DIGITAL INDIA// As Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “Digital India Week”, India Inc committed an investment of Rs 450,000 crore (some $75 billion) for the initiative that seeks to empower citizens by deploying IT and associated tools. Choosing no less than a sports stadium to launch the initiative where the who’s who of India Inc packed the rows, Prime Minister Modi said industry captains have committed investments and create 1.8 million new jobs. The prime minister also unveiled a logo for Digital India — an umbrella programme that seeks to transform India into a digitallyempowered, knowledge economy, with a host of initiatives for a synchronised and coordinated engagement of the government and its agencies.

Modi said it was not enough for India to say that it is an ancient civilisation, and a country of 1.25 billion with favourable demography. “Modern technology needs to be blended with these strengths,” he stressed. He laid emphasis on useful technologies and said at one point India was criticised for launching satellites but today these were helping the common people. Farmers, for instance, are able to access weather forecasts. “Similarly, the Digital India initiative is aimed at improving the lives of the common people,” Modi said, adding that while India may have missed the industrial revolution, it will not miss the IT revolution that is transforming peoples’ lives. The Prime Minister assured full support to young entrepreneurs who wished to launch start-ups.