The Union Cabinet on August 16 approved a five-year extension and expansion of the Digital India programme, including an expansion of the Computer Emergency Response Team, India (CERT-in). The expansion of the programme, established in 2015, will have an outlay of ₹14,903 crore, Minister of Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
“This is a five-year outlay starting from 2021-22 to 2025-26,” Mr. Vaishnaw said. Officials indicated that this outlay would be over the budget which has already been spent on the programme over the last two years. “We need to build cybersecurity tools for small businesses, schools, hospitals, who have to focus on their work. Cybersecurity should be easily accessible, low cost and affordable,” he said. Under the programme, 6.25 lakh IT professionals will receive upskilling and re-skilling training, and 2.65 lakh employees will receive information security training.
These funds will also be used to improve and modernise the National Knowledge Network (NKN), a high-speed broadband network that was established in 2010 to improve connectivity among educational and research institutions.
