made by Hon'ble PM as mentioned below:

1. Indiastack.global
2. MyScheme - Service Discovery Platform
3. Meri Pehchaan - National Single Sign-on Service
4. Digital India Bhashini
5. Digital India GENESIS - Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups
6. Chips to Startup Programme- Announcements of 1st Cohort supported under C2S  Programme
7. eBook - Catalyzing New India's Techade

A grand exposition named 'Digital Mela', set up at  the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat piqued the curiosity of over 50,000 visitors, especially school/college students who flocked to see and learn about the latest innovations and new technologies from the Emerging Tech pavilion showcasing AR/VR, Drone Technology, Robotics to Women in Tech, Digital Payments,  Fintech  to  R&D  pavilion  exhibiting  the  latest  in  Medical  electronics,  additive manufacturing, 3D printing, semiconductor and nanotechnology, high computing processors among  others.  Nurturing  the  spirit  of  innovation,  stalls  by  multiple  Startups  and  unicorns attracted and inspired over 10,000 students, entrepreneurs every day.

Digital  India  Week  celebration  also  continued  in  the  virtual  mode  with  India  Stack Knowledge  Exchange  held  from  7th  to  9th  July  2022.  The  Knowledge  Exchange,  which provided  a  platform  to  over  50  domain  experts  and  eminent  practitioners  to  deliberate  on operationalising India  Stack  across  different  sectors  and  geographies,  had  over  6500 registrations from more than 60 countries.

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