A year or so ago, India surpassed Japan in the number of Internet users and has now comfortably placed itself at number 3 followed by the United States at number 2 and China at number 1. Undoubtedly, India has a vast population in comparison to most other nations, so a base of 300 million Internet users is not surprising. However, ease of access is mostly restricted to the metropolitan cities and semi-urban regions in the nation. We all recognize the limitless potential of the Internet and several instances around the world have proven how it is a catalyst for social change. Having saturated the densely populated regions with Internet-related amenities, the onus now rightly has shifted to the developing and under-developed regions that have limited, or no access to the Internet.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi is well aware of how paramount the Internet is as a medium in matters of improving the socio-economic standards of the country at large. I’m sure you are aware of his recent visit to San Jose, California. Silicon Valley giants like Google and Microsoft have given their support to Modi’s Digital India initiative.