The union cabinet has approved sanctions for Digital India, a campaign intended to transform the nation into digital empowered society and knowledge economy, with a cost of Rs 113,000 crore (14 billion Euro). This programme envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), is to impact the ministry of communications & IT, ministry of rural development, ministry of human resource development, ministry of health and others. This programme will also benefit all states and union territories.

The government of India notified 12 electronic products, including external hard drive, wireless headphone and earphones, television other than plasma, LCD and LED TV sets, that would require mandatory registration under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) before sale in the country. The government in the notification for "Addition of product categories to the Schedule of the "Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2012"…..

Indian government policy “think tank” NITI Aayog has released its national blockchain policy draft paper, titled “Blockchain – The India Strategy”. The policy explains different use cases of blockchain in the country alongside some conclusions from ongoing pilot projects.  The strategy document is aimed at clarifying the concepts surrounding the blockchain technology. Its target stakeholders include enterprise leaders, the government, and citizens of the country. 

This first part of the two-part Strategy document deals with fundamental concepts, trust systems, the economic benefit of smart contracts and blockchain, ease of doing business and other ongoing use cases. Part two, which will be released soon, will mainly cover different recommendations for using blockchain in India.

The union cabinet has approved sanctions for Digital India, a campaign intended to transform the nation into digital empowered society and knowledge economy, with a cost of Rs 113,000 crore. This programme envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) is to impact the ministry of communications & IT, ministry of rural development, ministry of human resource development, ministry of health and others. This programme will also benefit all states and union territories. The existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India.

India will no longer be behind the technology curve following the timely launch of fifth-generation or 5G networks, stated Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). He stated that “Now, we have come to a stage where technology develops in India first. With 5G, we will no longer remain behind the technology curve”. There are challenges like funds scarcity and low fibre backhaul for the deployment of the next gen technology in India. There are less than a third of mobile towers connected to fibre backhaul when compared to China that has more than 80% connected.

The Government is revisiting the Information Technology Act, 2000, to upgrade some laws and regulations, including privacy, as many new technologies have changed over the last 20 years and a committee is also being created to look after it. He said the new Act will also factor-in issues like Supreme Court’s judgment on privacy and protection. It will also factor into large issues of Supreme Court judgment on privacy – on the issue of data protection. However, the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill will be purely on data…this (the changes in IT Act) will be for IT – operations, administrations, cyber security, and cybercrime.

India’s electricity grid operators will have to install firewalls and other measures used by companies to avert an attack on their information technology systems and check rising hacking incidents of power networks across the world. Grid operators and regulatory agencies will need to have a continuity plan handy in the event of a cyber-attack, according to draft rules published by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. The move is part of a overhaul of the decade-old guidelines.

The government is working on a new National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, to replace the existing policy framed in 2013, which will be forward-looking and have both a vision document as well as an action plan on the fundamental research required in crucial areas such as space, health, atomic physics and bio-technology. The Department of Science & Technology is steering the exercise and will soon initiate stakeholder interaction on what the new policy should include, said Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister K Vijay Raghavan in an interaction with journalists.