MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS & IT

• 16.1. DIGITAL INDIA
• To transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
• • The Digital India programme is centred on three key vision areas: Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen, Governance & Services on Demand, Digital Empowerment of Citizens
• • It aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely: Broadband Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access Programme, e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology, e-Kranti: NeGP 2.0, Information for All, Electronics Manufacturing, IT for Jobs, Early Harvest Programmes.
• o E-Kranti: National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) 2.0: objective of E-kranti is to redefine NeGP to bring about transformational and outcome-oriented e-Governance initiatives, provide Integrated Services (not individual) and to promote optimum usage of core ICT and promote citizen centric services.
• • Public Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible to implement e-Governance projects.
• • For effective management of the Digital India programme, the programme management structure would consists of a Monitoring Committee on Digital India headed by the Prime Minister, a Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the Minister of Communications and IT and an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary.
• • The positions of Chief Information Officers (CIO) would be created in at least 10 key Ministries so that various e-Governance projects could be designed, developed and implemented faster.
• • In order to take the benefits of Digital India to every corner of country, a vast network of more than 2.5 lakh Common Services Centers has been created. This has developed digital entrepreneurs among poor, marginalized, Dalits and women of India. 
• 16.2. JEEVAN PRAMAAN
• To facilitate on-line submission of Life Certificate by pensioners and streamline the process of getting Life certificate.
• Pensioners of Central Government, State Government or any other Government organization
• It is AADHAR Biometric Authentication based digital life certificates (DLCs) for Pensioners.
• • DLC can be obtained through various Jeevan Pramaan Centres which are being operated by CSCs, Banks, Government offices or by using the client application on any PC/mobile/tablet.
• • It will do away with the requirement of a pensioner having to submit a physical Life Certificate in November each year, in order to ensure continuity of pension being credited into their account. 
• 16.3. PRADHAN MANTRI GRAMIN DIGITAL SAKSHARTA ABHIYAN (PMGDISHA)
• To make 6 crore rural households digitally literate and reaching around 40% of rural households by covering one member from eligible household by 31st March 2020.
• • Citizens of India between the age group of 14 to 60 years.
• • Priority to Non-smartphone users, Antyodaya households, college drop-outs, Participants of the adult literacy mission and Digitally illiterate school students from class 9th to 12th where Computer/ICT Training is not available in their schools
• • It will empower the citizens to operate computer or digital access devices, thus, enabling them to use IT and related services especially Digital Payments.
• • It aims to bridge digital divide by targeting the rural population including marginalised sections (SC, ST, BPL, women, differently-abled persons and minorities).
• • Implementing Agency: CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd., special purpose vehicle (CSC-SPV) incorporated under the Companies Act 1956.
• • The identification of the beneficiaries would be carried out by CSC-SPV in active collaboration with District e-Governance Society, Gram Panchayats, and Block Development Officers.
• 16.4. CYBER SWACHHTA KENDRA (CSK)
• To enhance the cyber security of Digital India’s IT infrastructure by providing information on botnet/ malware threats and suggesting remedial measures.
• • They are also known as Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre.
• • It is part of Digital India initiative and is being operated by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under provisions of Section 70B of the IT Act, 2000.
• • It is set up in accordance with the objectives of the ‘National Cyber Security Policy’which envisages creating a secure cyber ecosystem in the country.
• • It works in coordination with Internet service providers, Antivirus companies and Industry.
• • It will also enhance awareness among citizens regarding botnet and malware infection along with measures to be taken to secure their devices.
• o The popular attacks that happen these days using botnets are called the DistributedDetail of Service (DDOS) attacks.
• Tools provided under CSK
• M Kavach
• It is indigenously developed comprehensive mobile device security solution for Android devices addressing various threats related to mobile phones.
• USB Pratirodh
• It is a USB protector to help clean various external storage devices like USB(s), memory cards, external hard disks, etc.
• AppSamvid
• It is a desktop solution which protects systems by allowing installation of genuine applications through white listing. 
• 16.5. INDIA BPO PROMOTION SCHEME
• Creation of employment opportunities for the youth, by promoting the IT/ IT Enabled Services (ITES) Industry particularly by setting up the BPO/ITES operations.
• • It aims to incentivize establishment of 48,300 seats distributed among each State in proportion of State’s population, with financial support up to Rs. 1lakh/seat in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF)
• • Special incentives are provided for employing women and persons with disability, generating employment beyond target and wider dispersal within state.
• • It also involves encouragement of local entrepreneurs and special consideration for Hilly areas and rural areas.
