Congress Criticizes Modi's Digital India Claims Amid Unmet Goals

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) The Modi government has been championing Digital India as a transformative people's movement that has democratized technology over the past decade. However, the Congress party has raised concerns about what it terms as "unfulfilled promises," pointing towards issues such as digital exclusion among marginalized populations, privacy infringements, and transparency challenges.

The Digital India initiative, a flagship endeavor of the Modi administration, was officially launched on July 1, 2015, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the aim of turning India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

Questioning the claimed success of this initiative, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge highlighted shortfalls such as villages and schools lacking broadband connectivity, burgeoning debts of state-run telecom players MTNL and BSNL, and an increase in cybercrime incidents.

The Congress is also taking credit for foundational initiatives like Aadhaar and UPI that were set in motion during its tenure. Kharge remarked, "The fine print of Modi Govt's lofty claims of 'Digital India' is marred by unfulfilled promises and false claims," via a post on X.

Kharge pointed out that as of June 26, 2025, under the BharatNet project targeting 6.55 lakh villages for broadband, 4.53 lakh villages, or 65%, have yet to receive coverage. He criticized the numerous deadline extensions for this project, noting that only 0.73% of Gram Panchayats have active Wi-Fi services today. Meanwhile, as private players adopt 5G, BSNL still struggles with completing its goal of deploying 1 lakh 4G towers, with a third still pending.

Even after receiving three significant revival packages totaling over Rs 3 lakh crore over recent years, BSNL trails its private competitors, Kharge added. He also pointed out that BSNL's debt has surged 291.7% from Rs 5,948 crore in March 2014 to Rs 23,297 crore in March 2024. MTNL's debt rose by 136.2% during the same period.

Kharge also raised concerns about the "digital exclusion of the marginalized," citing the National Sample Survey (NSS) data which shows that 75.3% of individuals aged 15 and above are not proficient in computer use.

Adding to this, he stated that Aadhaar-based payment requirements had excluded around 7 crore registered workers from MNREGA. Furthermore, 54% of government schools reportedly lack internet access, 79% without desktop computers, 85% don't have projectors, and 79% are missing smart classroom facilities.

Kharge argued that instead of enhancing personal privacy and transparency, the initiative may have compromised them. According to him, even PM Modi acknowledged nearly 10 crore cyberattacks since the Pahalgam terror incident, with cybersecurity events jumping 76.25% from 2020 to 2024, according to CERT-In data.

Reportedly, digital arrest scams and associated cyber crimes in India rose nearly threefold between 2022 and 2024, while financial losses increased 21 times, as per responses to questions in the Rajya Sabha. Kharge criticized the alleged weakening of the RTI Act due to a flawed Data Protection Law.

On another note, Kharge mentioned that despite the promise of reducing cash transactions through demonetization, cash in circulation has increased, even over the past year. The Congress president took the opportunity to remind the government of its history in establishing the groundwork for digital financial inclusion through Aadhaar, UPI, and other initiatives under PM Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Prime Minister Modi, in contrast, said on Tuesday that Digital India bridged the digital divide and gave equal opportunities through technology. In a LinkedIn post, he stressed that his government had worked to remove the gap between the haves and have-nots via digital means, emphasizing that it has become a people's movement.

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