NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday approved a Rs 14,903 crore outlay for expansion of Digital India programme to boost digital initiatives in skilling, cyber security, high-performance computing and simplifying technology for the masses.
The programme will help re-skill 6.25 lakh information technology (IT) professionals, 2.65 lakh individuals will be trained in information security under the Information Security & Education Awareness Phase (ISEA) programme and nine more supercomputers will be added under the National Super Computer Mission.
“The budget was allocated from time to time as per requirement. We have made changes in the schemes, for which approval was required,” said telecom minister Ashawini Vaishnaw.
The outlay has been approved for a five-year period between 2021-22 and 2025-26. The minister said the extended Digital India programme will add on to the work done under the previous version of the scheme.
The government also approved a bus scheme “PM-eBus Sewa” for augmenting city bus operation by 10,000 e-buses on public-private partnership (PPP) model. The scheme would have an estimated cost of Rs 57,613 crore, out of which support of Rs 20,000 crore will be provided by the central government. The scheme will support bus operations for 10 years.
“The scheme will cover cities with population of 3 lakh and above as per census 2011 including all the capital cities of Union Territories, North Eastern Region and Hill States. Under this scheme priority will be given to cities having no organized bus service,” said the government in a press note. It is believed that the scheme will generate 45,000 to 55,000 direct jobs through deployment of around 10,000 buses in city bus operation.