The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the expansion of the Digital India programme with an outlay of ₹14,903 crore.

Union electronics and information technology (IT) minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that it will boost the digital economy of India, drive digital access to services and support the country’s IT and electronics ecosystem.

“6.25 lakh IT professionals will be re-skilled and up-skilled under the FutureSkills Prime Programme. 2.65 lakh persons will be trained in information security under the Information Security & Education Awareness Phase (ISEA) Programme. 540 additional services will be available under the Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) app/ platform. At present over 1,700 services are already available on UMANG; 9 more supercomputers will be added under the National Super Computer Mission. This is in addition to 18 supercomputers already deployed,” Vaishnaw said at a press briefing after the Cabinet meeting.

The minister said that special attention on cyber security would be given under the extension of the Digital India program. The outlay will also enable cyber-awareness courses for 12 crore college students and new initiatives in the area of cyber security, including development of tools and integration of more than 200 sites with the National Cyber Coordination Centre, he added.

Vaishnaw said that ‘Bhashini’, the artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled multi-language translation tool (which is currently available in 10 languages) would be rolled out in all 22 Schedule 8 languages under the Digital India programme.

He said that the outlay will also enable modernisation of the National Knowledge Network (NKN), which connects 1,787 educational institutions. The digital document verification facility under DigiLocker will now be available to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and other organisations, he added.

“1,200 startups will be supported in Tier 2/3 cities. 3 Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence on health, agriculture and sustainable cities will be set up,” Vaishnaw said.

The Digital India is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 1, 2015.