Best of 2015: What has PM Modi's 'Digital India' initiative achieved so far?

The year 2015 saw a lot of top CEOs lauding Prime Minister Modi's 'Digital India' initiative. PM Modi visited Silicon Valley in the month of September to give a push to the programme. 

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 1, 2015, the Digital India initiative was started with a view to empower the people of the country digitally. The initiative also aims to bridge India's digital segment and bring big investments in the technology sector.

From Microsoft's Satya Nadella to Apple's Tim Cook, let's see who is doing what to promote PM Modi's flagship programme:

1. Microsoft's Satya Nadella: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, intending to become a partner in the Digital India programme, said his company will take low cost broadband technology to five lakh villages across India. 

Read: Microsoft plans to take technology to 5 lakh villages, says Satya Nadella

He even visited India for 'Microsoft's Future Unleashed' event held in Mumbai. He showed keen interest and said he is betting big on the fast evolving e-commerce industry in India while announcing agreements with Justdial, Paytm and Snapdeal.

Under the partnership, all three e-commerce firms will use a range of cloud and mobile technologies from Microsoft, including advanced cloud services such as machine learning, Bing, Skype and Microsoft's digital assistant, Cortana, to drive innovation widely.

Nadella said, "Digital India will bring about solutions for the challenge of digital divide."

He also announced that Microsoft Surface Pro 4 will be launched in India by January 2016.

"We are making huge investments with our data center in particular which we think can empower organisations in this country to be world class with the access to technology which is all going to be available locally. We are looking forward to partnering closely, seeing all of this come true to help every Indian business and every Indian citizen," he added. 

Read: Satya Nadella has start-ups, smart cities on mind in India push

2. Google's Sundar Pichai: India-born Google CEO Sundar Pichai also backed Modi's 'Digital India' initiative. He said that his company will play its part in supporting the initiative. Lauding Digital India initiative, Pichai said, "This will get people in rural areas online."

Pichai said that his company is working on making their products work on low bandwidth and even offline. He wants to make web accessible in Indian languages and provide low cost Chromebooks to Indian schools and also invest in core infrastructure and affordable smartphones with Android one.

Read: India-born Google CEO Sundar Pichai backs 'Digital India' initiative

3. Apple's Tim Cook: PM Modi met Apple CEO Tim Cook as well and he invited Apple to set up manufacturing unit in India and Cook agreed to it. Foxconn, which is Apple’s largest manufacturer, has decided to set up a manufacturing base in India, he said.

4. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed his support towards Modi's 'Digital India' initiative by changing his Facebook profile picture in support of the initiative.

Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook: "I changed my profile picture to support Digital India, the Indian government's effort to connect rural communities to the internet and give people access to more services online."

He discussed the role Facebook can play in connecting villages and understand Modi's 'Digital India' vision.

Read: Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi

5. Tesla Motors' Elon Musk: PM Modi during his visit to the Silicon Valley met Elon musk, CEO, Tesla Motors. They discussed renewable energy which PM Modi wants to bring back to India. They discussed Tesla's developments in battery technology, energy storage and renewable energy.

PM Modi wants to use Tesla Motors' power wall technology to store electricity in a battery for a long term.

6. Cisco's John Chambers: Cisco CEO John Chambers endorsed 'Digital India' initiative which according to him has the potential to bring about great changes in India.

7. Qualcomm's Paul Jacobs: Being extremely excited and motivated with PM Modi's 'Digital India' initiative, Qualcomm CEO said that his company is keen and focused on setting up a number of design houses to build products in India.

Jacobs announced $150 million funds to fuel innovation in Indian start-ups. He also announced Design India initiative and labs, saying it would help in 'Make in India' program.

Read: Qualcomm to invest $150 million in Indian start-ups: CEO Paul Jacobs

8. Adobe's Shantanu Narayen: Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen also lauded PM Modi's 'Digital India' initiative and said it has potential to uplift society in India and take the country to greater heights.

What does 'Digital India' mean?

The Digital India initiative seeks to lay emphasis on e-governance and transform India into a digitally empowered society.The program is projected at Rs 1,13,000 crore which will prepare the country for knowledge-based transformation.

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (deitY) anticipates that this program will have a huge impact on the Ministry of Communication and IT. 

It is to ensure that government services are available to citizens electronically. It will focus on providing high speed internet services to its citizens and make services available in real time for both online and mobile platform. Digital India also aims to transform ease of doing business in the country.

Modi's government is focussing on providing broadband services in all villages of the country, tele-medicine and mobile healthcare services and making the governance more participative.

Read more: Here's what you need to know about the Digital India initiative

Here are the Ambassadors of 'Digital India' initiative:

The government named four ambassadors for the 'Digital India' initiative. 

The names are:

1. Satvat Jagwani who is the All India IIT-JEE Advanced Topper of the year 2015.

2. Krati Tiwari who is Advanced Girl Topper of All India IIT-JEE. Hailing from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

3. Ankit Fadia popularly known as the 'Ethical Hacker'.

4. Pranav Mistry, a Computer Scientist and author of SixthSense. He currently the Global Vice President of Research at Samsung, USA.

These ambassadors are appointed for a year and their services will be used for mass awareness programmes as and when required. 

Read: Meet the four young brand ambassadors of Digital India

(With Agencies)