• • Metro Cities Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, NCR & Pune has been excluded from scheme.
• • Implementing Agency - Software Technology Park of India (STPI), an autonomous society under the MeitY
• • There is also a separate North-East BPO Promotion Scheme under the Digital India Programme to incentivise establishment of 5000 seats of BPO/ITES operations in NorthEast 
• 16.6. NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING MISSION
• • To make India one of the world leaders in Supercomputing and to build capacity of the country to develop the next generation of supercomputer experts.
• • To attain global competitiveness and ensure self-reliance in the strategic area of supercomputing technology.
• • The target of the mission was set to establish a network of supercomputers ranging from a few Tera Flops (TF) to Hundreds of Tera Flops (TF) and three systems with greater than or equal to 3 Peta Flops (PF) in academic and research institutions of National importance across the country by 2022.
• • The mission would be implemented jointly by Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) through two organizations the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
• • The Mission envisages empowering our national academic and R&D institutions spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities
• • These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network (NKN), a programme under same ministry which connects academic institutions and R&D labs over a high-speed network.
• • The Mission also includes development of highly professional High Performance Computing (HPC) aware human resource.
• 16.7. STREE SWABHIMAN
• To facilitate the society at large by empowering its women entrepreneurs to not only provide sanitary pads at their common service centers (CSCs) but also to educate women to overcome this social taboo & encourage usage of sanitary pads.
• • Rural and semi-urban women entrepreneurs
• • Under this project, sanitary napkin micro manufacturing units (semi-automatic and manual process production unit) are being set up at CSCs across India, particularly those operated by women entrepreneurs.
• • The product (sanitary napkin) will be sold under the “Swabhimaan” brand name and the Organization with the help of Village Level Entrepreneur (VLEs) and SHG groups will obtain the trade license for marketing the sanitary napkins at a subsidized rate.
• • It also has a menstrual hygiene related awareness generation component and aims to increase usage of sanitary napkins among rural girls in schools and colleges by making the napkins available to almost 1,000 girls in the primary and secondary schools in their village, encompassing girls from 7th to 12th grade.
• • CSC SPV will try to raise funds to provide sanitary pads to girl students in Rural Areas of Country free of cost. 
• 16.8. ELECTRONICS DEVELOPMENT FUND (EDF)
• To achieve “Net Zero Imports” by 2020 as envisaged in digital india scheme.
• • It is set up as a “Fund of Funds” to participate in professionally managed “Daughter Funds” which in turn will provide risk capital to companies developing new technologies in the area of electronics, nano-electronics and Information Technology (IT).
• • The EDF will also help attract venture funds, angel funds and seed funds towards R&D and innovation in the specified areas.
• • It will help create a battery of Daughter funds and Fund Managers who will be seeking good start-ups (potential winners) and selecting them based on professional considerations.
• • CANBANK Venture Capital Funds Ltd. (CVCFL) is the Fund Manager for EDF. 
• 16.9. NATIONAL POLICY ON SOFTWARE PRODUCTS (2019)
• • To create a robust software product ecosystem, which aims to develop India as a Software Product Nation and the global software product hub.
• • Policy aims to align with other Government initiatives such as Start-up India, Make in India and Digital India, Skill India etc so as to help the industry grow at Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40% to reach $70-80 billion by 2025, while creating employment opportunities for 3.5 million people.
• • The policy has the following five missions:
• o to promote the creation of a sustainable Indian software product industry, driven by intellectual property (IP), leading to a 10-fold increase in Indian share of the Global Software product market by 2025.
• o To nurture 10,000 technology startups in software product industry, including 1000 such technology startups in Tier-II and Tier-III towns & cities and generating direct and in-direct employment for 3.5 million people by 2025.
• o To create a talent pool for software product industry through up-skilling of 1,000,000 IT professionals, motivating 1 lakh school and college students and generating 10,000 specialized professionals that can provide leadership.
• o To build a cluster-based innovation driven ecosystem by developing 20 sectoral and strategically located software product development clusters having integrated ICT infrastructure, marketing, incubation, R&D/testbeds and mentoring support.
• • In order to evolve and monitor scheme & programmes for the implementation of this policy, National Software Products Mission will be set up with participation from Government, Academia and Industry.
• • National Software Product Mission (NSPM) is to be housed in Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) under a Joint Secretary, with participation from Government, Academia and Industry.
• • An outlay of Rs.1500 crore is involved to implement the programmes/ schemes envisaged under this policy over the period of next 7 years.
