New Delhi: Government transfers $172 billion to the poor Union Minister for Information Technology and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad informed that around $172 billion has been transferred by the government to the accounts of over 70 million poor people. This has been done through direct benefit transfer.
Giving an update on how farmers are benefiting from the government's schemes, Prasad said that about 10.6 million farmers are using e-market to sell their farm produce.
There has been an improvement in governance in terms of digital delivery of services, direct benefit transfer, and digital payment. This has been possible because of Digital India, the government's flagship programme. The government's aim is to transform the country into a 'digitally empowered society and knowledge economy' the minister said addressing the Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE 2020) – Global AI Summit on Monday.
Prasad said, "Our Prime Minister is passionate about transforming the lives of ordinary Indian with the power of technology and he gave us the theme of digital India, and now we see how it has improved the governance, be it digital delivery of services, direct benefit transfer, e-hospital, the digital market for farm produce or digital literacy or digital payment."
According to the Minister, technology keeps on evolving. "AI has the enormous potential to generate development and also bring in further equities and delivery," he further added.
The AI can be said to be meaningful only when it brings noticeable changes in the quality of lives of the ordinary people of the country. Prasad expressed confidence that the AI ecosystem will promote a very large number of skilled professionals. These highly skilled professionals will further manage India's AI ecosystem and the world.