Let's stop foreign dependency: Union Minister RS Prasad on Chinese app ban

Marking 5 years of 'Digital India' campaign, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad urged people to stop their dependency on foreign applications. He motivated them to come up with new apps which are made in India. Taking the stand on Centre's decision to ban 59 Chinese apps he said that the move was taken to promote safety, security, defence, sovereignty and integrity of India.

New Delhi:Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad urged the Indian youths to come up with new creative ideas and apps which are developed in India and stop dependency on foreign applications. IT and Telecom Minister was speaking in a video conference marking 5 years of 'Digital India'.

"In the wake of the ban which we have imposed... I think it is a great opportunity. Can we come up with good apps made by Indians? Let the dependence on foreign apps with their agenda for a variety of reasons, stop," said Ravi Shankar Prasad. Union Government on Monday decided to ban 59 mobile applications including TikTok with millions of users.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on the same day had tweeted that ban on 59 apps is imposed for safety, security, defence, sovereignty & integrity of the nation.

Pointing out that the number of e-services has increased from 2,463 in 2014 to 3,858 till May 2020 and daily average electronic transactions have increased from 66 lakh in 2014 to 16.3 crore in 2020, the Union Minister shared that Aadhaar has been issued to 125.7 crore residents and 4,216 crore authentications have been facilitated.

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“Direct Benefit Transfer to the tune of Rs 11.1 lakh crore has been disbursed for 426 schemes from 56 Ministries and has led to the saving of Rs 1.7 lakh crore due. Jan Dhan Accounts have reached 38.73 crore beneficiaries, with a total of Rs 1.33 lakh crore in beneficiaries bank accounts. Mobile and internet connections are being used by 117 crores and 68.8 crore users, respectively. DigiLocker launched on July 1, 2015, has 378 crore issued documents. Unified Mobile App for New-Age Governance (UMANG) has 860+ services operational and more than 3 Crore downloads have taken place," he further added.

MyGov has been launched to facilitate participatory governance in the country, with a total of 1.17 crore registered participants, while facilitating the Mann Ki Baat of the Prime Minister.

Emphasizing Digital India’s initiatives during the COVID-19 situation, such as Aarogya Setu for its ground-breaking development time of 3 weeks and localisation in 12 Indian languages with 13 crore downloads, with additional 3 crores for Kai OS, he informed that it has helped identify over 350 COVID-19 hotspots. He further said that sensitization through MyGov and Social Media Platforms have played a crucial role in tackling the pandemic through user-friendly graphics, video, quotes to citizens through the MyGov website and all social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedln, Telegram, and Youtube.

He also spoke briefly about other initiatives such as E-Sanjeevani, SAMHAR-COVID-19, Ayush Sanjivani Mobile app, and VC and e-Office.

While concluding, he reiterated that Digital India’s achievements can be attributed to the united efforts of Central government, state governments, industries and academia, all key parts of team India.

Lastly, he stated that India’s talent pool of skilled people, technology prowess and geopolitical advantages are poised to make India an inspiring country in the 21st Century for the welfare of Indians and the world.

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