• o The amount is divided into Software Product Development Fund (SPDF) and Research & Innovation fund.
• 16.10. SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY PARK SCHEME
• For the development and export of computer software, including export of professional services using communication links or physical media.
• • The first Software policy came up in 1986. It resulted into Software Technology Park (STP) scheme in 1991.
• • It is a 100% export-oriented scheme which integrates concept of 100 percent Export Oriented Units (EOU) and Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and the concept of Science Parks / Technology Parks.
• • It is unique in its nature as it focuses on one product / sector, i.e. computer software.
• • Other important features include
• o Provisioning of single-point contact services for member units.
• o A company can set up STP unit anywhere in India.
• o 100 Percent Foreign Equity is permitted.
• o All the imports of Hardware & Software in the STP units are completely duty free, import of second hand capital goods also permitted.
• o Re-Export of capital goods is also permitted.
• o The sales in the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) shall be permissible up to 50 Percent of the export in value terms. 
• 16.11. MODIFIED ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING CLUSTERS (EMC 2.0) SCHEME
• • For development of world class infrastructure along with common facilities and amenities through Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs)
• • To aid the growth of the ESDM sector, help development of entrepreneurial ecosystem, drive innovation and catalyze the economic growth of the region by attracting investments in the sector, increasing employment opportunities and tax revenues
• • MeitY notified EMC Scheme (1.0) in 2012 which was open for receipt of applications upto October, 2017. A further period of 5 years (i.e. upto October, 2022) is available for disbursement of funds for the approved projects.
• • It is in line with National Policy for electronics (NPE) 2019.
• • EMC 2.0 Scheme would support setting up of both Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) and Common Facility Centers (CFCs).
• o EMC would set up in geographical areas of certain minimum extent, preferably contiguous, where the focus is on development of basic infrastructure, amenities and other common facilities for the ESDM units.
• o For CFC, there should be a significant number of existing ESDM units located in the area and the focus is on upgrading common technical infrastructure and providing common facilities for the ESDM units in such EMCs, Industrial Areas/ Parks/ industrial corridors.
• • Financial assistance will be provided over a period of 8 years.
• • It will act as a pull for large companies to come to India bringing along their entire components manufacturing ecosystem. 
• 16.12. SCHEME FOR PROMOTION OF MANUFACTURING OF ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS AND SEMICONDUCTORS (SPECS)
• • Development of electronic components manufacturing ecosystem
• • deepening of Electronics value chain
• • Under the scheme, Cabinet has recently approved to offer financial incentive of 25% of capital expenditure on plant, machinery, equipment, associated utilities and technology, including for R&D to the industrial units making investment for manufacturing of capital goods, electronic components, semiconductors etc.
• • This will cater to all segments of electronics manufacturing such as Mobile, Consumer electronics, Industrial Electronics, Automotive, Medical Electronics, Telecom Equipment, Computer Hardware etc.
• • Benefits:
• o It is likely to attract new investments in Electronics Sector to the tune of at least Rs. 20,000 crore.
• o Direct employment of approximately 1,50,000 is expected to be created in the manufacturing units, including indirect employment of about 4,50,000.
• o Reducing dependence on import of components by large scale domestic manufacturing that will also enhance the digital security
• 16.13. PRODUCTION LINKED INCENTIVE SCHEME (PLI)
• • Boost domestic manufacturing
• • Attract large investments in the electronics value chain including manufacturing of mobile phones, semiconductor packaging and electronic components including Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) units.
• • Under the scheme, electronic manufacturing companies will get an incentive of 4 to 6% on incremental sales (over base year) of goods manufactured in India and covered under target segments, to eligible companies over a period of next 5 years.
• • The scheme shall only be applicable for target segments namely mobile phones and specified electronic components
• • The government estimates that under PLI scheme, domestic value addition for mobile phones is expected to rise to 35-40 per cent by 2025 from the current level of 20-25 per cent and generate additional 8 lakh jobs, both direct and indirect.
• • The scheme will also help in creating 2-4 "champion Indian companies”. 
• 16.14. OTHER SCHEMES
• Digishala
• • It is a free-to-air channel which aims to promote cashless transactions post-demonetisation, especially in rural and semi-urban areas
• • It was launched as part of the ‘Digidhan’ campaign which aims to spread awareness about digital transactions
• Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative
• • It has been launched by MeitY, in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners to strengthen cybersecurity ecosystem in India in line Government’s vision for a ‘Digital India’.
• • It is first public-private partnership of its kind and will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity.
• • The founding partners include leading IT companies such as Microsoft, Intel, WIPRO. Its knowledge partners include Cert-In, NIC, NASSCOM and consultancy firms Deloitte and EY.
• • It will be operated on three principles of Awareness, Education and Enablement.
• • It aims to spread awareness about cybercrime and build capacity of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments.
• E-sampark
• • It aims to establish proactive communication by digitization of campaigns and connect the government directly with citizens across India by running mailer, outbound dialing and SMS campaigns.
• • It also maintains a database of contacts of the nodal officers, representatives and citizens which is updated periodically.
• Awareness Programme on Environmental Hazards of Electronic Waste
• • It aims to provide financial support to MeitY’s Societies, Academic Institutions, Industry Associations and professional organisations for organizing workshops/ seminars and making campaign material for wide circulation on ill-effects associated with e-waste.
• Secure, Scalable & Sugamya Website as a Service (S3WAAS)
• • It is a website generating and deployment product hosted on the National Cloud of National Informatics Centre .
• • It leverages technology to generate secure websites using templates which are highly customizable and can seamlessly be deployed on a scalable software defined infrastructure.
• GI Cloud – MeghRaj
• • It is aimed at utilizing and harnessing the benefits of Cloud Computing with focus on accelerating delivery of e-services in the country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government.
• • The architectural vision of GI Cloud consists of a set of discrete cloud computing environments spread across multiple locations, built on existing or new (augmented) infrastructure, following a set of common protocols, guidelines and standards issued by the Government of India.
• DigiLocker
• • It is a platform for issuance and verification of documents & certificates in a digital way, thus promoting paperless governance.
• • Indian citizens who sign up for a DigiLocker account get a dedicated cloud storage space that is linked to their Aadhaar (UIDAI) number.
• • Organizations that are registered with Digital Locker can push electronic copies of documents and certificates (e.g. driving license, Voter ID, School certificates) directly into citizens lockers.
• • Citizens can also upload scanned copies of their legacy documents in their accounts which can be electronically signed using the eSign facility.
• e-Taal
• • It is a web portal for dissemination of e-Transactions statistics of National and State level e-Governance Projects including Mission Mode Projects in near real-time. It presents quick analysis of transaction counts in tabular and graphical form.
• UMANG
• • Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive Mobile Governance in India.
• • It intends to provide major services offered by Central and State Government departments, Local bodies and other utility services from private organizations. It provides a unified approach where citizens can install one application to avail multiple government services.
• • Its service has been made available on multiple channels like mobile application, web, IVR and SMS which can be accessed through smartphones, feature phones, tablets and desktops.
• National Information Centre-Computer Emergency Response Team (NIC-CERT)
• • It is a dedicated body to detect, prevent and mitigate the impact of cyber-attacks, by monitoring data across the NIC platform, including communication between all the levels of government and between governments to citizens.
• Project Cyber Shikshaa
• • Microsoft & Data Security Council of India (DSCI) in association with Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) have launched Project Cyber Shikshaa for skilling women engineering graduates in the niche field of Cyber Security.
• Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme for Electronics and IT
• • Its objective is to enhance the number of PhDs in Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) and IT/IT Enabled Services (IT/ITES) sectors in the country.
• • It provides 25% more fellowship amount than most of the other PhD Schemes.
• • Scheme also provides infrastructural grant of ₹ 5,00,000/- per candidate to the academic institutions for creation/ up-gradation of laboratories.
• Ideate for India - Creative Solutions using Technology
• • MeitY launched a National Challenge for Youths, “Ideate for India - Creative Solutions using Technology” with an aim to give school students (class 6-12) an opportunity to become solution creators for the problems.
• • The Challenge has been designed by the National e- Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics & IT in collaboration with Intel India, with support from the Department of School Education and Literacy.
• Indian Software Product Registry
• • It will act as a single window portal for cataloguing for all companies and products developed in India with key analytics, category-wise listing with options of porting database to Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for enhanced market access.
• 'Build for Digital India' programme
• • It will be rolled out by Google and MeitY
• • The programme will offer a platform to engineering students to develop market-ready, technology-based solutions that address key social problems in areas like healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure, women safety etc.
• • Google will also offer mentorship sessions in product design, strategy and technology to the most promising products and prototypes.
• Hack the Crisis India: Online Hackathon
• • It is part of global Hack the Crisis movement where the technology and startup entrepreneurs/coders would work to create dedicated solutions during an online 48 hour hackathon for the containment of Coronavirus crisis.
• • It will also cover developing solutions to deal with its aftermath.